iCreate - UK (2020-02)

iMovie

Step-by-step Turndayto night

Turn day to night

U

nless there’s street lighting or a strong moon, when

you’re filming at night your subject may disappear into

darkness. If the camera uses a high ISO speed to make

it sensitive to low light this can make the clip look grainy. Many

film makers shoot their subject in daylight and then grade the

clip’s colours and tones to create a more effective moonlit scene.

Indeed shooting ‘day for night’ is such a common technique

that iMovie offers a Day into Night filter that attempts to add

a nocturnal hue to a clip. We can produce a more convincing

nighttime look by tweaking colours and tones manually. We’ll

also add a CG moon to complete the nocturnal illusion!

Use iMovie’s grading techniques to create

a moody moonlit movie

Using iMovie’s editing tools you can transform daytime

footage into a convincing night scene...

1

Try the filter

Import our Day to Night_start.mov and

Moon.psd file into an iMovie project. Add the

clip to the timeline. Click the Clip Filter effects

icon and choose the ‘Day into Night’ preset.

2

Increase contrast

The filtered version isn’t too convincing.

Click ‘Reset’. Click the Color Correction icon.

Drag Adjust Contrast left to add dramatic dark

shadows and a brighter moonlit sky.

3

Reduce brightness

Drag the central Reduce Brightness slider

left to create a more dimly lit scene that mimics

the weaker reflected sunlight bouncing off the

moon onto the subject.

4

Desaturate colour

The location’s daylight colours are still

too vibrant, so drag the Reduce Saturation

slider to the left to create a more subdued and

atmospheric colour palette.

5

Moody blues

The daylight sourced colours are still too

warm. To add a wash of moonlit blue, drop the

Temperature slider to the far left. This creates a

cooler looking nocturnal hue.

6

Add the moon

Drag the Moon.psd into the timeline as

a cutaway layer. Extend its duration to match

the clip. By default the moon has a Ken Burns

movement added to it. It’s the wrong size too.

Timeneeded

10

Difficulty

Download

available

Developer

Apple, Inc