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Taking Your Film to the Next Level
with Magic Bullet Looks

by AJ Wedding

As microbudget filmmakers, we often have to make tough choices about what we should buy, since we can’t afford everything we might need. I have often kicked myself for making bad decisions, and had to find cheap or free solutions to the problems I am left with. One of my latest productions was a web series called Infamous, and we had to stretch every dollar as far as we could. The biggest way we stretched our budget was to work very quickly. No matter how good your crew is, if they are forced to work quickly, things get missed. Judgements are made based on time. If it’s going to take another 20 minutes to get that light just right, it’s not worth it in the long run. These decisions have been difficult in the past, but Magic Bullet Looks is making those decisions look smart in post.

Many people are aware of Magic Bullet’s ability to give you many basic ‘looks’ at the click of a button, including some amazing color correction and film gammas. This is only a fraction of what the plug-in can do. This article will look at many of the individual advantages of Magic Bullet, and how they are used to create high quality imagery.


Adding Magic Bulet Looks to the selected clip.

One of the most useful tools within Magic Bullet Looks is the ability to add or subtract lights. Add the Magic Bullet Looks effect to any clip in your sequence, and it will open up the clip in the Looks Builder. You will see your video frame, and if you drag your cursor to the right side of the screen, the list of tools will slide in.


Tools slide in from the right.

The tools in Magic Bullet Looks are separated by those that are for the subject, the matte, the lens, the camera, and common post production tools. This means you can manipulate every aspect of your production in post. And the best part is, if you change your mind, you can just remove any particular tool that you have added! The tools are easily dragged into the work area, and adjusted by either visual or numeric tools.

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