Diffused background

Hi, I am gonna be shooting a headshot interview...i really want a diffused background, soft focus sort of thing...

Is that a camera thing or something I can do in FCP

The soft focus effect I think you desire is always best acquired in-camera.

If you're not using a camera with a shallow enough depth of field, it is easy to add some more blur in post.

1. Duplicate your clip by ⌥ Dragging your clip above itself in timeline (Make sure they line up exactly)
2. add Gaussian Blur effect to top clip
3. add Draw Mask Effect to top clip, and draw a mask around the subject of your interview
4. Click on the "Invert Mask" tick box to reverse what the shape is masking
5. Play with the feather settings of the Mask and the amount of the Blur, etc.

Cheers

Agreed that in-camera is best for shallow depth of field. Try using a longer lens (& backing away from the subject) and make sure your iris is as close to wide open as possible (this may require dimming your lights and/or putting ND filters in front of the lens). Using a camera with a larger sensor also helps as well as using a camera with DSLR or Cine lenses.

---> Jarrod

Yes. And get as much space as possible between your subject and the background. That is crucial, the more, the better.