It's all very well adding that aged effect to digital, but it's uses are somewhat limited. Thankfully the Looks Suite presets included with Magic Bullet Editors lets you do more than just destroy video. Familiar to users of Movie Looks bundled with Premiere 1.5, these presets mimic distinctive film looks used in the likes of Matrix and Three Kings, but are now fully costumisable. Of course, not every Looks Suite preset mimics a certain film and there's a variety of generic presets to give you looks from warmth to shallow and cold.

I'm not quite sure the motivation behind some of the preset names, but I'd have thought naming them after the films that inspired them would be an idea. No so the makers of Magic Bullet. Although some of the names are glaringly obvious (you can't go wrong with Basic Black & White), film inspired looks have more cryptic names: Miami is Bad Boys and Neo inspired by Matrix. Not too hard to figure out, but rather frustrating when you want a quick reference to what the effect resembles.

This point is made more relevant when you consider that each preset must applied to the timeline to be previewed. The downloadable PDF manual doesn't help matter by not including examples and the comparison chart featured on the makers website seems to have mysteriously disappeared! To help illustrate the various effects, I've included below a table of example presets. Please note that these effects will obviously differ from footage to footage depending on the lighting conditions! On this point, Red Giant go at pains to point out in the manual that Magic Bullet isn't a substitute for good basic shooting techniques!

My favoured wedding video filter, white diffusion adds a glow to light areas - such as the bride's gown. Great for making the bride stand out!

Inspired by Jerry Maguire, this is another preset to make your subjects more camera friendly (always makes it look like they've been on a good holiday to me)

The variety of "tint" effects add a wash of a particular colour to your video. Some may be too much for badly lit subjects.

Better suited to sun drenched shots, this pastel effect give a pastel look to colours

Neo is the one for Matrix fans.

Give your film that glorious Technicolour feeling and turn any film into a song and dance

The dream look is one of the more obvious names

These are just a selection from over 50 presets included in Magic Bullets. As Red Giant so rightly point out, not every effect will work with your particular video and as ever the videographer should pay attention to filming conditions on the day to ensure post production nightmares are minimised!