Since starting this site, I have had many comments and critiscisms about the effects I do, but I have found that most people seem to ask me how I did the effect, similar to Piper's freezing, from Charmed. After finally finding a good amount of time to do it, I have finally managed to put together a small text based tutorial to show you.

Ok then, lets get the show on the road!

To start off, you want to plan the effect out. Think about what will happen, and try to modify it accordingly. You want to make your life as easy as possible remember! This means, keep the camera stationary (Hello Mr. Tripod!), and keep the lighting the same level (Hello Mrs White Balance). I will be using the same circumstance as in my effect video. Dropping an object (In this case, a soft toy) and freezing it as it drops.

Ok then, so you've filmed your effect, and captured it onto your computer. Next open up AE, and import your footage.

Goto File - Import - File. A pop-up dialogue will appear to browse to and import your file.

Create a new composition, that is the same size and length as your footage.

Now, scroll through the footage, until you get to the point where the object should freeze.

Next, you want to save the frame, and import it back into your footage.

Goto Composition - Save Frame As - File...

The Render Que will pop up. In the Output To field, change the name to something helpful(Like frozen.psd, or background.psd etc) and select where to save the file. Click OK.

Import the file you just saved back into AE.

File - Import - File

(Just click on OK, when it asks you about the Alpha channel)

Now drag your still image to the timeline, making it sure it is above your footage layer.

Next, click on the pen tool, and click around your object, to create a mask. Make sure you click on the first point of the mask, to close the mask. You should have something similar to below.

Depending on your shot, you may need to feather the mask slightly. In my case I did, as my lighting wasn't constant. (Damn sun!) With your still image layer selected, press "F" to bring up the mask feather dialogue. You shouldn't need to feather it too much. About 5-10 pixels is usually ok. But bear in mind it may be different on your footage!

Next, duplicate the still image.

(Make sure that the image layer is selected, and not the mask, otherwise you will duplicate the mask instead!) Goto Edit - Duplicate

Now, drag this layer BELOW your footage layer. Then set the Mask's mode from "Add" to "Subtract".

Next, select the top layer, and open out the Mask, list to reveal "Mask Shape". Click on the little stopwatch for Mask Shape.

Now move BACKAWRDS one frame. (Press Page Up)

Move the mask all the way off of the composition window.

This will automatically create a new key frame, for mask shape.

If you preview it now, it is starting to look good, but the object is still falling behind the masked object.

Select the footage layer, and goto the frame your object freezes.

Using the pen tool, create a mask, of where the object falls. i.e. a long mask, from the object, to the bottom of the image. Set this mask mode to subtract.

Show the mask shape stopwatch for the footage layer, just like you did previously. Click the stopwatch, to enable key frames, and move back one frame, to move the mask right off the composition.

In the image above, you can see a black ring around my object. This is because of the feathering of the mask at the beggining. If you didn't feather your mask, then you shouldn't need to worry about the next part.

To resolve the black ring, select the bottom layer, and change it's mask feather to 0.

You will also want to contract the mask slightly. This is the opposite of expand, so in the mask expansion field, put a negative value. I used -10 for my example, but yours may be different.

And that's it! All thats left to do is add some sound, and you're all done! To see a completed version of this tutorial click here