Gradients, flares and overlays with generate effects

Most effects change the picture you already have. Generate effects make new picture and lay it over a clip. Video by Zaweba has linear, radial and four-colour gradients, lens flare, light leak, checkerboard, grid and colour overlay, plus timecode and clip name overlays. Some are creative and some are purely practical, and both kinds come in handy.

Gradients

A linear gradient blends from one colour to another across the frame. It is the quickest way to darken a bright sky towards the top, as a graduated filter on a camera lens would, or to darken the bottom of a shot so white captions read well. Combined with a blend mode or reduced opacity, it adds mood without hiding the picture.

A radial gradient spreads out from a centre point, so it can act as a spotlight, a soft vignette or a glow behind a subject. A four-colour gradient blends four corner colours together, which gives a smooth, colourful wash that suits backgrounds for titles, lyric videos and slides.

Light effects

Lens flare imitates light catching in a camera lens, with streaks and rings from a bright source. Light leak imitates light seeping into a film camera, washing the frame in warm patches of colour. Both are popular in music videos, travel films and wedding films. Each looks best tied to the picture: put the flare where the sun or a lamp actually is, and let a light leak bloom at a moment that matters, such as a cut or a change of scene.

Keyframes bring them to life. A flare that drifts as the camera pans, or a light leak that swells and fades over a second, looks far more natural than one fixed in place.

Patterns and colour overlay

Checkerboard and grid draw regular patterns. A grid is useful for lining things up, and both can serve as backgrounds for graphic sequences or be combined with distort effects for abstract looks.

Colour overlay lays a single colour over the clip. With a blend mode or low opacity it tints a shot quickly. At full strength it becomes a flat colour background, which is handy for a title card.

Timecode and clip name overlays

These are the working tools of the group. A timecode overlay burns the running time into the picture, and a clip name overlay shows which clip is on screen. Both help when you send a draft to someone for notes, because they can tell you exactly which moment and which shot they mean. They are also helpful for checking your own edit, logging footage or making a reference copy.

Remember to switch them off before the final export. The easy way is to put them on an adjustment layer or on a track you can disable, so they can be removed in one step. Video by Zaweba also has a separate Export for review command in the File menu that makes a small copy with timecode burned in, which may suit a full review better.

Getting generated layers to sit well

Generated picture is perfectly clean, and that can look out of place on real footage. Lower the opacity, choose a soft blend mode such as screen, overlay or soft light, and add a little film grain over the top if the footage has texture.

Match colours to the scene. A cold blue flare in a warm sunset shot looks wrong. Choose gradient and flare colours from the colours already in the frame.

Use masks to keep generated layers away from faces and text when they would get in the way.

Generate effects in Video by Zaweba are quick to add and easy to tune, so they are worth trying whenever a shot needs a little more light, colour or information.