Masking, Keying, and Using PenTool Instructions

In this tutorial we’ll be explaining how to use the masking tool and color keying in premiere

Masking Intro
-First drag the air balloon clip to your timeline, then select the clip.
>Go to Effect controls
Select the Opacity tab

You can select the Ellipse or rectangle mask by clicking on either icon where the green
box is located at. This gives you a default mask without you creating one.
-Mask Expansion option increases the size of the mask

-You can feather the edges of the mask by increasing the Mask Feather

-In addition, you can change the opacity by increasing Mask Opacity

-You can also click on the edges of the existing mask to Add points, allowing you to modify the
shape further and expand the mask.

Pen Tool and Masking

Now, we’ll make our own mask with the pen tool.
I’ll be demonstrating how to use the pen tool and Masking, so first for the Pen Tool you want to
make sure you’re on the
-Effect controls… then go to
-Effects Opacity… and then click on the
-Pen labeled “free draw bezier”

-You’ll then want to start to click at the bottom of the balloon and begin clicking around the
balloon to mask it.
-You can also bend the line and curve it around the balloon for it to be more accurate.
-To do that you need to click and hold to make a new point to then curve around the balloon.

-You can use these anchor points to move around the line but if you press the option key you
can move just one anchor point.
-This is really useful if you go far in one direction.
-That’s how you use the pen tool.
Now for Masking, you want to first know that you have the ability to
-Zoom in where it says “Fit” so you can see more closely.
-The mask closes when you meet with the end of the other point and it’ll close up completely.
-You will now see the air balloon surrounded by black once you close the mask and see a
feathered outline and you can adjust it on the effect controls window.

-When playing the video, the air balloon will move out of the mask. In this case, if you go to
Mask Path and toggle animation you can add a keyframe to animate the mask to move with
the balloon.

-You can move the whole masking outline or move certain points to keep the air balloon in
place.

-Premiere pro will animate it when the video plays.

Masking Outside the Frame

Alternatively, you can invert the mask to show what is outside of the frame. To do this, simply
select the invert button under the opacity mask.
- This will either show you the mountain background in the balloon mask or the balloon in the
mountain background. Whichever one is up to your choosing.

-In case you need to fix your mask that is outside the program window, you can zoom in and out
by clicking “fit” in the program window.
-Now, add the mountain clip under the air balloon clip and play back the video.
Color key
If you have a greenscreen or a subject with a solid color behind them, you can use the Color
key to get rid of the background and keep the subject.

-Add the cactus video into your timeline next to your first demo video, leaving a small gap in
between them.

-With cactus video selected, go to the effects panel and search up “key”-> go to the “Keying”
folder and select “Color Key”.
>Apply color key to video by clicking and dragging “Color Key” effect to your video.

-Next, select the clip and go to the Effects Control Panel located within the source panel above
and locate the “Color Key tab”:
-Under the Color Key tab, the first thing to do is to click on the eyedropper located next to where
it says “Key Color” and select the background color of the cactus video in the main window.

-Change the “Color Tolerance” to about 36, you should see the background turning black. Press
enter to add change.

-Change the “Edge Thin” to 4.

-Change “Edge Feather” to 2.2

-Adjust the settings if needed

-If there is still blue on the left bottom corner of the video, you may need to add another “Color
Key” effect to your cactus video again. Then select the eyedropper again and select the leftover
blue you see to get that shade of blue.
>Only change the “Color Tolerance” for this second “Color Key” effect to about 21.
-Lastly, add the mountain video at the bottom of your cactus video and play it back.