Ease of Use
BCC5 is easy to use. What takes the most time is becoming familiar enough with the various effects to understand which ones can accomplish which results. But the presets make complicated effects happen at the touch of a button. The Pixel Chooser enables limiting the effect by shape (ie masking), and motion tracking, which could be a complicated multi-step processes if it were done outside of the effect in AE, and might not be possible in a native editor.
Depth of Options
BCC5 is the richest, deepest, effects library I’ve used for filmmaking. There are several effects that I experimented with, but didn’t include in this article due to space and time. One of these was Simple Wire Removal, another was BCC Fire. BCC5 also includes a Matchmove filter that enables one clip to be compositied and motion tracked onto another clip, an Uprez filter that preserves detail when increasing the resolution of a DV shot to HD, and a Pan-and-Zoom filter that enables animation over a larger still image. There are an array of time-motion effects. And there is a whole set of keying and compositing effects. There is even a “Fast Flip” effect for filmmakers using 35mm adapters (like the Redrock Micro M2 without the microX) that invert the image and need to turn the image in post.
Each effect comes with at least one preset, and sometimes a dozen presets. The controls are readily available to customize or fine tune any effect. And most of the effects work with the built-in Pixel Chooser that allows you to limit the effect by shape, mask, color range, and to add motion tracking. The effects also integrate with all of the After Effects tools.
Performance
BCC5 performs very well. Render time varies with the type of effect and the number of effects being used, as expected. However, the effects worked flawlessly for me during my tests. The quality of these effects are incredibly impressive. A lot of other “film look” effects that I’ve tried create digital artifacts, sacrifice detail for color, or otherwise distort and cheapen the image. Somehow BCC5 maintains image quality and in some cases even improves it.
Value
After putting BCC5 through extensive tests, I have to tell you that in my opinion, BCC5 easily doubles the value of its host software.
Final Comments
Microfilmmakers often have to compromise on location, time of day, weather conditions, and what kind of equipment we can use. Whether it’s uprez-ing DV footage for use in an HD project, using still images when stock footage isn’t available, compensating for not having the time or availability of sophisticated filters, or changing the lighting and mood of a scene from what it was in reality to what we wish it was for the story – BCC5 has it all. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for filmmakers.
