Stencil/Silhouette alpha/luma

I am trying to add an effect to a logo I have that is plain black. I am wanting to use the blend modes to place some of the "lighting flares" video underneath the logo (so it looks cool!). I have done this with success when I am just using the logo, but when I try to place my now "fancy" logo on top of another background to use in another motion project, the logo has a black background instead of the transparent one that I need. Is there anyway to work around this, or am I hoping to do too much? Thank you!

Please click on the or buttons over posts as appropriate...
Patrick

Similar Messages

Feature Requests for next version of Pr

I've submitted this list. If you agree, please join me. Copy and paste into the Feature Request page if you like. Add your own requests.
AUDIO:
Ability to save track or clip based audio effect user presets.
Option-drag to copy an audio effect from one insert location to another (to different tracks)
Drag audio effects up or down in the effect stack order, or to another track
Temporary Snap on or off (Reverse Snap Behavior) keyboard modifier.
KEYBOARD / SHORTCUTS:
Ability to map multiple Keyboard Shortcuts to the same function (like Avid: E & R keys, same as I and O)
Ability to print the Keyboard Shortcuts, or save all of them as a text file.
TIMELINE:
More obvious indicator that Timeline Snap is on.
Indicator on Clips in the Timeline that indicate Frame Blend is enabled.
Ripple Sequence and Chapter Markers.
Ripple Audio Track Keyframes.
Solo video layer button on the Timeline track panel.
Constrain clip time movement between tracks by holding shift key, just like all other applications.
FX button/switch, as in After Effects, to turn off all effects on a track (video and audio).
Option-double click a nest to reveal contents of nest in the same master timeline.
SOURCE AND PROGRAM PANES:
Keyboard shortcuts to scale image zoom in Source and Program tabs.
Keyboard shortcuts to increase or decrease playback resolution.
Have the Program monitor remember the Zoom and Resolution level for each Sequence; don't have Zoom scale set universally by the project.
VIDEO EFFECTS:
Make ALL effects Accelerated, YUV, 32-bit. Allow Third Party effects to be accelerated!
Ability to save user/custom transition presets.
In Effects tab, press Tab button to jump to next effect parameter (as in After Effects)
Feathering and invert on Garbage Mattes
A Track Matte function that allows us to pan and scale the clip being matted without affecting the matte size or position. You could do this with a Stencil / Silhouette Alpha / Luma Blend mode as in Ae.
MISC:
When using Clip > Scale to Sequence, DO NOT have the new Scale factor in the Motion tab change the clip's scale to 100%.
Consistent Mouse Wheel behavior across all apps in CS
Scopes update while playing.
Make Export and Title windows return to the previously adjusted size and placement.
Add a command buffer, so that we can execute several commands in a row, and not wait for the app to "release", or for the first event to complete before I can proceed to the next event.
File requests here:
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

If you want to do this correctly you need to file a request for each feature.
Ripple Sequence and Chapter Markers is already implemented. Sequence markers are the same as chapter markers, yes? (Ripple Sequence Markers, select Marker > Ripple Sequence Markers.)
Ability to print the Keyboard Shortcuts, or save all of them as a text file. also available. (hold ctrl+shift while opening. A button with clipboard appears)
Keyboard shortcuts to scale image zoom in Source and Program tabs. available
Keyboard shortcuts to increase or decrease playback resolution. available
Make Export and Title windows return to the previously adjusted size and placement. They do.
Some feature you posted are great. How about a eyedropper tool for the Color Matte?
I find the Magnet for Snap quite visible. There is also this feature in the Pref to make the playhead snap.

Blending Mode issue

Hello All,
I recently had to reinstall my CS4 suite. Now 3 of the Blending modes do not behave as they have in the past.
Now Classic Color Burn, Classic Color Dodge and Soft Light each change the appearance of the clip (see attachment) even though its the only layer.
However, when there is another layer underneath, the Classic Color Burn looks like Color Burn and Classic Color Dodge looks like Color Dodge, and Soft Ligth is a little different than Overlay, just as they were working in the past.
Its my understanding that if you apply a blending mode to a layer and there is no other layer beneathe it, there should be no change in the appearance of that layer. Except the application of Stencil/Silhouette Alpha or Luma will make the layer dissappear if there is nothing on beneath it..
I just need to know that my software was installed properly, and everything is as its supposed to be or do I need to re-install.
Thanks in advance
CS4 (AE 9.0.3) on a Mac OS 10.6.8

OOPS..... here's the attachments
The Image
With Classic color Burn applied
with Class color Dodge applied
with Soft light applied

Removing a portion of a layer with Adjustment Layer?

My brain isn't working too well today. How would I go about removing a portion of a image using Adjustment Layers?
I can't alter the opacity of layers below an Adjustment Layer using that Adjustment Layer can I?

[I can't alter the opacity of layers below an Adjustment Layer using that Adjustment Layer can I?]
Yes, if you apply AE's native "Transform" filter to the adjustment layer and keyframe the opacity.
It's not really using an adjustment layer, but similarly you could also remove a portion of an image without directly editing that image layer by using asolid above it masked to the shape you need as a track matte ... or even with stencil/silhouette alpha blending modes.
BTW, it makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one whose brain just flat out stops working at times and I have to go to the forums and ask how to do things I've done a million times. ;~)

Use movie with integrated alpha as mask

Hi!
I don´t know what is the problem... but i have a movie with an integrated alpha layer and i want to use it as a mask to cut out something in the layer under it.
For this I use blend mode "silhouette alpha".
It´s possible to stencil the layer under it, but the stenciled area is always black, but it should become transparent.
Please help me
cheers flo

Heya Flo,
You'll have an easier time and more control if you use an Image Mask. Select the object you want to mask and then go to Object->Add Image Mask to apply it. Then you just drag-and-drop any other object into the mask (in the Layers List or the Inspector), and you're good to go.
By default, it uses the alpha of the reference object, but it can use any channel. You also have control over positioning and scaling, which is something that a blend mode can't do.
Good luck with your project!

