A Quick Way to Change Color in the Middle of a Clip for Any NLE

In my webinar last week, I showed how to use keyframes in Premiere Pro to seamlessly change color in the middle of a clip using keyframes – Link. There are two advantages to this technique:

• Precisely controlling the timing of color value changes
• The ability to change different color values at different times in the same clip

While Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve all support creating color changes in the middle of a video clip using keyframes, when using Premiere this technique can take extra time. Reed Brown emailed a faster alternative that can be used by any NLE.

“I have a pro-tip to change the color correction over the length of a single clip to evenly transition from one lighting condition to another in the one shot. I don’t use key frames at all in the single clip. I just cut the clip in two at, say the start of the lighting change, cc 1st segment, select the 2nd segment where the new lighting stabilizes, cc that so it’s looking good, then add an “as needed length” dissolve between the two clips, and I now have a smooth transition between the two different lighting conditions.”

While this technique works exactly the same for all three NLEs, I’ll illustrate this using Premiere.

Here’s a scene where Lindsay walks from outside to inside. There is a major shift in color and brightness as she makes the transition.

Looking at that clip in the timeline, set markers which indicate where you want the color change to start (left green marker) and end (right green marker).

Split the clip roughly in the middle between the two markers. You don’t need to be too precise with the location of the split.

Select each clip and color grade it to make it look as good as possible.

Then, put a cross-dissolve between the two clip. Adjust the position of the dissolve so that it starts at the first marker and ends at the second.

When you play the clip back, the color will smoothly blend from the first clip into the second.

EXTRA CREDIT

There will be times where keyframes are preferred, for example:

• When you have multiple color changes in the same clip
• When color changes occur at different times in the clip (for example, gray scale needs to change before colors change)
• When the clip contains highly saturated colors that combine strangely during the dissolve due to the additive nature of color

But, if you want something quick to do and simple to apply, a cross-dissolve is a great first choice. Best of all, this is a trick you can use in any NLE that supports changing clip color.