I tried doing that and for some reason it makes both clips transparent. When I lower the opacity of the top clip it becomes more transparent but the bottom one is still transparent also.

Hi JPuffy,
I think you will find that you have both video clips 'grouped'. Click on one of the clips and ungroup by hitting 'U'. You should then see that the opacity becomes seperate for each clip. Let us know if this helps. Cin

Actually, what's happening is that really only the top clip is transparent. But, wheverever the regular actors aren't in the "ghost" clip, you'll see ghosted versions of the background in front of them too. Your eyes insist on seeing it as the actors being ghosted because you think the actors are in front of the background.

You've got a couple of choices, neither of them is extremely simple.

1) Reshoot the ghost with a black background, or at least a solid, evenly lit color. That way there won't be any ghost background interfering with the other actors' background. If you use a solid color instead of black you'll have to use the chroma key effect to eliminate it.

Pro: easiest to handle while editing.
Con: requires a reshoot with a black set.

2) Create a mask around the ghost. Use this mask to only replace the area of the frame where the ghost is. This will prevent the ghost's background from overlaying the other actors. I'm not sure if the Studio version supports Bezier masks yet or not. Check the manual. If not, you'll have to create masks by rotoscoping.

Pro: doesn't require a reshoot.
Con: creating the masks is a painstaking frame by frame process (unless none of your actors move). It's also just about impossible to create a scene in which the ghost and the other actors pass in front of or behind each other.

Hi Kelly,
If one clip above another one are grouped together, and you adjust the opacity slider on either one of the clips, won't it change the opacity of both? Thanks. Cin

Cin, dunno, never tried it. Should be easy enough of an experiment.

But, that's not really the issue. If the second track really was going transparent then we would be seeing lower tracks (probably the black background) through it.

Actually I don't believe that grouping two events together causes attributes to adjust for both. Perhaps you've seen that behavior b/c, usually you multi-select two (or more) events before you group them together; then after you've grouped them, they are both still selected, so when you adjust opacity it will adjust for both. It's a function of the multi-select, not grouping.

Once the multi-select is removed, opacity (and other attributes) adjust for only the event you're manipulating, regardless of grouping.

correct me if I am wrong, but you won't see ghosted background as long as the camera is stationary (and the background scene is stationary - trees blowing or cars passing could give you a problem), except in the beginning and the end of the clip.

Why not just green screen a ghost into the scene? (get some silk and a fan to give it the theatrical look), maybe slow it down a little - ghosts float slowly don't they ;-). Seems like it would be simpler unless you are going after that trailing motion effect.

If you want a ghostly separation just take a still of the point where you want it to happen and get your green screen actor close to the same position before "the ghost" spits off to do whatever - then use the opacity and/or track motion pan/zoom to iron it all out.