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Achieving the perfect “frame-within-a-frame”
Hey Cows,
It’s my first post here! I’ve been reading for years and finally decided to make an account. My question(s) today comes for an online news show workflow, where I cut from hosts on-camera with a side window graphic (frequently the main subject’s face) to various photo & video assets. Soooo…
1. Does anyone know how to make a special Nest-type* object that can sub a smaller asset (frame within a frame) and keep everything confined to those motion properties (Position & Scale) of that original Nest*? I wanna make the smaller graphic moving, like slowly zooming in or out, but staying within the confines and exact position of the original object. Digital zoom in, but the image remains 640×480 (or whatever it is) inside our overall 1920×1080 YouTube framing, in the same spot. We achieve the desired effect with after Effects for motion, or Photoshop for simple static, then dropping previous motion assets from an old template onto them. I’m hoping there’s a way I can do this Premiere by using a nest, or multicam, or something else I have yet to discover. Right now I’m taking images and videos of varying sizes then individually (…repeatedly…) compressing down to the specific size with Ps or AE, then importing… but I’m guessing there’s a shorthand to achieve the same effect immediately within Premiere. Any ideas?
2. Slightly related, at least in my use… but is there way to ‘Scale to Frame Size,’ but according to the smaller dimensions? Let’s say I have a very tall image… for my show’s workflow, I’d motion track a Y-axis move, but since the image needs to cover the screen I first need to scale it up to fill the entire screen… not just frame size, or else there’s bottom layers spilling out on the sides. Ya know what I mean? It might not sound like much extra work, but with 15-20 images per video and 6-7 videos per day… those clicks can really add up!
I have yet to explore any user-built plug-ins / mods for Premiere and think the answer to #2 above is likely such. I’m sure there’s a bunch of places to find these gems, but if you happen to have any favorites and are responding already, I’d love to know your go-to!
Thanks, gang!
Brendan -
1 Reply
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1) A lot of this is about managing frame size. Assuming your master timeline is 1920 by 1080, create a color matte that’s also 1920-1080 and re-position it for your Picture-in-Picture. If it turns out you need to crop the matt to make it fit properly, you have to figure out what the new proportions are – this is mostly trial and error guess work, but once you can figure out that your matt needs to be, for example, 3×4 instead of 16×9, then create a new matte based on those proportions but using the 1080 as one of the sizes of your new matt. Now shrink your new matt into position and put it into your main comp.
Next create a new sequence with the proportions and exact size of the matt you’ve just made. Bring in your various photos, animate and re-position them to fill the frame and create visual movement etc. When your finished take the new timeline and drag it into the source monitor and put the playhead on the opening frame you want to use,then open your master timeline and find the opening frame of the matt insert, right click on the matt clip and choose “replace with clip in source monitor match frame” and you are done.
The hardest part is determining the proportions and size if the insert is not 1920×1080. Once you’ve figured out the right size of the matt, save the matt clip and re-use whenever you need this effect – use the matt to place in the comp, including any animations, drop shadows, or effects that you want for the PiP, then match/replace with the content timeline.
2) As far as I Know scale or set to frame size always works with the largest size of the object. I know what you are looking for but there is no way to automate this that I know of.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin\’ attached to nothin\’
\”Deciding the spine is the process of editing\” F. Bieberkopf
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