Can I pause a picture-in-picture video?

Question

Hello,
I'm really new to Premiere Elements 10, so forgive me if this is an obvious question.
I would like to have a background video, with three smaller videos liuned up along the left edge (using a picture-in-picture idea), but not have the three small videos play immediately. What I woudl like to do is have them show as if they were paused on the first frame, then play each one in turn.
I suppose I could do this by taking a snapshot of the first frame, adding that as a static image, then adding the video itself at the point where I want it to start playing, and hide the static image, but that sounds like a lot of work for the effect. I was hoping there ight be an easier way to do it.
Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Gertrude,
Your method is the only way to accomplish this. Basically, you are creating a Freeze Frame, of the first Frame of your PiP Videos, for the desired Duration. You don't need to "hide" anything, as you would just place the Freeze Frame in front of the Video, on that Video Track, and extend its Duration to suit. Those Freeze Frames will need to be Scaled to exactly match the Motion>Scaling, that you apply to the respective Video, and the Motion>Position will need to match up identically.
With three PiP Videos, you will likely benefit from creating an Alignment Grid, to help with the Scaling and Positioning. This ARTICLE gives some tips on doing that.
Good luck,
Hunt