Whether or not you’re new to using Premiere Pro CC, there are always a variety of new techniques and editing skills you can add to your post-production repertoire. This is especially true if you’re in need of new transition styles since the conventional cutting from one clip to another can’t always give you the creative vibe that you may be looking for.
Thanks to Premiere Pro expert Kyler Holland, here’s an interesting transition called the Freeze Frame effect that can be pulled off in a matter of minutes by following a few easy steps.
The effect is pretty self-explanatory. Let’s say you have a two shorts: A and B. The way the effect works is that you take a still of your subject from Shot B, isolate it, and then place the newly-created quick bits in Shot A before cutting to Shot B. If you watch the video you’ll get a better understanding of the effect’s potential when it comes to transitioning between clips.
To tackle this technique, first, start by putting your clips together (A and B). Select Clip B and find a frame that you want to use to isolate your subject. Then export a still image by clicking on the camera icon in your program monitor. Afterward, import the screengrab into Premiere and place it in the timeline on top of your edits. You should also reduce the length to a few frames.
Now, select the imported still and under the Opacity properties, click on the Pen tool and begin masking out your subject. Since your still image isn’t going to be on-screen for too long, it’s not necessary to make the mask path perfect since masking can quickly become a long and tedious process.
After you’ve masked out your subject, increase the feather to your desired value. The amount of feathering will affect how much of the elements outside of the mask blend into your subject.
Finally, all you need to do is take your masked frozen still and implement it into your edit. What Holland did in the video was that he grabbed a few frames and scattered them around his clip, allowing him to introduce the next piece seamlessly with the masked subject.
Of course, you can take this concept a step further and run with it by changing up other settings. For instance, you could play around with the feathering of your mask and place the screengrab randomly here and there which eventually should allow you to gradually introduce the environment of the next shot by creating this awesome ghosting effect taking place in between.
[source: Kyler Holland]
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