You’ve got a video, and now you want to add some complexity to it with lighting, text or even visual effects. But perhaps you don’t have the time or skill to pull off something completely original. In that case, you should be looking for what are known as “video overlays.”<\/p>\n
There are a wide variety of overlays out there, ranging from free video overlays to paid ones. So, whatever your overlay needs might be, chances are you will be able to find what you’re looking for.<\/p>\n
Before diving into the world of the\u00a0video overlay, we should take a deeper look into exactly what they are. Then we can discuss types of transparent video overlays and how to use them.<\/p>\n
On a technical level, a video overlay is simply a motion graphic. But, as the word “overlay” indicates, it is a motion graphic laid over a video or animation. Common video overlay file formats are .MOV and .MP4, but others do exist depending on the\u00a0video editing software<\/a>\u00a0being used. Even though video overlay is being applied to larger video, it is a video clip in and of itself. As such, an overlay’s various parameters can be edited through\u00a0color grading<\/a>,\u00a0transitions<\/a>, effects and layering.<\/p>\n Since it is being laid atop an existing clip, a video overlay has a transparent background. This is called an Alpha Channel, and it simply defines the transparency level of a clip.<\/p>\n There are overlays for lens flares, snow, text and others. We will discuss them in greater detail in the following section.<\/p>\n\t\t