In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to create a freeze frame effect in both HitFilm
Pro and Express.
Here we are in a new project, with the footage already imported. Let's right click the video
file in the Media panel and select Make Composite Shot. Drag the playhead to when Oli
first leans up against the tree.
Come up to the Viewer window and under Options, select Export Frame. This will take a still
image of the current scene. I'll name it Freeze 1 and save it onto my computer. Now open your
Windows Explorer or Finder and import the image by dragging into the Media panel.
Bring it down into the timeline. Switch over to the Slice tool, and make a cut where your
playhead currently is.
Change back to the Select tool and delete the layer from that point forward. This makes sure that the freeze will end when the actor catches up with it. Click the
Freeze 1 layer and come up to the Freehand Mask tool. Zoom in if you need to by scrolling
the mouse wheel, and draw a shape around your actor. If you click and drag on a point it'll
turn into a curve, which can result in a smoother shape. The mask for this does have to be pretty
exact, so take your time and save often.
Once you come all the way back around, click the first point you drew to close the mask.
Drop down the Mask properties, Shape, and adjust the Feathering and Expansion to fine-tune
the mask.
Playing it back, you'll see that Oli has been cut out but he doesn't follow the motion of
the camera. The next step is to motion track your footage. For a full tutorial on this,
see Axel's tutorial through the card onscreen. Start by creating a Point layer- this will
hold the tracking data. I'll name it Tree Track. Select the footage layer and in the
Controls panel, click the plus icon next to Tracks to begin.
I'll place the first tracking point down here on the tree, close enough to Oli that it should
be accurate for his position, but it won't be affected by the shadow that
he makes. In the Track controls change the Type to Double Points, so that the rotation
of the camera can be tracked as well. Place this one down on the ground near his feet.
Now, track backwards. When it's done, change the Layer to the Tree Track point and checkmark
Rotation. Hit Apply to attach the tracking data to the tree point.
Come back up to the Viewer window, and make sure your playhead is where you took the screencapture.
Parent the Freeze 1 layer to the Tree Track. You now should have a cutout of Oli that is
motion tracked to the shot, which disappears when he steps into it. The process for the
next two freeze frames is exactly the same, I'll go over it again real quick.
First, find the frame you want to freeze. Export the frame and bring it back into HitFilm. Cut off
the end so that it doesn't continue. Select the layer and mask it out. Create a new Point,
and motion track the footage near where that freeze is happening. In the case of this footage,
it's important that you don't use the same tracking point for every freeze frame. Because
Oli is at different distances from the camera throughout the shot, the movement of a spot farther away
will not match the movement of one closer to the camera.
Once you've tracked the motion and applied it to the point, parent the freeze frame layer
to it. I did this process once again for the final freeze when Oli is standing next to
the hare, but for now, I'll just leave it there.
Leave any questions down below and check out our Mocha tutorial for a similar, more advanced
freeze frame tutorial.