Welcome!
We recommend having the latest version of Premiere Pro CC installed on your computer and ready to go so you can follow along. You can download the workshops assets here.
Contents:
What are Masks?
Masks are a powerful but intimidating tool in Premiere Pro that allow users to composite multiple videos or create selective adjustments.
Masks can be found under the "Effects" panel when a clip is selected. You can apply multiple masks with different effects and results. In short, a mask instructs the software where to hide or reveal parts of the video or applied affect. You can use a mask with an exposure adjustment to balance out a sky that is too bright, apply a mosaic to someone's face to provide anonymity, or even use a mask to combine multiple videos into into one clip.
Mosaic Effect
This is a common use of applying a mosaic to a specific person's face to provide anonymity
1. Make sure you are in the edit workspace
2. With your clip already imported, search for mosaic in the top right effects panel. Drag the one located in the "Stylize" folder onto your clip in the timeline
3. Change the number of horizontal and vertical blocks to your liking
4. Click on the ellipse mask tool to confine the effect to an ellipse. Size the ellipse to sufficiently cover the subject's face.
5. You can also feather the mask by pulling the open circle away from the mask. This will create an edge that fades and make the effect less dramatic.
This video also covers most of the steps although the workspace is slightly different.
Selective Adjustments
Applying a mask to an effect will allow you to isolate the adjustment to a specific part of a clip-- allowing users to create more dynamic visuals
1. With your clip selected in the timeline, find the Lumetri Color panel in the top right effects area and click to expand.
2. Open the Curves panel and drag a point on the curve upwards to increase brightness.
3. Use the effects panel in the top left to apply a mask to your taste just as you did with the mosaic effect.
4. Don't forget to feather!
Tracking a Moving Subject
Premiere Pro can apply tracking to your mask so it follows (what it thinks is) the subject. Keep in mind that it will still take time to correct mistakes!
- Make sure your playhead is at the beginning of your clip
2. In the same panel as the mask, you will see the mask path section. Click the play button and Premiere Pro will use Adobe Sensei AI to attempt track your subject!
Composite Multiple Clips
Not unlike collaging, you can use masks to combine multiple video clips to create new narratives and visuals.
1. Make sure you have one clip on top of the other. In this case the television is the top clip and we will mask out the display to reveal the clip beneath.
2. With the top clip selected, find the opacity section in the top left effect controls panel. You will find the familiar mask tools here. This time we will use the pen tool to draw the mask.
3. If you mask is the opposite of what you intended, click the inverted checkbox to reverse it.
4. That's it! Now take the time to feather and track to refine your composite.