Video noob needs help w/ editing technique

rnrsh wrote on 10/24/2010, 2:56 PM
Hello. Just got Vegas MS for the purpose of editing a music video together.
I'm an absolute beginner to video editing, so without knowing the terminology, it's hard to communicate what I'm trying to do. If someone can tell me what this technique is called, then I'll be able to know what I'm looking for within the program, and will be equipped to look up help online.

The idea is to have a static shot of the singer cropped into a tight column, moving left to right over a background animation. Also might want to crop shots into rows, and do the same thing w/ vertical motion.
I figured out how to make a cropped column and have it move from side to side (crop & pan screen), but that made the picture within the column change, and I want it to stay in place.
Someone told me I'm trying to do a mask, and that's the sum total of what I know about it. :D
Thanks for any help, I'm sure there's answers on the forum already, I just didn't know what to search for.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 10/24/2010, 6:29 PM
You're halfway there. Pan/Crop lets you choose the portion of the picture you want to use. Track Motion (it's icon looks like a larger white rectangle pointing at a smaller blue one) lets you move that portion across the frame.

To pre-confuse you, note that Pan/Crop and Track Motion work exactly opposite of each other. Things in one that make the image move right will make it move left in the other. Things in one that make the image smaller make it larger in the other. Think of Pan/Crop manipulating the frame within which the picture fits, and Track Motion moving the image within the frame.
sodbuster-ca wrote on 10/24/2010, 7:41 PM
"...I'm an absolute beginner to video editing, so without knowing the terminology, it's hard to communicate what I'm trying to do....

I'm sort of a video noob as well. (I come from a music background...video NLE terminology is very different). One way to communicate with the pros here is to find an example of the "thing" you're trying to accomplish on the internet and post the link of it in this forum.

If you can't find an example on the web, then post one yourself. For example: copy a short clip from a music video, a TV show or whatever and post it on Youtube or vimeo (or your own site, etc). Then, post the link here.

Some of the pros here will know how to do it in Vegas.
rnrsh wrote on 10/25/2010, 6:26 AM
Great, that's a big help. Thanks!