The Layer section of Properties controls how a clip looks. Opacity sets how see-through it is, and the colour controls let you brighten, deepen or shift its colours so your shots sit together nicely.
[VIDEO PLACEHOLDER: Video_Editor_10_Layer_and_Colour_v1.1.mp4]
Before you start
Open a sequence in the Video Editor with at least one clip on the timeline. Layer settings work on video clips, images and other layers placed over your video.
Find the Layer section
Click the clip on the timeline to select it. The right panel switches to its Properties.
Scroll down past Size, Position and Audio until you reach Layer.
Move the playhead over the clip so the preview player shows it. Every change you make here shows in the preview straight away.
Layer settings only affect the selected clip. The rest of your edit, and your original media in Multimedia, stay as they are.
Set the opacity
Opacity sets how see-through the clip is. At 100% (the default) the clip is fully solid. As you lower it, whatever sits on the track underneath starts to show through.
Drag the Opacity slider to the left to make the clip more see-through.
Watch the preview. At around 70% a logo or image becomes a soft watermark. At 0% the clip is invisible.
Drag it back to 100% to make the clip solid again.
Lower opacity is handy for a sponsor logo in the corner of a goal replay, or for a team image you want to sit behind a text layer without fighting it.
Adjust the colour
Footage from different cameras, or from a day match and a night match, can look quite different side by side. The colour controls help you match your shots so the edit feels like one piece.
Brightness: makes the whole clip lighter or darker. Lift it a little for a dull shot, or bring it down if a clip looks washed out.
Contrast: the difference between the light and dark parts. More contrast makes a clip punchier. Less contrast makes it flatter and softer.
Saturation: how strong the colours are. Raise it to make kits and grass pop, or lower it towards black and white.
Drag the Brightness slider and check the preview.
Adjust Contrast until the darks and lights look right.
Adjust Saturation to suit the rest of your edit.
Small changes go a long way. Move one slider at a time and compare with the clip before and after it on the timeline.
Shift the colours with Hue
Hue shifts every colour in the clip around the colour wheel. A small move can warm or cool a shot. A big move changes the colours completely, for example turning a blue kit green.
Drag the Hue slider a little and watch the preview.
If the colours look wrong, drag it back to where it started.
Hue is best used gently on real footage, since team colours matter to fans. It's more useful for creative touches on images, shapes and backgrounds.
Tips and common mistakes
If you can't see the Layer section, check a clip is selected. With nothing selected, the right panel shows Settings instead.
Opacity only shows something underneath if there is another track below the clip. On its own, a see-through clip just looks darker.
Keep Harbour City and Ridgeview's kit colours true to life. Viewers notice when a team's colours look off.
Want the same look on several clips? Set one up first, then use Copy in the toolbar to duplicate it, or repeat the same values on each clip.