{"id":6819,"date":"2011-09-07T14:05:50","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T19:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2021-09-15T17:04:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T22:04:50","slug":"advanced-video-editing-using-mattes-and-layers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/advanced-video-editing-using-mattes-and-layers\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Video Editing Techniques:  Using Mattes and Layers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/325577835\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"evp-RFU2E7JSYF\" data-role=\"evp-video\" data-evp-id=\"bW9tcy1kYXktdmlkZW8tdGltZWxpbmUtYW5hbHlzaXMtMS5tcDQ=\"><\/div>\n<p>This 13 minute video tutorial shows you how to use mattes and layers in video editing.\u00a0 This tutorial shows a demonstration on Final Cut, but the concepts and process are similar no matter what software you use.<\/p>\n<h2>Mattes and Layers: Advanced Video Editing Techniques<\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Matte_(filmmaking)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mattes<\/a> allow you to cut out portions of a shot.<\/strong> You can then put that cut-out portion on top of another shot so that both images show on the screen at once.\u00a0 That&#8217;s called layering.\u00a0 Any time you see more than one image on the screen at once, like a logo on top of a product shot, that&#8217;s\u00a0 layering.\u00a0 You use layering for all kinds of effects, not just mattes.\u00a0 Layering gets its name because on the video editing timeline, the shots are stacked in layers.\u00a0 The layer on top is what the viewer will see.<\/p>\n<p>Often, the shot on top has been shrunk or matted in order to let the image below show too.\u00a0 Other times, the shot on top has a transparent background to allow the shot below show through.<\/p>\n<p>(In case you are not already aware, in video editing, the shot on top is what shows.\u00a0 If it has not been shrunk or matted, it will completely cover up what is underneath.\u00a0 To allow what is underneath to show, you have to somehow eliminate some of the top shot.\u00a0 The video tutorial shows this if this text description does not make total sense.)<\/p>\n<h3>Both layering and matting techniques are demonstrated in this tutorial.<\/h3>\n<p>Additionally, I show other ways to alter your shot, like sizing.\u00a0 Final Cut is the software used in this demonstration, but since most video editing programs are more alike than they are different, the techniques shown will probably be similar to whatever program you&#8217;re using.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Using mattes and layers are both fairly advanced video editing techniques but they certainly are not difficult once you know how.<\/strong>\u00a0 Layering in particular is extremely common.\u00a0 If you place words on top of a shot, that&#8217;s layering.\u00a0 Many of the videos I edit will have 20 or 30 layers. Not all video editing programs can handle that many layers but advanced programs can handle up to an infinite number.\u00a0 I can not fathom needing to use more than 50, no matter how complex your project.\u00a0 Generally speaking, I use at least 5 or 10 layers in a basic video.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Final Cut has a variety of mattes and they are accessed by selecting the correct filter.\u00a0<\/strong> Some mattes will give you a specific shape and others allow you to mold a shape.\u00a0 Mattes are different than eliminating the background using<strong><a title=\"green screen video tutorial post\" href=\"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/how-to-green-screen-a-free-video-tutorial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> green screen <\/a><\/strong>or by lowering the opacity.\u00a0 (Opacity is related to transparency.\u00a0 If you lower the opacity of a shot you can see through it.\u00a0 If you bring the opacity down to zero, the shot will disappear. \u00a0Opacity is a form of the word opaque.)\u00a0 If you want to cut an object out precisely,\u00a0 you need to use green screen or have a completely transparent background.\u00a0 Mattes are more like a cropping tool.<\/p>\n<p>The video tutorial dissects and analyzes the timeline I created when I edited together a Mother&#8217;s Day video using still pictures of babies.\u00a0 If you want to see the final video, here it is! \u00a0In this thumbnail shot, the baby was cut out via a matte and placed on top of the pink rose.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cute Baby Pictures!\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W5HJeUUcO6w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I hope this tutorial helps you learn more about video editing.\u00a0 If you have questions or comments, please leave them in the comments section below.\u00a0 I will answer all the questions in order to help all readers.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading <em>Video Production Tips<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>Lorraine Grula<\/p>\n<p>Internet Video Gal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Detailed video tutorial showing how to use matts and layers in your timeline to display more than one image on screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1552,1564,1560,1559,1555,1563,1562,562,1557,1558],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/video_editing.png?fit=1150%2C1150&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}