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Problem with fade to black of layered clips with white backgrounds
Hello,
in my timeline I layer a person on a white background over a white page with text on it. In order to make the two fit I crop the clip with the person and match the two whites with the help of color correction. Up to here everything works perfectly.
But if I now fade the whole thing to black the whites immediately start to diverge and it becomes very ugly and visible that sequence consists of two layered clips.
Does anybody have a solution to this? Here’s what I tried:
– Fade one clip
– Fade both clip
– Make a compound clip
– Keyframe the opacity instate of the fade transition
– export to quicktime and reimportNothing works to my satisfaction. The only thing that worked was exporting each clip seperately as an image sequence, import both into AfterEffects and create the fade there.
But that shouldn’t be necessary in a programme that calls itself professional, should it? Or is the user the problem?
Thanks for your help.
David
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19 Replies
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Dissolve to a black color solid above all the layers.
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Thanks for your idea. Unfortunately it doesn’t change anything.
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Just a guess, but your whites don’t really match. They do to your eyes at a particular luminance level on your monitors, but as that luma comes down during the dissolve, it shows itself.
For example, 95 and 98 ire may look the same on a monitor not calibrated correctly or with the contrast cranked up. But once the luma lowers to something not as blown out, it becomes apparent.
In any case, you’ll have to do what Jeremy says and either fade in black above the stack or compound and fade it out.
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Can you post a screen grab of the problem?
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You need to put everything in a compound and fade the compound. If you dissolve each layer by itself you will have that problem. Same issue in FCP Legacy.
“Always look on the bright side of life” – Monty Python
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You’re probably right in regards to white levels. But I can’t seem to find a way to match really match the whites. Here’s an export to illustrate what I mean: https://reels.creativecow.net/film/fade-to-black
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I’ve tried that with no avail.
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I have always had good luck dealing with this situation by using a luma key. In your case luma key the layer with the person. It doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect. It is otherwise very difficult and sometimes impossible to match white shot with a camera to a generated white. Then use a black clip over everything for your fade as others have said.
anickt
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Thanks for the screen grab, it helps.
Nick’s suggestion is right on. Luma Key to even out the white, then use a slug fade on top.
Jeremy
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Fwiw a black clip fading in above is the same as fading out a compound. Just usually more convenient.
As a test, what happens if you take the compound, and put a color effect on it and bring the overall luma way down? Do you see the difference in white levels now? With that still applied, or perhaps instead with your play head parked halfway through the dissolve, adjust the whites to match.
Use a waveform. You have been using a waveform to match them I assume. Try matching them at 95%. A white background doesn’t need to be stark white unless it’s matching a stark white web page or something.
I also like the luma key idea. Although you’d probably still see some of the same issue, but less.
Or, in case it’s some weird FCP issue, try a fade to color effect instead of a dissolve.
If all else fails, I think the most aesthetic choice would be a cut. 🙂 Or a push wipe, etc. something that doesn’t fade. A white flash or fade to white, then fade to black.
Good luck.
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