… for Visual Effects

Tip #579: What Do “Looks” Do?

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Looks are designed for fast and easy color grading – and applied effects.

Looks are color-correction and effects presets that quickly change the look of a video clip to something different.

These exist in both Premiere (Lumetri > Color > Looks) and Final Cut (Effects Browser > Looks).

In Final Cut, these are some looks that purely affect the color (i.e. Film Noir), but the majority emphasize an effect more than a look (Rain, CamCorder, Aged Film). Final Cut is trying to help editors who know what they want, but don’t know how to achieve it, get the effect they need for their project.

In Premiere, looks are much more color oriented and there are far more of them, close to eighty, depending upon how you count. You select them from the Creative section of the Lumetri color panel. Premiere is trying to help solve sophisticated color grading challenges without understanding color.

The good thing about all of these looks is that there isn’t a whole lot to adjust. If you like the effect, use it. If not, you can try tweaking, but mostly you just delete it and try something different.