Appendix 1

Titles for Digital Video and Film
Another trick is keying the title over black and then bringing the opacity of the title down in the
Final Cut Pro motion tab. This is a great system because you can change it later if you change your
mind. It works with all titles with an alpha channel, including the Final Cut Pro titler. You can even
tweak the black levels up to reduce contrast, and if you have used the opacity setting to reduce the
white, it still looks great.
Interlaced video creates its own set of problems. If a fi ne horizontal line is only one pixel tall, it will
only be displayed half of the time as it is only displayed in one fi eld. This causes the line to fl ash on
and off thirty times a second and look jittery. If the line is widened by one pixel, the problem gets
worse. Now the line is in one place for 1 /60 of a second and then just below that for 1 /60 of a second.
The line fl ashes up and down and looks even less stable. If the line is three pixels wide, it settles
down a little; however, it is now alternating between a narrow line and a wider line. At four pixels,
the line becomes as stable as it can be in an interlaced picture. To help this problem, the DV compressor
blurs hard lines into soft lines. While this looks good when used with video, it makes graphics
look soft.
The best solution is to use the heaviest font you can. Again, this is an esthetic concern. But, defi nitely
avoid thin fonts or fonts with fi ne scrolls and ornaments. They will fl icker, strobe, and show every
digital compression artifact.
Naturally you want to use the best video format possible, and not just to make the titles look good.
But tiles are unforgiving. They will show every little problem.
Titles for Film Finish
Photolithographs, or Liths
The photolithograph, or lith, is a high-contrast, black-and-white fi lm negative. Liths are often 4 × 5
inches, as in Figure 8.7; however, some are shot larger than that, up to 8 × 10 inches. In most cases,
Figure 8.7 The photolithograph
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