Unit 6 | Effects, Keyframes & Compositing

Introduction

A Premiere-native replacement for the old After Effects unit. Applying and reusing effects, animating properties with keyframes, keying out a green screen, and combining mattes, masks, and picture-in-picture. Building toward a polished title sequence or effects reel.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Apply effects via presets, adjustment layers, and copy/paste attributes
  • Animate position and opacity using keyframes with eased interpolation
  • Key out a green screen and composite over a new background
  • Build masks, track mattes, and a keyframed picture-in-picture layout

Calendar of Events for This Unit

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday
1/41/51/61/71/8
S | 5F | 6.1F | 6.1F | 6.2F | 6.2
1/111/121/131/141/15
F | 6.3F | 6.3F | 6.4F | 6.4S | 6
1/181/191/201/211/22
Martin L. King DayS | 6S | 6S | 6S | 6
1/21: Report Card grades open in Infinite Campus (MP2); 1/21: Report Card grade verification window opens (through 2/8)

Lessons

Unit Vocabulary

Effect Preset
A saved combination of one or more effects with specific settings, applied in one click and reusable across clips or projects.
Adjustment Layer
A transparent layer that applies its effects to everything beneath it in the stack, without altering the original clips directly.
Nesting
Placing an entire sequence inside another sequence as a single clip. Useful for applying one effect to a whole group of edited clips at once.
Copy/Paste Attributes
Copying a clip’s effects and settings, then pasting them onto other clips. A fast way to apply the same look to many clips without rebuilding it each time.
Keyframe
A marker that sets a property’s value (position, opacity, scale) at a specific point in time. Premiere animates smoothly between two or more keyframes.
Temporal Interpolation
How a value changes over TIME between keyframes. Linear (constant speed) vs. eased (gradual speed changes).
Spatial Interpolation
How a value changes through SPACE between keyframes. A straight-line path vs. a smooth curved path.
Ease In / Ease Out
A keyframe interpolation style that gradually speeds up or slows down motion, instead of starting and stopping abruptly.
Opacity
How transparent or solid a layer is, animatable with keyframes to create fades or reveals.
Keying
Removing a specific color or brightness value from a shot to make it transparent, usually to composite in a different background.
Chroma Key
Keying out a specific color (typically green or blue). The standard “green screen” technique.
Luma Key
Keying out a specific brightness value (light or dark) rather than a color.
Ultra Key
Premiere’s primary chroma keying effect, with controls for key color, matte generation, and spill suppression.
Spill
Unwanted color (usually green) reflecting off a subject from the screen behind them. Needs to be suppressed for a clean key.
Matte
A shape or image used to define what part of a layer is visible or hidden.
Mask
A path drawn directly on a clip to hide or reveal part of it. The hand-drawn version of a matte.
Track Matte
Using one clip’s luminance or alpha channel to control the transparency of another clip layered above or below it.
Alpha Channel
The part of a pixel that stores transparency information, separate from its color (RGB) data.
Picture-in-Picture (PiP)
A smaller video frame displayed within a larger one, commonly scaled and positioned using keyframed transform properties.
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