Fascinating article / tutorial on getting creative with composite modes in Final Cut Pro . . .

Composite Modes (also known as Blend Modes, Blending Modes, or Transfer Modes) provide alternate ways to blend together the pixels in two overlapping clips. They take some properties of the clip on top (such as its color or contrast) and combine it with some properties of the underlying clip, creating a new composite that is often far more interesting than a simple opacity blend or fade. The results can range from subtle to psychedelic.

via ProVideo Coalition.com: Apple | Vendor Blog.

Composite modes are little-understood by most editors and treated as an “ok, now let’s try this” method of compositing. Some of my favorite composite mode tricks:

Multiply Mode
This takes the light / white areas of an image and makes them transparent ramping up to dark / black with no transparency. You can created grayscale graphics and composite them using Multiply . . . think of a radial gradient (you can create one right in Final Cut Pro) from white in the center fading to black around the edges. Multiply mode + opacity adjustments = vignette!

Film Look
The aforementioned article mentions compositing different clips together for creative effect; one trick I used to do on my DV footage was make a copy of the same clip on top of itself (in sync – shift + option drag up) on another track and mess with composite modes for a “film look”. Change the top clip’s composite mode (try Soft Light or Overlay or Screen Modes) and add a gaussian blur for a diffusion effect. Stack another on top and try a new mode.

For creative effect or technical prowess, it helps to know those composite modes and use them! Use these tricks in Motion and After Effects too (they have MORE modes!) and even in Photoshop with your layers.

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