I'm willing to bet you can guess right off the bat I'm new to this. anyway What I have is two clips, the camera stayed in the same position throughout the filming the only difference is in one clip I'm on the left side and in the other I'm on the right. Now I've tried clipping it, and I see no reason why it wouldnt work, but it just dosnt show up. I applied Alpha channel, but seemingly to no effect. what I would like to know is how to get them to play simultaneously. Its frustrating because I'm sure this is simple and I'm just missing something, I've read guides, looked at web pages but they all seem to be for something else, I must be mistaking the name I've looked at Adobe's site. but thats all for Premiere pro. anyway after looking around on here for a bit I was hoping someone could tell or point me to information on how to do this.

Thanks a million in advance

Do you mean having two videos side by side, of having them cute down the middle?

for the former, I used to use this method: www.marcpeters.co.uk/video-wall.htm (it's not perfect, but works)

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Thanks a lot

Or else just create a .psd file 720 x 576 pixels, make half of it transparent (double click the "background" layer to rename it "layer 0", then delete the background). Stick your first clip onto video 1, put the .psd pic above it, and your second clip above that. Choose "Track Matte" (or Alpha Matte)for the transparency setting. This way, one side of video 1 will display together with the other side of video 2.

Paintshop Pro can produce a layer with transparency if you don't have Photoshop. You can feather the dividing line if it makes for a smoother background blend.

I did this a lot with 6.5, but I can't figure out how to do it in Premiere Pro. It's still got me stumped.

Track Mattes work a bit different in Pro:

1) create your matte as usual
2) postion the two clips in video tracks 1 and 2, place the track matte in 3
3) go to effects > keying > track matte and drop it on the video in track 2
4) click on the video in track 2 and select the properties of the track matte in the effects controls.
5) set the matte as video 3, composite as luma and finally hide the track by clicking the eye next to track 3.

Volia. May be a minor mistake there as it's from memory!

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Aha! Now that sounds like a good approach. Thank you, Mr Peters - I've been wanting to ask this question on the forum.

Don't you think Premiere pro has some unnecessary complications? Like having to keyframe a simple bloody fade? With 6.5 tweaking the rubber bands was all you needed.

You can do a similar thing in Pro

1) expand the track by clicking on the little arrow at the far left
2) click on the square with the diamond icon (the one in the bottom right next to the arrow - when you hover over it, it displays show key frames) and make sure is displays show key frames.
3) add a key frame where you want the fade to start and again where you want it to emd
4) clcik the keyframes icon in 3 again and switch to show opacity handles
5) you can now move the keyframes up and down to increase or decrease opacity.

You can also keyframe other effects in this way. Much better, I think!

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Will try that in a while, after I've finished struggling with the Track Matte. The new posters must realise what a helpful website this is. Thanks again.

Psychninja:

From what I gathered from your post, you're trying to create the illusion that there are two of you in the same room talking (or whatever) to each other?

If so, the problem isn't in your Alpha channel, it's that you've selected "Clip", instead of "Crop".

Try this:

Open both clips in Premiere.

-Put the shot of you on the left in Video 1.
-Put the shot of you on the right in Video 2

As is, you should only see Video 2 (you on the right), as the clip has not been cropped yet.

Now, open your "Effects" tab. In the same folder you found "Clip" (Video Effects>Transform), choose "Crop". Drag it onto Video 2 in the timeline.

Open your "Effects Control" tab, and select Video 2 by clicking on it in the timeline. Open the "Crop" controls, then trim the image to wherever you see fit. You can also add an "Additive Dissolve" transition to the beginning of the clip so it fades in gently, rather than you just "popping" into the picture.

Hope that helps.

Hmmm, sounds good. Never tried this way. There's usually more than one way to achieve an effect. I like using a matte because the middle dividing line can be softened or disguised easily.