Premiere Pro Ghost Frame Effect

Getting the Project Files

1. Download the project files.
2. After the download has finished, be sure to unzip the file if it hasn’t been done for you. You should end up with a Premiere Pro Ghost Frame Effects folder.

Overview

The first thing we’ll be doing is duplicating our base layer to add our effects to. The initial effect will be Posterize Time to make the main frame displacement, then Channel Blur to add some motion and color blur. After that, it’s a 4 Color Gradient to tie the colors together. Along the way, we’ll be modifying and altering settings to get just the right look for our footage. Let’s get started!

Posterize Time

1. First, click the Selection tool.
2.  Then, select the flowers footage, called Nature. Don’t let go!
3. Now, press and hold the Alt key on your keyboard while still holding onto the footage.
4. With the Alt key pressed down, drag the flower footage to a new track, V2, which should be above your current footage. You have a copy now!
5. Then, go to the Effects panel on the left.
6. Type in Posterize Time.
7. Click and drag the effect onto the footage copy you just made, on track V2.
8. Select track V2.
9. In the top left, go to the Effect Controls panel.
10. Scroll down until you see the new Posterize Time effect.
11. Change the frame rate to 8. This will show only eight frames per second of the footage, compared to the usual 24 frames. This will give the footage a “stuttering,” choppy look.
12. Then, go up to the Opacity settings in the Effect Controls panel.
13. Change the Blend Mode to Screen. 
14. Hit the Spacebar to preview your work. You’ll see the new footage appearing as a transparent, “echo” of the initial footage. Looks cool already, huh? Let’s add another effect.

Channel Blur 

1. In the Effects panel, type in Channel Blur.
2. Drag and drop it onto the V2 footage.
3. In the Effect Controls panel, find the Channel Blur effect at the bottom.
4. Change the Red Blurriness to 100.
5. Check the box next to Repeat Edge Pixels.
6. Hit Spacebar to preview. Now you have a bit of a colored motion blur going on with your footage! It’s looking really awesome so far; we’ll be putting the last effect on.

Gradient Effect

1. Alright, let’s go back to the Effects panel.
2. Type in 4 Color Gradient.
3. Drag and drop that onto the V2 track footage of flowers.
4. In the Effect Controls panel, go down to the new effect you just applied.
5. Click on the box next to Color 1. 
6. A color picker will appear. In the hex code box in the bottom right, put in EBED81.
7. Hit OK.
8. Click on the box next to Color 2.
9. This hex code is A657EE.

With that, you’re done! Doesn’t it look great?

Conclusion

With just three effects, we have ourselves an eerie, gorgeous footage effect, the footage frames overlapping each other and blending together to make some ghostly clips. As usual, we like putting some color and blur effects in addition, making our project professional and slick to look at. You can alter the different channels in Channel Blur, maybe refrain from adding any color effects, or change the frame rate in Posterize Time to alter the interaction between footage clips.

Happy editing!

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