Chapter 14. Compositing and Effects Overview

Creating visual effects in the pre-digital era was expensive, time-consuming, and required technical expertise to be successful. Twenty years into the digital media era, it’s hard to find a snippet of film or video that hasn’t been digitally massaged—even on YouTube.

Creating digital motion effects could be the most fun you’ll ever have without getting arrested. Modern mass media relies heavily on the same techniques you’ll be introduced to in this chapter. Once you understand the role of each basic building block of effects creation, you’ll never look at movies and TV in the same way again, because you’ll be able to see how complex visuals are constructed.

The effects creation tools found in Final Cut ...

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