Shotcut tutorial · companion page
Two copies of the same clip, one Gaussian blur, and one elliptical mask flipped to Subtract — that is the entire effect. The edges of the frame go soft, the centre stays sharp, and the shot picks up the falloff of an old cinema lens.
Reading in another language? Use the translate picker in the header, or your browser’s own translate command — the Shotcut filter, control and value names are marked to stay in English so they still match what is on your screen.
The effect is not a preset and it is not a plugin. It is a blurred duplicate of your own footage with a hole punched in the middle of it, sitting on top of the sharp original.
The top copy of the clip is blurred wholesale, then an elliptical mask subtracts the middle out of it. What survives is blur around the rim only — the sharp original shows through the hole.
Because the frame gets progressively softer outward, the eye is pushed toward the middle of the shot. It is a composition tool, not just a texture.
Old cinema glass never resolved evenly to the corners. Faking that falloff is what gives modern digital footage the look people recognise from Netflix cinematography.
Dark backgrounds with bright point sources hide the seam and bloom nicely when blurred. On flat daylight footage the mask edge is far easier to spot.
[ this is actually a characteristic of those vintage lenses that creates this blurry vignette around that ]
Ben Espanto · 6:50
Click any screencap or timestamp to play that chapter from its exact second, right here in the card. Quotes are transcribed verbatim from the audio.
“Have you ever watched one of those Netflix movies and noticed that some of them had that cinematic blurred edges effect?”
The source clip, untouched — a night rooftop bar with neon rigging and city lights behind it. Exactly the footage this technique is built for.
“So this tutorial will be done on Shotcut version 26.4.30.”
The About Shotcut dialog confirms the build on screen: version 26.4.30, free and open source. Filter names and panel layout below match this release.
“So I find this technique best to work on nighttime shots, especially if there’s like neon lights or dark.”
Nothing built yet — the clip is sitting in the playlist as a proxy. The footage choice is made before any filter is added, and it decides whether the effect reads or not.
“So I’m going to start out with a stock video that I downloaded, which is this one here, done at nighttime.”
The clip is dragged out of the playlist and dropped onto the timeline. Source file 14297607_3840_2160_24fps.mp4, 16.383 seconds long, loaded as a proxy.
“And then I’m going to create another video track, make a copy of this using control C and then pasting it right on the top track.”
Two tracks, the same clip on each, aligned at zero. V1 stays untouched and sharp; the top copy is the one that gets blurred and masked.
“And what I’m looking for, my favorite type of blur is usually Gaussian blur.”
Blur: Gaussian added to the top clip only. Amount 15.2%, Blur alpha checked. At this point the entire frame is soft — the mask has not been added yet.
“So now that we have that, I believe all we need is a second filter, which is Mask: Simple Shape. And in this one, we want to have the ellipse, right, which is the circular one.”
Second filter stacked under the blur. Operation still reads Overwrite and Shape is Ellipse, so the blur is trapped inside the circle — which is backwards from what we want.
“What I want to do is I want to do the opposite of that, which is subtract.”
Operation switched to Subtract and the ellipse dragged out past the frame edges — Position −21, −11, Size 3,875 × 2,175. Blur now lives everywhere except the middle. This one dropdown is the whole trick.
“So an easy way to see where that edge is is if I add another track here… I’m just going to grab a color.”
A green colour clip dropped underneath makes the invisible mask boundary visible — the green shape is exactly the sharp zone. Three tracks now: blurred copy on V3, green on V2, original on V1.
“Okay, so now I’m going to turn off this middle filter so that the bottom shines through and then what we can do is kind of eyeball it.”
The green layer is hidden and the real footage is back. Softness is briefly down at 7.03% here — a tight, hard-edged vignette — before it is opened back up.
“…and really the idea of this is to put more of the emphasis or more of the focus toward the center of the video and this is actually a characteristic of those vintage lenses that creates this blurry vignette around that.”
The finished look with the final numbers on screen: Subtract, Ellipse, Position −6, −251, Size 3,864 × 2,814, Rotation 0.0 deg, Softness 25.78%.
“So what do you think? I’d love for you guys to try it out and make a comment if you’ve actually used it in one of your videos and share it here.”
End card — subscribe, plus a pointer to the Bentacular travel and food channel where these techniques actually get used.
Every number below was read off the screen in the video. Nothing here is a recommended-sounding guess — if a value is not stated, it is because it was never shown.
