Video Effects in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

In this series of video tutorials, we have already covered how to apply Corrections, Recolor, Video Styles, and Video Borders to your inserted videos to enhance their appearance. However, you are certainly not limited to the options mentioned above. PowerPoint 2010 does seem to spoil you as far as choices about working with video files are concerned. You can now apply Video Effects! Video Effects let you apply various effects such as shadows, glows, bevels, 3-D rotation, etc. to the selected video.

Follow these steps to learn more in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows:

1. Open your presentation, and navigate to the required slide where you have already inserted a video clip. Select or double-click the video clip to bring up the two Video Tools tabs in the Ribbon. These two tabs are Format and Playback. Click the Format tab to activate it, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below.
2. 
   Figure 1: Video Tools Format tab of the Ribbon

Contextual Tab

The Video Tools Format tab is a Contextual tab. These tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
2. When you insert a video on your slide, it may display a black rectangle on the slide, as shown in Figure 1, above. If your video clip does not show a black rectangle, then directly proceed to Step 3, below.
3. If you see the black rectangle in place of the video clip, then you will not see any Live Preview of the actual Video Styles you are applying. This is because you see a black rectangle instead of a frame associated with the video clip. To make sure you see a video frame during live preview, add a Poster Frame to your video clip, so that way you see a video frame in the place of black rectangle, as shown in Figure 2, below.
4. 
   Figure 2: Video clip with a poster frame added
3. Once you have made the video frame visible, select the Video Tools Format tab, and click the Video Effects button, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, below.
4. 
   Figure 3: Video Effects button within the Video Styles group
4. Doing so opens the Video Effects drop-down gallery, as shown in Figure 4, below.
5. 
   Figure 4: Video Effects drop-down gallery
6. Let us explore these Video Effects options as marked in Figure 4, above. For more information on how to apply these effects, refer to the linked tutorials below. Although these linked tutorials discuss the Effect options for Shapes, the procedures explained applies to Videos as well:

A. Preset

7. This option enables you to use preset combinations of the different effects available. These work well most of the time. Refer to our Apply Preset Effects tutorial for more information on how to use and edit the Preset Effects.

B. Shadow

8. Applies a shadow to the selected video. PowerPoint provides three types of shadows: outer, inner, and perspective. You can apply any of these, or customize them to meet your requirements. Refer to our Apply Shadow Effects tutorial for more information on how to use the Shadow Effect.

C. Reflection

9. Adds a reflection to the selected video clip, and you can choose from several reflection styles. Remember, you may want to avoid using Shadow and Reflection for the same slide object such as a video. Refer to our Apply Reflection Effects tutorial.

D. Glow

10. Provides a hazed, blurred color perimeter outside the video area. PowerPoint provides several glow variations; the glow colors are based on the Theme colors, although you can also choose any other color as well. Refer to our Apply Glow Effects tutorial.

E. Soft Edges

11. This effect type makes the video's edges feathered. There are some soft edges variations available. Refer to our Apply Soft Edges Effects tutorial.

F. Bevel

12. Applies bevel effects to the selected video clip. You can also customize the applied bevel. Refer to our Apply Bevel Effects tutorial.

3-D Rotation

13. Imparts parallel, perspective, and oblique 3-D effects to the selected video clip. Refer to our Apply 3-D Rotation tutorial.
5. Choose and apply any of the Video Effects to your video. Do note that you can apply multiple effects to the same video. Figure 5, below, shows the selected video clip with three effects applied (Shadow, Bevel, and 3-D Rotation). Compare Figures 2 and 5.
6. 
   Figure 5: Multiple Effects applied to one video clip
6. Play your video clip to see the difference and remember to save your presentation often.