Bad Film

Bad Film

Simulates old or damaged film or playback equipment. This filter is animated.

Canvas showing effect of Bad Film filter

Adjust this filter using the parameter controls in the Filters Inspector:

  • Focus Amount: Sets the amount of blur applied to the image, simulating a projector lens going in and out of focus.

  • Focus Variance: Varies the amount defined in the Focus Amount parameter. For example, if Focus Amount is set to 3 and Focus Variance set to 1, the Focus Amount varies between 2 and 4.

  • Brightness Amount: Simulates underexposed footage or an inconsistent projector bulb by lightening and darkening the image.

  • Brightness Variance: Varies the amount defined in the Brightness Amount parameter. For example, if Brightness Amount is set to 2.5 and Brightness Variance set to 2, the Brightness Amount varies between .5 and 4.5.

  • Saturate Amount: Adjusts the effect to simulate aged film stocks. Values below 0 lower the saturation, creating a faded film appearance. A value of –100 removes saturation to simulate black-and-white film. Values above 0 simulates oversaturation.

  • Saturate Variance: Varies the amount defined in the Saturate Amount parameter. For example, if Saturate Amount is set to –20 and Saturate Variance set to 10, the Saturate Amount varies between –30 and –10.

  • Scratches: Simulates scratches on film. The higher the value, the more scratches.

  • Scratch Color: Sets the color of the film scratches. The color controls can be expanded with the disclosure triangle to include Red, Green, Blue, and Opacity sliders to more precisely select the color.

  • Hairs: Simulates hairs on film. The higher the value, the more hairs.

  • Dust: Simulates dust or dirt on film. The higher the value, the more dirt.

    Tip: Hair, dust, and scratches occur with random variance and may not appear on every frame. If you don’t see any effect while adjusting these sliders, play the clip and observe the effect over the duration of the shot.

  • Jitter Amount: Simulates the look of a film projector that has a problem with its gate, reminding you of high school, if you are old. Increasing the amount of jitter increases the appearance of horizontal shake in the film.

  • Jitter Variance: Varies the amount defined in the Jitter Amount parameter. For example, if Jitter Amount is set to .25 and Jitter Variance set to .05, the Jitter Amount varies between .2 and .3.

  • Grain: Sets the amount of grain, allowing you to simulate different types of film stock.

  • Frequency of Change: Defines how often (in frames) the values set in the parameters with variance are recalculated. For example, if Frequency of Change is set to 30, and Jitter Amount and Jitter Frequency are set to values greater than 0, the jitter parameters are recalculated every 30 frames, creating additional randomness.

  • Random Seed: Lets you pick a new random seed number. This number is used to randomly generate new sequences of values, based on the other parameters of this behavior.

  • Mix: Sets the percentage of the original image to be blended with the filtered image.