Hey everyone, welcome back to another HitFilm tutorial.
This week I’m going to be showing you how to create a heart monitor effect, inspired
by the upcoming movie Flatliners.
This effect is only possible in HitFilm Pro.
You can find the project file for this effect from the link in the description.
We’ll start in a new composite shot by creating the background.
I’ll add a New Plane and drop the Grid effect onto it.
In the Controls Panel, set the Blend to Normal so that the empty spaces aren’t transparent.
These lines don’t currently converge in the center of the frame, let’s change that
first.
Open up the Point 1 and Point 2 controls.
If I move one of the Points in the Viewer here, you can see that the other Point remains
stationary while the Grid changes around it.
I’ll set Point 1 to 0,0, in the center of the screen.
In order to move the other point the same length, you have to add the difference.
Point 1 was at -75 before, so add 75 to what Point 2 is and get 150.
The grid is now centered.
Set the Border Radius to somewhere between one and three to make the lines thinner.
Drop down the Feather sliders and raise those to about 5, to soften them.
We can barely see the lines at this point, so add a Glow effect.
Change the Blend to Add and lower both the Threshold and Radius.
This Glow will hug the lines closely.
I’ll make them green by adjusting the Per Channel Intensity controls.
Duplicate the Glow and raise the Radius.
This one should affect the whole grid.
The next step is to draw the heartbeat line.
Drag in the Plane from the Media panel and set it’s Blend Mode to Add.
Select the freehand mask tool and begin drawing the shape of the line.
You can use the X and Y coordinates at the bottom right of the Viewer to make sure that
your mouse is centered vertically.
The beats can be as large or as small as you’d like.
You don’t have to connect the mask when you’re done- just leave it hanging at the
end.
Drop the Neon Path effect directly onto that layer.
The line you just drew should be illuminated.
If I drop the controls down you can see an Evolution property.
I’ll activate keyframes for this property and skip to the end of my timeline.
Where it says 0x, enter a new number.
A higher number will result in a faster beat.
If you’d like less of the line to be visible, you can lower the Extension.
Down in the Inner Glow settings Lower the Width so that it’s closer to the line.
Set the color to a yellowish green.
In the Outer Glow settings, increase the Width and Alpha and change the color to green.
Alright we’ve got the basic setup for the effect.
Everything from this point on will be making the shot more realistic.
Let’s start by creating a Grade and dropping the Lens Distort onto it.
I’ll set the Amount to .05 for just little bit of bulge in the middle of the screen.
Next up is Scan Lines.
Raise the Frequency and Sharpness to get a more subtle effect.
Your audience shouldn’t exactly notice the scan lines, but they help add to the illusion
of this being a real screen because they adds imperfections.
Now I’ll add an Anamorphic Lens Flare effect.
In the Streak 1 dropdown, change the Alignment to Center and uncheck Vertical Pivot.
Adjust the controls above to make it less visible.
Create another Grade and add the TV Damage effect.
In the Controls panel you’ll see that there are several individual effects that can be
turned on and off.
I want to turn them all off except monitor.
In the search bar here I’ll type enabled.
This will bring up the checkbox within each section, and I can turn most of them off.
Clear the search bar and drop down the Monitor settings.
You can’t really see what it does until I decrease the Resolution.
I’ll leave it around 60 for this.
Set the Grade’s Blend Mode to Screen to put it on top of your animation.
Duplicate this Grade and hide the first one so that you can see it by itself.
Go back into the controls for the monitor and drop down the Pixel Component settings.
Here you can adjust the width and height of the individual pixels for a different look.
I’ll set them both to .8 for a larger square.
Then change the Resolution to 20.
Turn on the first monitor Grade and lower the Opacity of the second to your liking.
This was to, again, just add in more detail to the final product.
Assuming that this monitor is made of glass, there should be some reflection on the surface.
I have this picture of an operating room, I’ll drop that into the timeline.
Let’s add a Tint effect, to desaturate the image, and a Curves effect.
In the controls for the Curves, set the Channel to Red and drop that down.
Decrease the overall brightness in the RGB channel.
Now add a Blur effect.
In the Transform controls for the layer, lower the Opacity until it looks good to you.
One final grade holds a Vignette to darken the edges, and a Film Grain overlay.
If you need to boost or reduce the color, you can use a Hue, Saturation, & Lightness
effect.
The last step is to add some grunge and scratches with a picture of lens dirt.
Drop that in and set the Blend Mode to Screen.
Then lower the Opacity.
And that’s all there is to it, let me know if you have any questions below.
Subscribe to see more videos like this, and until next time, thanks for watching.