Synchronizing the Hider Object to the Action

Now we need to adjust the movement of the "hider" object so that it synchronizes with the movement of the baby's face. To do so, we use keyframes. To enable the ellipse to track correctly, we'll adjust its location over a series of keyframes to be sure that it moves on exactly the same track of motion as the object that it is supposed to be hiding. We only need to mark a small set of keyframes and Premiere Elements will do all of the work of "tweening," that is, filling in the points in between the keyframes that we set.

Enable Motion (Animation) for the Ellipse

Select the Title 01 clip on the Video 3 track on the Timeline, if it's not already selected.

Go to the Properties panel and click on the triangle next to Motion to view the controls.

Click Show Keyframes and expand this panel.

Click the Toggle animation button to enable motion effects.

Did You Know?

There are individual Toggle animation buttons for all of the Motion settings. Premiere Elements enables you to make large and small adjustments as needed to every possible motion-related setting. These include Position, Scale, Scale Width, Rotation, and Anchor Point. You can even control the Anti-Flicker setting frame-by-frame should you need to.

Setup the Motion Effect and Set the Initial Keyframes

Scrub the CTI to the end of the clip (00;00;01;10).

Timesaver

Press the Page Down key on your keyboard to jump to the end of the clip. Then use the right-arrow and left-arrow keys on your keyboard to move back and forth through the clip, a frame at a time.

Click directly on the clip in the Monitor panel. This will enable you to move the matte in the Monitor panel with your mouse, rather than have to enter numbers in the motion control area.

Drag the Title 01 clip with your mouse as needed to better cover the baby's face:

• The new position should be at or near 345.0 215.0.

Timesaver

Premiere Elements automatically inserts a keyframe for Position at this point, because you made a change to the location of the object.

Insert Additional Keyframes

Move the CTI to the approximate center point of the clip.

Drag the Title 01 clip again until it again covers the baby's face.

Move the CTI to a point halfway between the keyframe at the start of the clip and the keyframe at the middle of the clip.

Move the Title 01 clip again, as needed.

Continue adding a few more keyframes in this way until most of the movement of the baby's head has been covered.

Did You Know?

You can use the Opacity control to keep an eye on things. You can set the Opacity for the hider clip (Title 01) down to around 70 or 80% or so while you're working. This can help you more precisely locate the Hider object for situations where there are, for example, multiple people walking down the street together or seated together on a couch and you need to see the action a little more clearly. Remember to reset Opacity back to 100% when you have finished setting all of your keyframes.