How to add a filter to a video
Last updated 2026-10-20
A video filter is a preset look laid over your footage's color, such as black and white, warm, cool or faded. To add one, select a clip and pick the look in your editor's filter or color controls. Apply the same look to every clip so the video feels consistent. In Woven, choose a color Preset in the Style tab.
What a video filter is
A video filter is a preset look laid over the color of your footage. Pick black and white, warm, cool or faded, and the whole picture shifts in one move. The shapes, the framing and the timing stay as they were. Only color and tone change.
That makes a filter the quick version of color grading. You choose a name and judge the result, where a grade asks you to set each value by eye. Apple's iMovie works this way: its Clip Filter button offers preset filters such as Black and White and Sepia, and you can select one or more clips before you apply one.
| Topic | Filter | Full grade |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | One choice from a list | Several values, set by eye |
| Control | Coarse: you accept the preset's look | Fine: you tune each value |
| Best for | One mood across many similar clips | Matching clips from different cameras or light |
| Main risk | Laying one look over clips that needed fixing first | Spending time on a look the story did not need |
When a filter beats a full grade
Use a filter when the footage is already well exposed and you want a mood fast. Phone clips from one afternoon, a talking-head video shot in one room and a montage of similar shots all suit it. You get a consistent look in seconds, and you can undo it just as quickly.
Reach for a full grade when the clips disagree. One shot is bluer, another is darker, a third was filmed indoors. A filter puts the same look over all three, so the differences survive underneath it. Fix exposure and white balance first, then add the filter. The color grading guide covers that order of work.
One look on every clip, and skin tones
A filter earns its place when it is the same on every clip. Finish your cuts first, because trims and new clips change what you are matching. Then give each clip the same look and play the video through. A clip that jumps out is usually one that was treated differently, not one that needs a second filter.
Strength is where filters go wrong. A heavy warm look turns skin orange, and a heavy cool look turns faces gray. If a face looks unwell, ease the look back instead of switching to another one. Black and white sidesteps the problem because skin becomes brightness, but then contrast carries the face.
- Check a face. Pause on a still with a face in it and compare it with the unfiltered clip.
- Check the extremes. Look at your darkest and brightest clips, not the average one.
- Check the text. White titles can lose their punch on a warm or faded picture, so read them again.
How to make a video black and white
Removing color is the simplest filter and the one people search for most. Choose the black and white option in your editor, then look at contrast. With the color gone, low contrast leaves the picture dull, so add a little contrast. Whites should stay clean and blacks should keep some detail.
Decide whether you want the whole video or one moment. A video that is black and white from the first frame reads as a style. Color that drains to gray on a single line reads as a beat. The second needs an editor that can animate color over time.
Add a filter in Woven
Woven's filters are the Preset list in the Color section of the Style tab: None, B&W, Warm, Cool and Faded. A preset is not a layer on top of the clip. It writes values into the four sliders, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast and Warmth, so the sliders show the look after you pick it. Saturation and Contrast run from 0 to 200%, where 100% means unchanged. Brightness and Warmth run from -100 to +100. To soften a look, move a slider back toward 100% or 0. Color applies to video and image clips only, so text and captions keep their own colors.
Ask in chat
- Turn the whole video black and white with a touch more contrast.
- Give all the clips the Faded look, then warm up clip 3 a little.
- Apply the Warm look to everything except the title card.
- Let the last shot lose its color over its final second.
Or do it by hand
- 1Select a clip. Click a video or image clip on the timeline. The Color section is on its Style tab.
- 2Choose a Preset. Pick B&W, Warm, Cool or Faded and watch the four sliders change to the values it wrote.
- 3Tune it. Move Saturation, Brightness, Contrast or Warmth to soften or push the look.
- 4Repeat on every clip. Give each clip the same Preset and slider values, or ask in chat to apply one look to all of them.
- 5Check it. Press Space to play the video through, then step with ← and → on your darkest clip to check faces.
Common questions
Open the video in an editor with filters or color presets, select the clip and choose a look. iMovie has a Clip Filter button, and Woven has a Preset list in the Style tab.
A filter is a one-choice preset look. Color grading means setting exposure, contrast, saturation and color lean by hand, usually after correcting the footage.
Use your editor's black and white filter, then add a little contrast if the picture looks flat. Woven's B&W preset sets Saturation to 0% and Contrast to 108%.
Apply the same preset to each clip, or select several clips first if your editor allows it. iMovie does. In Woven, set each clip or ask in chat to apply one look to all of them.
Yes. Warm looks push skin toward orange and cool looks push it toward gray. Check a face before you export and ease the look back if it looks off.
Yes. Split the clip where the look should start, then set the filter on that piece only. In Woven you can also keyframe saturation to fade into black and white.
Sources
- Change the look of your iMovie project - Apple Support, checked October 20, 2026
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