The Basics of Video Editing
Skill Sixteen: Dragging and re-sizing multiple clips so that they play simultaneously
I'm sure you've watched a movie or television show where two or more video clips play simultaneously, perhaps cross fading (one clip fades out, while another fades in), or in split screens where all the clips are observable in separate parts of the screen. Here's where you can pretend you're a Hollywood director. First, make sure there are at least two video tracks. Second, drag two clips from the media library into separate tracks. (You can even drag the same clip into two separate tracks, creating two identical video clips. Why you'd want to do this is a good topic for a film directors' symposium. One reason is to create a zoomed-in version and a normal version playing simultaneously.) Drag the clips so that they are aligned on the timeline in the way you prefer, vertically to play simultaneously, offset to have one play first, then the other clip (or clips) begin playing a little later. There are lots of ways you can combine two or more clips.
If both clips are the same size, the clip on the lowest track will appear in front of the screen. You can adjust the size of a clip by right-clicking it and then adjusting the corners on the preview screen. You can also drag the clip so that it covers different parts of the screen by hovering the mouse cursor over the video on the preview screen, then left-clicking and holding the mouse button while you drag it. Later on we'll learn how to do things like rotate the clip so that it appears upside down or at an angle. You can do many powerful and visually stimulating things using this sort of split screen technique.
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