FCP: How to Mask behind a Title?

Question

FCP: How to Mask behind a Title?

Hi again, folks!

This feels like it should be simple, but somehow I'm not getting it.

Please see the closing Title on my video, which I'm showing here with just a tad of content of the end of the song to give you a little context:

I have our band Logo presented, the same way I do at the beginning of the video. But here at the end, I then want to animate our email address overlaid on it. Hopefully we caught the viewer's attention with the performance and now they want to book us :-)

I could let the Logo pass and then present the Email on a blank background, but I don't want to do that. I like the logo, and I want it to persist, especially as the last frame in the video.

But I want the Email to pop on top of it. Currently, when I lay it on top of the logo, it's just way too busy. I added Drop Shadow and Border to the Email, which helped a little, but not much. I then moved it to the bottom of the frame, which helped a bit more, but I'd rather have it centered vertically anyway.

Creatively, what I really want is to center the email right on top of the logo, but have the area behind the email gradually blurred, and maybe darkened, in order to get the email to "pop" visually. I thought of two possible ways to do this:

1) using a Title that came with a feature like that; or

2) using something like a Graduated or Shape Mask, and modifying the Opacity.

But I'm not aware of a Title that offers ways to blur the background. And my efforts to figure out how to control the shape of the Shape Mask have left me scratching my head. But since the Title is animated, it would seem that, to do it right, the feature would have to be built into the Title, so that the masking could "grow" as the Title grows.

I deeply appreciate any suggestions! I know I'm missing something simple here!

Thanks!

Dave

Posted on Feb 16, 2025 12:25 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 17, 2025 6:23 PM in response to Michel Boissonneault

Bonjour Michel!

Okay, so WOW. Thank you for all of that.

You're blowing me away with this quite a bit! A few replies:

1) I definitely don't want to mess with Apple Motion; trying to keep things simple, and it looks like FCP can do what I want.

2) I didn't recognize your GUI at all. Reading the manual, I found out that it's the Video Animation Editor, accessible via Ctrl-V

3) Also never did a Keyframe before, so I read up on that and did my first one :-) I maee the logo Gaussian Blur from 0 to about 20% while the Title is animating from tiny to big.

4) I see that you made it come from behind the logo. Clever, but that's not what I want.

5) My original request was to blur just the region (of the logo) behind the Title. But having seen the result I got (below), I decided I like having the entire logo blurred behind the Title; it really makes the title pop, and they can back up if they want to read our logo in more detail. Someday, I might want to figure out how to deal with learning how to use a shape mask. I'm guessing I could use key framing to bring in the mask gradually by animating the opacity parameter? In any case, since I don't need that today, I'll worry about tackling that another day.

So you forced me to learn key framing, and I think I love the result!

Merci beaucoup!

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Answer 2

Feb 16, 2025 2:47 PM in response to Dave Kitabjian

Hi (Bonjour),

Add a blur filter to the logo on primary story line.

Apple Motion is a better option to composite a such thing and you can built a custom built generator or title for future use in FCP. But it' possible in FCP.

In this example, (I've made a mock-up of your logo without email message in a photo editor), I've put the clean logo (no email) on primary storyline (duration 4 seconds), a title on secondary (duration 4 seconds) and a short portion (duration of 1 second from 0 to 1;00 second points in timeline) of the logo with a mask filter to clean the black background on top.

When you play this timeline, you get a title behind the logo for the first second then it appears in front. Very flat effect.

Add some blur filter on primary logo 1 and title generator to add more depth to your design. Simply put a keyframed (0 to 30%) blur filter on the Primary logo from 1;00 to 2;00 second timecode. Add a blur filter to title generator (30% to 0%) keyframed from 1;00 to 2;00 timecode. (Note the inversion).

Now the timeline gives a blurred title and a clean logo with a changing focus effect between 1;00 to 2;00 points.

The shortened logo on top is there to hide the title in the first second.

To animate the title "position" (like a travel on Z axe), simply use a keyframed scale on title from 0;00 to 2;00 second point.

Et voilà:

https://youtu.be/eu9054jXg94

It will be easier to use a PNG with transparent background for the logo file and it will be possible to make it appearing over the orchestra clip in finale.

Michel B.

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