Appendix 1

Titles for Digital Video and Film
screen. Attempts to import and use many colors from a computer-generated image will drive the
chrominance into “illegal” levels and cause distortion. Photoshop has an NTSC colors fi lter to limit
the colors to NTSC “legal” limits. This helps, but the colors will still shift when imported into Final
Cut Pro and are rendered into DV.
Different setups on the computer monitors also create problems; there is likely to be a color shift for
no other reason than the computer monitor is using a different setup than the video monitor.
HD has its problems as well. HD Cam uses a compressed color space. HD Cam SR and D5 is much
less compressed in its color space as is DVC Pro HD, however no video format displays the color
space seen in 32-bit RGB color. And, as these are not fi rewire compatible, the fi rewire preview in
Photoshop will not show the preview in the proper format.
The export to fi rewire devices can be a big help in determining what the fi nal colors will look like
in a DV format. In Photoshop CS2, the image can be exported to a fi rewire video device with the
Export, send-image-to-video device in the File menu. Adjustments can be made to the color and a
new preview exported, continuing until the colors look correct.
In spite of your best efforts, the colors will most likely be shifted when imported into the fi nal edit.
There are normally color adjustments made to the titles in the fi nal video as part of the fi nal color
correction, a process called “sweetening” the titles.
Moving titles create a whole new set of problems. When rows of pixels move vertically over the lines
of video, a “stair step” effect is created, as can be seen in Figure 8.6. Even the Final Cut Pro titler
Figure 8.6 Adobe After Effects
125