Paper Rip Matte Transitions & Texture in Adobe Premiere Pro

Paper, Rock, Scizzors!! Isn’t that how the childhood game goes? If you always got “paper” then you’re really going to love today’s transition; it’s all about PAPER!  The Paper Rip Matte transition is an awesome new transition that you must certainly check out. It’s like ripping a page right out of the creativity handbook. Easy to use yet complex to your viewers, there is a lot of potential in this awesome transition. 

Note: You cannot drag the Paper Transition onto the clip as that will not work, you need to apply some effects and carefully place them.

In the Premiere Gal video tutorial example, you have two video clips sitting side by side on the V1 layer on the timeline.

To begin, drag the transition Matte clip and position it on Video layer 2 layer. Align the clip so it ends at the same time as the first video clip on V1 layer. 

Now take that same Matte clip and drag it up to V3, keeping the alignment same as before.  

Take the second clip on V1 layer and drag it up to your V2 layer. You will want the start point to align with the matte layer on V3. (Helpful hint, can either drag over the clip or stretch it out to have it start at same time as the matte layer on V3. Your arrangement should look a little something like this:

Moving along, use keyboard shortcut “C” for cut to bring up the razor tool. With this you will cut the clip on V2 to create a cut point right where the matte layer ends. Our purpose for making a cut  is to allow us to make a cut at the specific point that we need instead of affecting the whole clip.

Go to effects and search for Track Matte Key effect, drag onto the V2 clip. Go to Effect Controls and from the Track Matte Key area, you want to select the video layer from the drop down menu that contains the matte. In this case it will be Video 3. You will see that instead of seeing the matte, you see the video clip.

Next you will add the paper texture on top. Go back to the project panel and drag the paper transition clip on top of the matte. Upon playback, you can see some great progress.

Fun fact: To add more shadow, duplicate and stack the paper texture by clicking on the clip, then press the alt key on a PC or the Option key on Mac and drag up the clip to stack duplicates as many times as you want.

Optional Freeze Frame Effects

To add a frame hold you will go to the point in the timeline where the transition begins and move the playhead one frame to the right. . Next,  make a cut on the V1 clip where the transition begins.. Move forward 1 frame. Make another cut. Right click on frame and click frame hold. Right click again and hit frame options . From the pop up menu, choose “In point” from the options. Now you’re ready to delete the excess clip and extend from the frame that you worked on to hold.  Repeat this process at the end of the transition by going to the end of the transition, moving a frame to the left, and making your two cuts.

Should you feel adventurous, you may want to add a little oomph by blending in a paper texture or grunge like texture. Take your favorite paper texture and drag it on top of the layers in Premiere Pro. Go to Effect Controls, click on Blend Mode Options drop down and select “Linear burn”.

If the texture overlay is too dark, you can decrease the opacity of the layer to make it make it a bit brighter. You can also use adjustment layers to adjust exposure and make some color changes. In using an adjustment layer, you can fine tune your details.

Overall, this paper transition is an excellent way to change up the normal transitions you might typically use.  Half the fun is modifying and adjusting the effect controls to see what you come up with. Be sure to experiment and push the envelope! Take a page out of the creator’s book and stay creative.