How To create a retro vibe in your video – iMovie Tutorial

In these digital days we take it for granted that we can whip out our iPhone to capture correctly coloured clips with a healthy range of tones, especially if we’re using an iPhone 4 or new iPod touch with HD-quality recording capabilities. However, the downside of this very consistent quality is that it can make our footage look just like everyone else’s.

By using iMovie’s colour-grading tools, you can give your movie clips a retro makeover, adding 1970s-style artefacts such as washed- out tones and garish colours. This will help your video clips look like they were captured using Seventies film or home video equipment. It may look a bit strange, but at least it will make your footage stand out from the crowd!

1: Project properties

Go to File>New project. Set Aspect Ratio to Standard (4:3) – there was no widescreen TV in the Seventies. Choose a less smooth film-like Frame Rate of 24fps.

2: Import clips

Go to File>Import>Movies. Import SeventiesSource.mov to a new Event. Drag the clip to the Project window. Click Don’t Change to reduce the clip’s frame rate.

3: Tweak composition

Our widescreen clip doesn’t fit into the standard-def screen. Tick the Crop icon. Reposition the green crop window to include the horse and dog. Click Done.

4: Adjust tones

Click on the clip in the Project window and Press I to open the Inspector. Click on Video. Drag Contrast to -42 to create washed-out-looking shadows.

5: Colour hue

For a warmer colour tint, drag the White Point control towards the magenta end of the spectrum. This helps to add film-like cross-processed colours to your clips.

6: Boost saturation

To create more garish colours, pop saturation up to 151%. This removes the more faithful colour reproduction of modern digital cameras.

7: Add vignette

To mimic the dramatic fall-off of light at the edge of a film camera’s frame, go to the Clip Inspector, click Video Effect and choose Vignette.

8: Export clip

You can’t add more than one effect at a time using the Inspector. To work round this constraint, go to Share>Export Movie. Tick Large. Click Export.

9: Add second effect

Go to File>Import>Movies and import the vignetted clip. Add it to the Project. You can now go to the Clip Inspector and add another filmic effect like Film Grain.

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