Creating a vintage film look in After Effects

Turn your footage into a silent movie!

silent-movie-dialogue-card-gasp — **Vintage Silent Movie Caption** generator from Adobe Stock

Creating a vintage silent movie look in After Effects involves emulating the characteristics of early film, such as black and white imagery, vignetting and film grain. Here’s a step-by-step guide to achieve this effect:

Step 1: Import Footage

Open After Effects and create a new composition.
Import your footage by clicking on File > Import > File and selecting your video file.

Step 2: Convert to Black and White

Add the “Black & White” effect to your footage by going to Effect > Color Correction > Tint.
If you’d prefer sepia toned footage change the black-and-white color selectors to dark and light browns.

Step 3: Adjust Contrast and Brightness

Apply the Effect > Color Correction > Levels effect to adjust the contrast and brightness of your footage.
Adjust the Input Black/White sliders to fine-tune the contrast.

Step 4: Add Film Grain

From the title menu choose Layer > New > Adjustment Layer.
Apply the Noise & Grain > Add Grain effect to this layer. Change the Viewing Mode to Final Output.
Adjust the Tweaking > Intensity and Tweaking > Size until you achieve your desired look. You can also choose one of the film presets if desired.

Add vignetting and film defects to finish the vintage look.

Step 5: Apply Vignette

With the adjustment layer still selected choose Effect > Stylize > CC Vignette.

Adjust the Amount value to darken the edges of your footage.

Step 6: Simulate Dust Marks

Let’s create some dust marks. Add a Layer > New > Solid and apply the Effect > Noise & Grain > Fractal Noise effect.
Adjust the following noise settings to add dust spots:
Contrast: 2400
Brightness: 1000
To animate the dust Alt + click (Option + click on Mac) on the stopwatch icon next to Transform > Offset Turbulence to open the expression editor, then add the following expression:

wiggle (30, 1000)

Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Multiply. Alternatively, for white dust, add a Channel > Invert effect and change the Blending Mode to Add.

Use-Fractal-Noise-to-create-film-dust-marks-and-debris — Using Fractal Noise to create film dust marks and debris.

Step 7: Simulate Scratches

Let’s create vertical film scratches by duplicating the solid you made for dust marks.
On the new solid use the following Fractal Noise settings:
Contrast: 10000
Brightness: 3000
Still in Fractal Noise, under Transform, uncheck Uniform Scaling and use the following scale values:
Scale Width: 10
Scale Height: 8000
Add Effect > Transform and change the Scale Height to 10000.
Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Multiply. Alternatively, for white scratches, add a Channel > Invert effect and change the Blending Mode to Add.

Use-Fractal-Noise-to-create-vertical-film-scratches — Using Fractal Noise to create vertical film scratches.

Step 8: Lower Frame Rate

If your original footage has a high frame rate, consider reducing it to 18 or 24 fps to mimic the frame rate of vintage film. Right-click on your footage in the Timeline, choose Interpret Footage > Main and set the frame rate accordingly.
Alternatively, add a new Adjustment Layer and use the effect Time > Posterize Time to lower the frame rate.

Step 9: Add a Film Frame Overlay (Optional)

You can add a rounded overlay box, in an aspect ratio similar to vintage film, as follows:

Create a New > Solid and make this black.
Unselect all layers.
From the Toolbar select the Rounded Rectangle Tool then double-click this.
Under Contents > Rectangle 1 > Rectangle Path 1 adjust the Size to 1200 x 990 with a Roundness of 60.
Select the black solid layer underneath and change its Track Matte to Alpha Inverted Matte “Shape Layer 1”.

YouTube player — Complete the vintage look easily with these **film frame overlays for After Effects**.

Step 10: Export

Once satisfied with the vintage silent movie look, export your composition by clicking on File > Export > Add to Render Queue.

By following these steps, you should be able to give your footage a convincing vintage silent movie look in After Effects. Feel free to tweak the settings and experiment with different effects to achieve the desired nostalgic effect.