Night exteriors, neon, dark backgrounds with bright point sources. The mask boundary is a soft gradient, and dark frames conceal it; flat daylight footage exposes it.
In the video the source is a downloaded stock clip, 14297607_3840_2160_24fps.mp4, opened as a proxy. The player status bar reads “Proxy and preview scaling are ON at 720p” — that is a playback-performance setting only and does not change the export.
Drag the clip from the Playlist down into the Timeline. This bottom copy is your sharp original and it never gets a filter.
Use the Timeline menu → Track Operations to add a video track. Then select the clip on V1, copy it with Ctrl+C, and paste it onto the new top track so both copies start at zero.
Alignment matters. If the two copies are offset by even a frame, the sharp centre will not line up with the blurred surround and the edge will smear.
Select the top clip, open Filters, add Blur: Gaussian. In the video the Amount lands at 15.2% with Blur alpha checked.
Amount is taste. More blur means a heavier, dreamier rim; less keeps it subtle. 15.2% is a moderate setting on a 4K frame.
With the blurred clip still selected, add a second filter. Type mask into the filter search and choose Mask: Simple Shape — not Mask: Apply, not Mask: From File. Set Shape to Ellipse.
Order matters: the mask filter must sit after the blur in the filter list so it is masking the blurred result.
Out of the box the mask keeps the blur inside the ellipse — a blurry middle with sharp corners, the opposite of the look. Change Operation to Subtract and the relationship inverts: the ellipse becomes a hole, and blur survives only around it.
This single dropdown is the effect. Everything after it is sizing and taste.
The mask boundary is a gradient you cannot see against dark footage. Open a Color clip, pick a loud green — hex #55aa00, which the timeline labels #FF55AA00 with its alpha prefix — and place it on a track beneath the blurred copy. The subtracted centre now reveals the green, showing you exactly where the sharp zone starts and stops.
With the green visible, drag the ellipse handles until the green shape covers everything you want sharp, then push it slightly past the top and bottom of the frame so only the rim blurs.
Toggle the green track off (or delete it) and judge the effect on the real footage. Softness is the taste dial — around 7% gives a tight, defined edge and around 26% gives a long, gentle falloff. The finished setting in the video is 25.78%.
Delete or hide the colour layer before you export. It is a visualisation aid, not part of the look.
Read directly off the frames of the video. Where a value changed on screen, the tuning path is shown separately below.
| Setting | Value | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Shotcut version | 26.4.30 | Help → About Shotcut |
| Project video mode | 3840 × 2160, 29.97 fps, 2ch | Title bar |
| Source clip | 14297607_3840_2160_24fps.mp4 | Playlist |
| Source duration | 00:00:16.383 | Playlist |
| Proxy / preview scaling | ON at 720p (clip loaded as PROXY) | Player status bar |
| Track stack, final | V3 blurred copy / V2 green colour clip / V1 original | Timeline |
| Filter 1 | Blur: Gaussian | Top (blurred) copy only |
| Blur amount | 15.2 % | Blur: Gaussian |
| Blur alpha | Checked | Blur: Gaussian |
| Filter 2 | Mask: Simple Shape | Same clip, stacked after the blur |
| Shape | Ellipse | Mask: Simple Shape |
| Operation | Overwrite → Subtract | Mask: Simple Shape |
| Position, final | −6, −251 | Mask: Simple Shape |
| Size, final | 3,864 × 2,814 | Mask: Simple Shape |
| Rotation | 0.0 deg | Mask: Simple Shape |
| Softness, final | 25.78 % | Mask: Simple Shape |
| Colour layer | #55aa00 · labelled #FF55AA00 | Color clip, below the blurred copy |
| Colour layer role | Temporary visualisation aid | Hide or delete before export |
| Stage | Operation | Position | Size | Softness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First placement | Overwrite | 541, 505 | 1,763 × 791 | 20.00 % |
| Pushed past the frame edges | Subtract | −21, −11 | 3,875 × 2,175 | 20.00 % |
| Nudged with the green guide on | Subtract | 41, −11 | 3,817 × 2,175 | 17.19 % |
| Tightened, colour layer off | Subtract | −6, −251 | 3,864 × 2,814 | 7.03 % |
| Final | Subtract | −6, −251 | 3,864 × 2,814 | 25.78 % |
Softness is the one number worth playing with: roughly 7% to 26% covers everything shown in the video, from a defined rim to a long gradual falloff. The slider was momentarily swept to 100% at 4:22 while the ellipse handles were being dragged.
