Add Effects to a Video to Make it Stunning

Where there are excellent videos, there are special effects. You might not be able to notice it, but it is the special effects that differentiate an excellent video from a normal one.

But before we get started, what are special effects? How does it differentiate from visual effect and CGI?

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What're Video Special Effects

Special effects are elements that are physically created on set using all sorts of techniques like miniatures, pyrotechnics. They can be as simple as a fake rain, or fog from a fog machine, or as complicated as explosions, roaring fires created in a controlled manner.

Visual effects mean effects added to imagery captured during production. They can take multiple forms. There is green screen, combining two or more images into one shot, or removing unwanted objects in video. Motion capture and rotoscoping are also visual effects.

CGI means any visual effects in a film that's created digitally. This is more widely used on movie with both real characters and animation characters, like Paddington 2.

Video Special Effects Type Explaination

Many non-professionals always mix special effects with VFX and CGI. It is really not a big deal because we will be diving into some real video editing techniques to polish your video clips.

Special Effects - Transitions

Transitions are one of the easiest, and most impactful special effects for video beginners to try out. Whether you are creating a quick vlog, TikTok clip, or professional tutorial, product promo, transitions help video flow smoothly from one scene to the next. They can also hide jump cuts, elevate storytelling, and give the video professional feel without requiring advanced editing skills.

Video Special Effects - Transition

Special Effects - Color Correction

Transition levels up storytelling, color correction, however, elevates your video clips. Different from basic brightness or saturation adjustments, color grading shapes the entire mood, emotion, and visual identity of your footage. You can make a scene go cinematic, warm, and nostalgic, cool and modern, or bold and dramatic. In a word, it is a powerful way to give your video a polished, professional finish that stands out immediately.

Video Special Effects - Color Correction

Special Effects - Motion Graphics

Motion Graphics are animated graphic elements used to add information, style, and visual interest to your video. Instead of real objects, motion graphocs rely on shapes, text, icons, and illustrations brought life through movement. They are especially helpful to make videos clearer, more dynamic, especially for social media videos, tutorials, marketing content, and explainers.

Video Special Effects - Motion Graphics

Special Effects - Overlay

Think of overlays as decorative layers that sit above the main footage. They are popular because they are easy to apply and can drastically change the tone of a clip without complex editing. Common overlays include bokeh, particles like snow, rain, sparkles, light leaks, shape or color overlays, etc.

Video Special Effects - Overlay

Special Effects - Speed Ramp

Speed ramping is a technique that smoothly speeds up or slows down parts of a video to emphasize action or emotion. It is widely used in sports videos, action clips, music videos, and social media videos. It draws the viewer's attention exactly where you want it and makes ordinary footage feel dynamic and professional.

Video Special Effects - Speed Ramp

Special Effects - Reverse Your Video

Video Reverse is a simple yet powerful way to add creativity and surprise to your videos. As its name suggest, it plays your footage backward, creating a visually striking or humorous effect. Common uses include making objects appear to fly back into place, rewinding actions like spilling water, etc.

Video Special Effects - Video Reverse

Special Effects - Green Screen

Green screen, also known as Chroma key, are widely used in TV series production. It lets you replace a solid-color background, usually green or blue, with any image or video you want. Embrace the unlimited flexibility to craft scenes that would be expensive, dangerous, or impossible to film in real life.

Video Special Effects - Green Screen

Special Effects - Masking & Tracking

Motion Tracking means sticking something to a moving object. You can track a moving face with mosaic to blur face in video, add call-out titles to a person or vehicle to give audiences a better view. Masking and motion tracking is a powerful combo. You can isolate an object and have an effect follow it perfectly.

Video Special Effects - Motion Tracking

Special Effects - Audio Enhancement

Audio enhancement is as important as visual editing. Poor audio can make beautiful footage feel amateurish, while polished sound can elevate a simple clip to a cinematic experience. There are several ways to level up audio files, you can increase audio clarity by reducing background noise, or bring in audio

Video Special Effects - Audio Enhancement

Special Effects - Animate Images Using AI

AI Image to Video is the latest cutting-edge technique where static images are transformed into dynamic video clips. Instead of applying simple movements, it animates any elements in the image and bring life to still images. For instance, you can make a portraits blink, smile, look around, dance, turn sketches into short animated videos.

How to Apply Special Effect to Video

You can achieve all video effects mentioned above at FlexClip, even if you are a video editing beginner. It successfully balances the ease of use and professionalism, thanks to FlexClip's simple interface, easy tools, as well as beautiful presets.

Click the Create a Video button below to embark the special effect journey. By the way, FlexClip also comes with 6000+ video templates whose theme range from birthday, festivals, to ads, business presentations. Check them out and make them yours.

Create a Video View Templates

Step 1. Upload Resources

Head over to the Media section, upload your video clips from cloud services, mobile devices, or a local folder, then apply them to the timeline. Drag and drop will also do.

Upload Resources to FlexClip

Step 2. Touch Up Your Video with Special Effects

All FlexClip features are lying in 3 places, the timeline, the bar above the preview window, and the left-side panel.

In the timeline, you can trim, split videos, and most importantly, apply transitions between the scenes. These are basic features that make the video go smooth.

Basic Editing Tools in Timeline

Above the preview window, you have access to more advanced features like cropping, speed ramp, filters, color correction, green screen, motion tracking, audio enhancement, etc. Select the special effects you want to use, then apply them to your video.

More Advanced Editing Tools Above the Preview Window

More preset resources are on the left panel. You can apply call-out titles, shapes, widgets, overlays to your video in just one click.

Built-In Resources

Step 3. Export & Share

FlexClip offers the ultimate freedom of sharing your video. Besides exporting to a local folder, you have to option of saving video to cloud service, sharing video via a short link, or post to social media directly.

Frequently Asked Questions About Special Effects

Are special effects only for professional editors?

No, many beginner-friendly video editors like FlexClip, CapCut make applying special effects easy and handy, even for video editing beginners.

Do special effects slow down video exporting?

Simple effects like color correction, and text animations don't. Some effects like motion tracking, heavy transitions may increase export time, depending on your device and video resolution.

Can overusing special effects ruin a video?

Yes, too many effects can make a video feel chaotic and unprofessional. Use them wisely and make sure each special effect you are using support the story and visual style.

Elena /

Member of PearlMountain Limited. Has a mania for video editing. Love to share photo/video shooting tips and ideas.