Eliminate Flicker from your Video and Timelapse Shots

One major challenge we filmmakers face is the dreaded flicker effect. This may occur shooting; timelapse sequences, artificial light sources, digital screens, slow motion, candlelight, or when using old archive footage, etc.

Flicker problems are especially prevalent with timelapse sequences. You can do various things to try and reduce the flicker effect while capturing, but ultimately some post production will often be required to tame the beast.

I often shoot ‘holy grail’ shots where the light changes dramatically which, more often than not, produces unsightly flickering issues.

The Solution

I recently researched what tools I could utilise to quickly and efficiently stop flicker in its tracks and discovered the ‘Flicker Free’ plugin from Digital Anarchy. They offer a free trial and trust me, it will give you results you can see immediately. It’s incredibly easy to use too and can be installed in After Effects, Premiere Pro, Avid, and Final Cut Pro.

The plugin has various settings you can tweak; Sensitivity, Time Radius, Threshold, Detect Motion.

There are also presets to choose from; Timelapse, Slow Motion, Slow Motion – Halo Removal, Rolling Horizontal Bands (LED Lights), Rolling Horizontal Bands 2, Rolling Horizontal Bands 3, Computer Monitor or TV, Archival / Old Footage, Stage Lights, Slow Motion – Halo Removal 2, Rolling Bands 4.

Examples

Here are some working examples so you can see the results for yourself, these were all processed using the default settings (you can click the video at the end to replay it).

I highly recommend this plugin, as you can see from the examples I created – it just works. For more info and to download a free working trial, check out the Digital Anarchy website.