How to Create a Pop-Up Message Effect in Final Cut Pro

Well hello, you beautiful person. Normally we cut the fluff and hop right in, but one thing first: you can follow along with this exact tutorial, because I've packaged the footage you need, my example shot plus the iPhone message clip, as a free download here.

Step 1: Capture the message

Change your phone's lock screen to a black background (you'll see why soon) and press-and-hold the lock screen to remove the widgets at the bottom so they don't interfere with the animation. Set up a contact card with whatever name you want shown, swipe down to start a screen recording, have that person text you the message, and stop recording.

Then film your scene with the phone visible at an angle. Tip: the effect looks best with the phone against a darker background. (The downloadable footage is already color graded, so you can skip that step.)

Step 2: Isolate the message

Drop the screen recording above your shot and crop down to just the message, leaving a little space above the white bar at the bottom so the pop-in animation survives. Now the black lock screen pays off: in the video inspector, set the blend mode to Screen, which cuts out the black entirely.

It'll wash the message out and reveal compression artifacts. Fix both: add the free Luma Keyer effect and nudge the black point left, then in the color inspector raise the midtones exposure to bring back the glassy look, ping-ponging the shadows down until the glass stays but the compression plaid disappears. Finish by raising global saturation, since the keying stole some.

Step 3: Compound, glow, and 3D position

Press Option G to compound-clip the screen recording. Why: the media's boundary sits tight against the message, and our next effect would clip at that edge. The compound resets the boundary to the full frame. Remember: after entering anything into a compound, re-set the blend mode to Screen.

Now add Glint, a free plugin from my friend Brad West, for that techy glow: adjust exposure, softness, and intensity to taste. Then position the message in 3D so it feels like it's in the room with the phone. You could use the distort tool, but the better way is 3D Orientation, a free plugin from Ryan Nangle: it swings the whole message evenly on the Y axis, keeping the proportions intact.

Step 4: Animate it from behind the phone

I want the message rising from behind the phone. Add the Draw Mask effect, think of it as scissors, and place points along the phone's top edge only (hold Command and drag a point to curve it around round corners). With the perimeter drawn, the message now animates up from underneath the phone. Add feathering in the inspector so the mask edge blends naturally.

Step 5: The reflection (the realism sauce)

Option-drag the message clip DOWN to duplicate it. On the copy: turn off the draw mask, add the free Flip effect, set direction to vertical, then use rotation and Y position to seat the mirrored copy on the phone's screen. Add a NEW draw mask, this time tracing only the screen, so the reflection lives exclusively on the glass. Then make it read as a reflection: a touch of Gaussian blur and reduced opacity. Suddenly the message is really THERE.

Step 6: Animate out and final polish

To send the message back down: compound everything again (Option G, blend mode to Screen again), trim the end with Option Right Bracket, Option-drag up to copy, hit Reverse Clip in the retime menu, trim to just the exit animation, and place it. In, hold, out.

Last touch: press Option A for an adjustment clip over the whole sequence and add the free Handheld effect, dialed way down. That slight camera drift adds just enough dynamism to sell the whole thing. Add sound design and you're done.

Grab the free practice footage and build it alongside the video above. Have fun with it!