If you’ve ever recorded locked off tripod shots that lacked the intimacy or atmosphere that handheld shooting brings to a scene, here’s how to add that same movement back using Motion.
While there is no perfect replacement for truly shooting handheld, adding the movement in postproduction can be done relatively easily and it can be hard to spot when used sparingly or mixed in with real handheld scenes. This technique can also be useful for one-person YouTubers who simply don’t have anyone else to film them. If exercised minimally, it could bring a little more life to those stale tripod shots while you’re recording yourself.
In the video above, The Final Cut Bro shows every step on how this can be accomplished on your own using Apple Motion and then added to a video clip in Final Cut Pro X. Basically, what you’ll need to do is record some actual sample footage of a marked piece of paper, tell Motion to track your handheld movement in that footage, then export it into Final Cut Pro X where it can be applied. You may want to repeat the process for your most used focal lengths as the amount of handheld shake will be different depending on the lens’ field of view.
