editing technique
 

does anyone know how I would simulate someone's eyes waking up from a sleep like say the fluttering of the eyelids and blur.

thanks shawn

try Luca's free Dual Flicker filter ... its provide quite a nice random flicker effect

dual flicker plugin
lucas_flash_transition
MainMenu

how are you at Motion or After Effects? You would need to animate a shape that would mask off part of the image by opening and closing. The shape would be elliptical, picture a white ellipsis on a black background, keyframe the shape from a full ellipsis compressing (closing in on itself) in a manner that simulates how the eyeball disappears from sight as the eyelid closes.

Place this clip on your FCP timeline, with the video clip to which you want to apply the effect on the video track above with the composite mode set to Travel Matte - Luma. Whatever is white in the clip below (which is your white ellipsis) will be 100% opacity, whatever is black will be 0% opacity. In order to make it convincing, you will want to apply a slight blur to the shape in order to soften the edge a bit.

Make adjustments until it feels right.

effects
 

Andy and mike thanks for your response mike im pretty good at motion so I will
take a wack at that. andy illl check that filter out too maybe I can use both.

shawn

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make someone's mouth open/close in After Effects. Use the same technique on your eyelids.

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