Facebook 10 yr video - how to get depth of field effect

Anyone in Facebook will have seen the Facebook 10 yr videos put together.

Just wondering how to get that DOF look (where the blurred sculling images are in the back ground and the foreground picture is nice and sharp etc

Is this something you would do in motion?

You can use SliceEx with pretty good result www.coremelt.com/videos/slicex-depth-of-field.html

Actually i found that by adding a 'Gaussian blur' effect to a background image then putting a foreground image and 'key framing' its movement.. then darkening the background image and adding a 'drop shadow' etc

Its not brilliant but its a rough idea of what was required..

PS coremelt plugin looks great, will check it out

I would do this in After Effects in 3D space, and enable depth of field on the camera. Not only is this faster, it will act more like a simulated camera. Increase the aperture size to make it shallower and adjust to taste. Also, it's easier to position the pictures and then keyframe the camera movements. You could probably manually move things and add blur in FCPX, but it would take more time to get something good unless it was really basic.

I use Motion for this, only when I need camera effects for movement, drop shadows and special lighting. Offers same advantages as AE. Plus, there is the camera's DOF controls that can create nice effects, too.

I'm with gaddster - no DoF, just a plain simple Gaussian:






I'm using that constantly, to separate titles and logos from the background; key framing it gives a nice fade-in effect...

Thanks everyone for your input

I have dabbled with AE but I'm no expert.

Benb, that sounds very interesting if you can use Motion, camera DOF controls sounds interesting

gaddster wrote: ... Motion, camera DOF controls sounds interesting

explained for examople here:

www.fcp.co/motion/tutorials-for-apple-mo...1-on-macbreak-studio

Thanks, great link Karsten.. may be worth buying that tutorial if i want to get into this in depth

gaddster wrote: Thanks, great link Karsten....

.. but not the one I really meant!
Too 'fixed' on my heros Steve & Mark - my favorites! :lol:

No, what I had in mind is this (free) one:
play.macprovideo.com/motion5107-working-in-3d/11

Following advice given here allowed me to create some very impressive 'effects' (posting examples later, now in the office...)

Thats a very clear tutorial, be interesting to see what examples you have Karsten.

I've also got this 4 part free tutorial online about Motion camera controls:
www.macprovideo.com/hub/motion/understan...mera-controls-part-1

But honestly, the basic Gaussian blur, 2 layers, inside FCPX works just fine. Don't forget some very subtle drop shadow to enhance the effect is nice. Can work out really well keeping it simple. There are several Picture-in-Picture effects that will make this quick and easy to do inside of FCPX. It's not that complicated.

So I created a custom Effect to do this inside of FCPX. Pretty basic and simple, but effective. I hope to expand it with a 3D camera and publish some controls and behaviors over the weekend.
Click here to download it.

Hi BenB, thanks thats great, much appreciated.

So would I animate the movement in motion to the way i want it and save it as a present for FCPX

Not to self: spend some time learning & utilising Motion more

You would do ALL of the work in Motion. Export a ProRes file for use in your edit. This would not be an effect template, no.

Thanks BenB

think I need a tutorial now in motion, I have underestimated this app

www.macprovideo.com/tutorials/motion-application