Create handheld effect with footage shot from tripod

I have a shot that was done from a tripod mounted camera that I would like to make appear as though it was actually shot handheld (to give the audience the sensation that this shot is from the eyes of the actor). Is there a FCP tool or some 3rd party plug-in effect that will do this for me?

I'm using FCP 5.1.2

Brad

you can do it with position and scale keyframing inside FCP

Remember you have to zoom in *and* shake the camera. If you just shake the camera, the edges of the frame are going to show around the shot.

If your work video was marginal at the beginning, it's possible that the zoom will push it over the edge and make it fuzzy enough not to use it.

This is one of the effects that only works really well if the original work was perfect and preferably not dv or hdv.

Koz

oh, i think the small amount of zoom required wouldn't push you too far into the shot.

Wayne suggests doing it manually with keyframes,
and that can work pretty well without TOO much effort,

but there are also a few "wiggle" and "jiggle" filters around out there.

i'll start with what i consider the best:

Graeme Nattress's Earthquaker
part of his #2 filter set $US75
this has very subtle controls and can really look like handheld
[www.nattress.com]

Eureka have a Jiggle plugin.
part of their #4 filter set $US50
[www.kafwang.com]

there's a freebie:
Rainer's Wiggle
[www.digiconform.com] (click on the Final Cut Pro Plugin link)

there's demo movies and demo downloads of the Natress & Eureka ones,
so you can check them out.


cheers,
nick

Is there a plugin that makes a hand-held shot look like it was shot from a tripod? LOL

No seriously.

Yes Vic, but it can be found in Shake. It is called SMOOTH CAM and does a great job.

Tutorial here:

[forums.creativecow.net]


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
[itunes.apple.com]

look in the FCP filters.
you'll find "Image Stabilizer"

ok, not the best at what it does,
CHV has one, too.
i cant comment on it as i haven't used it

and then there is iStabilize
[www.pixlock.com]
which lives up to the "i" prefix by being easy to use and pretty good at what it does.


nick

I'm flabbergasted. I ask a stupid question and get two brilliant replies!

These filters might save my movie, gentlemen. Thank you, Shane. Thank you, Nick.

You guys are the greatest.

Okay, I turn the thread back to the original question. It would seem that there should be a plugin that will take a steady shot and jiggle it a bit.
Is it possible that one of the steadying filters could be turned into a de-stabilizing filter?

Motion can do this pretty easily, and with out keyframes or plug-ins.

Ctrl-Click on the clip, select send to Motion, Scale the clip up to 105% or so, then ctrl-click on the text portion of the Positon tab and select wiggle. Do the same for Rotation. Adjust for taste...

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. Just for those that may use this thread later, here is what I found without having to purchase any plugins.

Using keyframing directly in FCP in the motion tab works, but takes a lot of manual tuning and is pretty laborious. Also, the results are a little less convincing than the alternative below.

Sending the clip to Motion, then click on the Inspector tab where you will find Position under Transform, ctrl-click and select Wriggle. There are many controls that allow you to select the frequency, speed, amount, pattern, and on and on. This gives excellent control and can be quite convincing if configured correctly.

Thanks again to all,

Brad

You would have much cleaner control over the motion in After Effects Pro... it does a nice job with "The Wiggler" (randomly generated position keyframes - user dictates the strength) or "Motion Sketch" (you can record your own hand motion with the mouse or a tablet pen and through an expression map those keyframes to the position of the clip in question). A slight zoom in here & there to cover the edges is all you need

No plug-ins needed.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.