Machine transcribed from the video audio. Spoken phrasing is left as-is; only the product and filter names Whisper mangled have been corrected. Every timestamp plays the video in the hero from that second.
Have you ever watched one of those Netflix movies and noticed that some of them had that
cinematic blurred edges effect?
In this quick tutorial, I will demonstrate how Shotcut can actually replicate that look
easily.
So stay tuned.
I'm just a normal person with no video editing background.
I wanted to start making YouTube videos and maybe cool transitions and effects.
I don't really plan on being a professional video editor.
So I was looking for a free, easy to learn video editing software.
Luckily I stumbled on Shotcut, a free open source video editing program that can do many
of the tricks you can do on more enterprise video editors like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci
Resolve, but with a much simpler and leaner interface, thus dramatically shortening the
learning curve.
It just takes using your imagination.
So let's learn together.
So this tutorial will be done on Shotcut version 26.4.30.
So this trick is actually really quick and easy to do, and hopefully I can demonstrate
it within five minutes.
So I find this technique best to work on nighttime shots, especially if there's like neon lights
or dark.
I just find it working better in dark backgrounds.
So I'm going to start out with a stock video that I downloaded, which is this one
here, done at nighttime.
So all I'm going to do is I'm going to drag it into the timeline.
And then I'm going to create another video track, make a copy of this using control C
and then pasting it right on the top track.
So now you have two identical versions of the same video.
And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to turn off the visibility of the top track
just so we just see the bottom.
Again, I'm just going to play it through like that.
So now we turn the visibility back on of the top track.
I'm going to go to the top track and I'm just going to go to filters.
And I'm just going to go to blur.
And what I'm looking for, my favorite type of blur is usually Gaussian blur.
So now I'm going to go in Gaussian blur and I'm just going to go and blur to my ideal blur,
which is probably right there again.
So here's the difference.
That's the top track.
This is the bottom track.
And so what I'm hoping is to create kind of a vignette of a vignette blur at the edge
that progressively gets sharper as we get to the middle.
So now that we have that, I believe all we need is a second filter,
which is Mask: Simple Shape.
And in this one, we want to have the ellipse, right, which is the circular one.
And then I'm going to go here, hold on a second.
And I'm going to take the handles all the way
close to the edge here and then drag this all the way to the edge here.
And what's going to happen is it's going to blur the entire thing again.
And then what I want
is actually the opposite.
So because what it's doing right now is it's blurring the middle and then it gets
sharper all the way to the edge.
What I want to do is I want to do the opposite of that, which is subtract.
And now that I have that, I can just adjust
how big or small that middle circle is.
So I'm just going to
let's see here.
So an easy way to see where that edge is is if I add another track here,
I'm going to move that.
I'm just going to grab a color.
So I'm just going to say color and then I'm going to choose.
Let's say green here.
And then I'm going to drag it here in that middle spot there
so that it'll show you where the actual vignette of that blur is.
So now we can go back to the filter
and go to Mask: Simple Shape
and then kind of control
how far or how close to the edge we want that blur, right?
So we want that to go on almost to the edge.
And actually this one here,
we can probably make that go a little higher
like that and this a little lower
because really what we want is just blurred
at the edge.
Okay, so now I'm going to turn off this middle filter
so that the bottom shines through
and then what we can do is kind of eyeball it.
Again, if you don't think the blur is blurry enough,
you can actually go and increase the blur like that
and then go back into here
and then you can change the softness
that's really soft and then...
So I think that's the perfect amount of blur at the edge
and you can kind of play around
and really the idea of this is to put more of the emphasis
or more of the focus toward the center of the video
and this is actually a characteristic of those vintage lenses
that creates this blurry vignette around that
and you see that typically with the cameras
that they use in some of the Netflix videos
and so really that's it.
That's all you have to do.
So what do you think?
I'd love for you guys to try it out
and make a comment
if you've actually used it in one of your videos
and share it here.
I'd like to see some of the use cases
that you've used for this technique
and short and sweet.
So until next time,
thank you for watching
and I hope you enjoyed this video
like and subscribe if you haven't.
I'll see you next time.
I just want to remind you that if you haven't yet
go visit my channel.
I'm sure you'll find tons of Shotcut related videos
and don't forget to subscribe
so that you know when I drop a new Shotcut related tutorial.
If you ever wondered what I do with these techniques
I actually implement them on my own videos
in my travel and food review channel called Bentacular.
Please stop by and visit
and I would love for you to subscribe as well.
Once again, I'll see you next time.
