[John Cuevas]

If for some reason the shape layers don’t work out, you could always create a shape layer that’s a line, and just add a repeater to it.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

No worries about being new. Use the third to last icon to upload a picture. After you upload it, it should appear in a column on the right side of the window, click on it and you should appear in the box on the left with and “Embed” code. Copy and paste the embed code into your reply.

From adobe help site:
Guide layers are standard layers with special status. A guide layer appears in the current composition but not in any subsequent compositions or the final render (unless it is specifically overridden in Render Settings.) You can use this for

foreground reference clips (picture-in-picture timing reference, aspect ratio crop reference)
temporary backgrounds to check edges when creating a matte
text notes to yourself
adjustment layers that are used only to check images (described further in the next chapter); a layer can be both an adjustment and a guide layer
Any image layer can be converted to a guide layer either by context-clicking it or by choosing Guide Layer from the Layer menu. (Figure 4.12).

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

If you search this forum you will find a lot of techniques for making wiggly lines. Off the top of my head, use shape layers to create the lines and add a “wiggle paths” animator. Also the effect “roughen edges” can be used to create that look.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Is the preset set to be a guide layer? Can you take upload a screen shot of your timeline?

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Looks to be a simple matte effect. IMO, they shot her on a green screen, put the wall background behind her in one pass. Then use duplicate the keyed green screen footage and use that as a track matte. That means that what you place below it(CU of her singing) will only show in the green screen body shot. Finally the opacity of the CU shot was lowered a bit.

There’s a couple of links to track mattes and tutorial about them in This THREAD

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

A link to what you are trying to achieve would be helpful.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

That means you have chosen alpha matte as a track matte. If you aren’t seeing the track matte column press “F4” An alpha matte used the layer above to cut the layer below it.

More on track mattes

Understanding track mattes: Luma and Alpha modes video tutorial

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

I just created one and it worked fine, where isn’t it working for you, in an NLE? Have you tried importing the graphic back into AE and checking there—cause some NLE’s can be finicky about how you bring in alpha’s.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

It looks like you were looking at the layer window, rather than the composition window(from you screen shot) and that’s why you would still see stuff that you trimmed.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

There are a few things happening there that make that effective. On the beat, video slows down. That could be created using using a time effect(timewarp) or just time remapping the layer.

Next the video is duplicated twice and masked and stacked above the original layer. Position keyframes move the 2 upper layers into place. The opacity of these layers isn’t 100%, and with a couple of keyframes they fade quickly out, revealing back the original image.

I made a very simplified version of the effect to illustrate the technique. 7116_pipandopacityfadefolder.zip

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.