Motion Array: How to Make Bad Videos Look Good in Premiere Pro
In this tutorial we explore how to make bad videos look good in premiere pro. There are times when your footage has problems, but re-shooting isn't an option. In this situation, "fixing in post" is necessary. We will go over 5 different situations to fixing bad videos in Premiere Pro: 1. Out Of Focus Video, 2. Shaky Video, 3. Overexposed Video, 4. Embrace Mistakes For Style, 5. Hide Mistakes With Distractions. —Motion Array
Specific Techniques for Fixing Blurry, Shaky, and Overexposed Shots in Premiere Pro
Jordan Dueck of Motion Array presents 5 ways to make bad footage look good in Premiere Pro. In this short post we look specifically at the first 3 which deal specifically with blurry, shaky, and overexposed footage. We love Motion Array tutorials because they have a knack for going beyond the obvious, and they present some helpful, not-so-obvious tips in this tutorial.
1. Out of Focus Video
Obvious: Draw a mask around your subject and apply sharpening.
Not Obvious: Copy the mask, invert it and apply a blur to make the subject appear more in focus. Watch how Jordan does it below at 1:35.
2. Shaky Video
Obvious: Apply Warp Stabilizer to your clip.
Not Obvious: Reducing the Smoothness to between 1-5% can give the best, most natural-looking results. See for yourself at 2:46.
3. Overexposed Video
Obvious: Drop the Highlights and/or Whites in the Lumetri Color panel.
Not Obvious: Create a notch in the Whites Curve in the Lumetri Color panel that only reduces the highlights in the shot. Next, try drawing a mask around your overexposed areas to continue lowering the exposure. Feather the mask generously. Watch how Jordan does it below at 4:05.
Jordan continues with how to embrace mistakes and how to create distractions so they're less noticeable. Both of which are critical to the role of the video editor. As Jordan laster says, editing is mostly problem solving. The tips above are excellent suggestions for solving 3 common problems.
Have you used any of these specific techniques to fix out-of-focus, shaky, or overexposed footage? How did it go? Any other tips you would suggest? Please share below!
