How To Change Background Color In Final Cut Pro

In Final Cut Pro, you can use different backgrounds to make your video look better. There are solid colors and textures that you can use as effects, title backdrops or regular clips.

You can change the background color of your video in Final Cut Pro. This can be done to make your video look more interesting or to match the tone you are trying to create. There are many different colors and styles to choose from, so experiment until you find something that you like.

Backgrounds are also useful in giving your videos a cool depth-of-field effect similar to what can be achieved in a camera and creating space for overlaid text to really pop.

Are you ready to take your backgrounds from blah to whoa?

Here’s how to change background color in Final Cut Pro using Preferences, Generators, Effects and a bonus tutorial on changing the green screen to the background of your choice.

Let’s go!

Player Background Color Preferences 

Make your clips quickly recognizable from a visual point of view by editing your Player Background.

1. Open Final Cut Pro and scroll down to Preferences.
2. In Preferences, click Playback.
3. In Playback, choose your Player Background in black, white, or checkerboard.
4. Go up to Inspector, click Transform, and then scale to your satisfaction.
5. Move to your Generators and check your Installed Generators.
6. Choose your Generator then proceed to Published Parameters.
7. In Published Parameters, tweak Glow, Size, Angle, Color and so on. 
8. Done!

Custom Color Background

If you want to add a splash of eye-catching color to your background, here’s how it’s done.

1. Go to Generators and type in Custom.
2. Drag and drop your Custom background in your timeline.
3. In Published Parameters, change the color of your background to any color you like by using the Dropper tool under Color.
4. Tweak the level of color that you want.
5. Done!

Enhance Generator Backgrounds With Effects

Don’t stop at adding color. Add something extra to it by using effects! 

1. Go to Generators and type in Custom.
2. Drag and drop your Custom background in your timeline.
3. In Published Parameters, change the color of your background to any color you like by using the Dropper tools under Color.
4. Spice it up by going to Effects, then Installed Effects.
5. In Installed Effects, type in Vignette, Bokeh Random, Halftone, or your preferred Effect
6. Drag and drop the effect in your timeline.
7. Done!

Add Stylized Color Presets Over Background Video

If you’re leaning towards vibrant, classic or modern color applications to inject a specific mood to your clips, adding stylized presets is the way to go!

1. Go to Effects and scroll down to Color Presets.
2. Select your clip in your timeline and then mouse over your selected Color Preset.
3. Drag and drop your selected Color Preset to your clip.
4. Tweak your Color Board in Published Parameters.
5. Done!

Add Comic Effects To Your Background

Here’s how to change your clips from “why so serious?” to an incredible comic book feel! 

1. Go to Effects and scroll down to Comic Looks.
2. Select your clip in your timeline and then mouse over your selected Comic Looks effect.
3. Drag and drop your selected Comic Looks effect to your clip.
4. Done!

Add Color Tones As a Flashback/Throwback Background Effect

Take your clips down memory lane by adding flashback/throwback effects to them.

1. Go to Effects and scroll down to Looks.
2. Select your clip in your timeline and then mouse over your selected Looks effect.
3. Drag and drop your selected Looks effect to your clip to instantly get a flashback/throwback color tone in your image.
4. Done!

Change a Single Color in the Background  

Do you want to go from red to purple or vice versa? You can do that and change any color that fits your clips!  

1. Bring up your Color Board and scroll down to Hue/Saturation Curves.
2. Use the Dropper in Hue/Saturation Curves.
3. Bring the Dropper to the color you want to change in your clip.
4. Go back to Hue/Saturation Curves, mouse over the color value, and tweak the arrow up/down to change the hue, saturation and Luma.
5. Click Save Effects preset.
6. Done!

Bonus Tip!

Change the Background Color of the Green Screen 

Chroma-key, aka, green screen is a staple in filming videos. If you’ve been handed green screen footage, here’s how to remove it.

1. Select the green screen clip that you want to include in your video.
2. Use keyboard shortcuts Control + W or Control + E to drag and drop the green screen image to your timeline.
3. Go to your Event Browser and select the clip you want to use.
4. Drag and drop the clip beneath the green screen clip.
5. Go to your Effects browser and select the Effects icon on the right of your timeline.
6. From Effects, scroll down to Keying and then select Keyer effect.
7. Drag and drop the Keyer effect to your green screen clip on your timeline.
8. Go up to Inspector and tweak the settings to fit your new background.

Use your Final Cut Pro Backgrounds to enhance, highlight a moment and bring that fantastic pop of color and texture to your projects. 

Remember, Final Cut Pro takes away many of the challenges of editing so have fun while playing with the color presets that are made available to you.

Let me know how changing background colors in your Final Cut Pro projects helped you make more attractive, eye-catching videos for your passion projects and increased your likes in ways that brought a lovely shade of red to your video editor’s heart.

Happy editing,

Dylan