[Leon Zandman]

I think I have solved it! I did a “Get Info” from the Finder on the video file. There it showed the original video file came from my Google Photos account (the “Where from” metadata pointed to a Google URL). I then remembered I had downloaded this video from my Google Photos account, because at that time the video hadn’t yet been uploaded to my iCloud account, so I wasn’t able to get it onto my Mac.

I used the Macos Photos app do download the original file from iCloud. This time it was a .MOV instead of the .MP4 that came from Google Photos. And this file imports without the crackling into FCPX.

So to recap: my iPhone uploaded the video file to both Google Photos and iCloud. When I download the video file from Google Photos it results in a video that has crackling sounds in FCPX. When I download the file from iCloud Photos library it imports without the crackling.

For both movies Quicktime Player lists the following info:

Format: H.264, 1920×1080, AAC, 44100 Hz, Mono. FPS: 29,98 (8,82 Mbit/s).

[Leon Zandman]

It’s not the distortion. As I said some parts of the recording are distorted due to the high audio volume during the concert. iPhone has gotten better at recording live music events (though my old Nokia Lumia excelled at that), but it still sometimes introduces distortion. This however seems to be something different. The audio graph in FCP does show reds, but even when I lower the volume the crackling can be heard. Adding compression/limiting also didn’t help.

I’ve monitored the audio using the built-in speakers of my MacBook and some connected headphones. Both exhibit the same crackling. I’ve played back the video using the macOS built-in videoplayer (pressing space bar with the file selected). I’ve also played it using VLC Media Player and Quicktime Player. The crackling is totally absent when playing through those apps. But when I import that exact same video into FCPX, the crackling is introduced. It’s maddening.

Lowering the volume on the track inside FCPX didn’t help. Then the crackling just plays back at lower volume. I’ve uploaded a small section containing the crackling to YouTube:
https://youtu.be/zlWOJJ0n_IQ

I would expect an imported video with no additional effects applied to look and sound exactly the same, both video and audio, as the original.

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[Leon Zandman]

Did you already check YouTube. There are plenty of videos explaining how to do a cool light saber effect.

[Leon Zandman]

I figure I would need to adjust quite a lot of frames, because I think the mask needs to be near pixel-perfect to be convincing. That’s why I think the manual route is too tedious.

Normally you’d use chroma keying. Now the TV screen isn’t a perfect chroma key background. But it does differ substantially from the person’s image. So I figure I should be able to create a mask using other ways. I know in Photoshop I can isolate things from their background by creating a mask based on one of the split RGB channels. Or by looking at the luma values. This should also be possible in Motion. I’ve just never done it.

[Leon Zandman]

Yes, but this was existing footage. Didn’t plan to add SFX to it. I’ll fiddle with it some more.

Maybe some other forum users have an idea?

[Leon Zandman]

While I do have a general idea on how to proceed, I’m still confused on how to isolate the person. You say keyframing / rotoscoping. This means adjusting the mask for each frame by moving the control points, right? That’s a lot of work (hundreds of frames) and I doubt I can get the mask to fit tightly around the person. This probably won’t look good, even if I feather the edges of the mask.

Now that I think about it some more, I guess what I need is to use a garbage mask to remove everything outside the TV’s screen and treat the TV screen as a green screen / chroma key and use a keyer to isolate the person from the background (which is the TV screen). However, the TV screen is displaying a running video and doesn’t have a solid color.

Any ideas?