--- "Professionals" couldn't help me. Maybe you can.

I have an image (both photo and video) in my timeline. I need to have a circle or arrow in those images drawing attention to certain things on the screen. I use the regular shapes generator from FCPX, do my tweaks and place the circles/arrows in the appropriate spots. All good.
Now - I would like to be able to transition them into the photo or video, so they don't just cut and pop on the screen. There are lots of tansitions I can choose from, but which ever one I pick, the transition effect affects the whole entire image.
I.E. - Let's say I would like to add flash/bloom (apply some kind of light transition) to my arrow or shape and have it appear that way on the screen. When I add it as a transition, the effect flashes/blooms the whole screen - not just the shape.
In FCP 6/7, the transition only affected the clip it was applied to.
Any thoughts?
Thank you.

I'm not saying I wasn't wrong... initially. I misread "transition into" as a fade/dissolve. I have since reread the post more carefully.
Of course you're right, as far as this: you can add a compound or secondary storyline and that will create the effect from the transition the OP has asked about (as will applying any of the Stencil/Silhouette blend modes for masking techniques, which will cut through everything underneath the "layer" with the compositing blend setting.) Grouping (aka, compound clip) will stop those related actions, isolating them to the contents of the group.
The necessity of grouping is due to the fact that Transitions and Titles copy the storyline (or what's "visible" below their level) into the template (within the scope of the group they exist in... i.e., storyline, compound clip, secondary storyline -- there's actually a placeholder provided in Motion -- these allow for direct interactions with created material and the original media within the template). This type of thing would be better created as an Effect (which uses only the clip's source media [another placeholder.]) And so, I did (see below.)
However, working the (default) Flash transition this way (compounding) does not eliminate the whole screen blanking to white for that frame or three since the effect is affected by a solid white canvas covering rectangle regardless of source (which is very likely the effect most people want most of the time, but not the OP, in this case.)
I was killing time (watching "The Horror of Dracula") when I put this together -- everyone is welcome to give it a try:
http://sight-creations.com/fxexchange/Fade-Flash-Fade.zip (not a brilliant name -- and -- it doesn't do a bloom -- but -- it's free). This needs to be installed as a Motion Templates Effect. Parameters include length of fade (0 to about 70 frames even though the "scale" is 0 - 100) and the amount of blur for the "flash in/flash out" effect (a gaussian blur from about 64 min to 600 max; even though the scale is 10-100). "Everything" is relative to the length of fade setting. This effect only whites out and blurs whatever the source of the clip is and doesn't attempt to flash the whole screen (initial luma values have an impact on full screen media). I recommend shorter fade times with shorter clips (designed for 150 frames with max length fades of 70 frames either side of the 10 frame "neutral zone" (which is the segment that will get time stretched when length is changed). It's effective with Titles and Generators as well and best used on connected clips, not the main storyline (try it with connected clip Placeholder generator -- "kinda" beam-me-down-scotty going in and nuclear annihilation on the way out... LOL ).
If you would be interested in altering the default Flash transition template in this fashion, in Motion, delete the group containing the rectangles and to the group containing the Transition A and B sources, add a Hue Saturation filter and keyframe the Value parameter to it's maximum value at the edge of the source changes and back to default at the end and Save (it will automatically be created as "Flash copy" -- you cannot accidentally overwrite the default templates).

Blend mode in Particle Generator

A blend mode i set for a particle generator seems to effect the partiles as a whole, but not individualy. I am using Darken for example. The particles darken the background, but not each other. Is there a way to make them darken each other?

Blend modes do not work between particles...with the excpetion of the "Additive Blend" option provided in the particle cell inspector... that's unfortunate.
You can achieve good "separation" by applying a drop shadow to the Particle Source.
You cannot get a true Darken effect, but I'm going to outline a cheat to get some interesting effects (this assumes your particle source is a shape, white in color -- colorization is controlled by the Particle Cell color controls.)
[For a quasi-darken effect, use Color Over Live, with a darker color on the left grading to a lighter color to the right. You will want to start with Additive Blend turned off -- you can turn it on afterwards to see if you like the effect.]
With the Particle source selected, in Properties, turn on the Drop Shadow (you will want to experiment with the color -- depending on the mode you choose.) Soft Light, Color Burn, Color Dodge, Hard Light, Hard Mix (sometimes) and possibly the Stencil/Silhouette group will create some interesting different effects. [Remember to experiment with drop shadow color.]
You can adjust transparency with the Particle source (Properties) Blending Transparency, the Fill Opacity (shape tab) or use the Opacity control in the Particle Cell color control.
Since we're cheating here, watch out for a specific effect "sticking" (usually you can snap out of it by sliding one of the gradient sliders in the particle cell color control.)
These settings created a sort of lozenge looking shape -- color gradient on cell is a medium dark orange to a medium light orange. Drop Shadow is a green and the blend mode set to Soft Light.
Below (same frame as above) is a white drop shadow with Silhouette Alpha blend mode...
HTH
happy hunting!

Problem with a method to modify the transparency of a Label UILabel

HI
I Have create a small project which can modify the brightness ( or the transparency ) of a label
UIlabel
So the code
File .m
ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.m
Code :
Code:
*// ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.m*
*// Control Box Cooke*
*// Created by Bruno on 1/11/10.*
*// Copyright _MyCompanyName_ 2010. All rights reserved.*
*#import "SerialManager.h"*
*#import "ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.h"*
*#import "PickerViewController.h"*
*#include <fcntl.h>*
*#include "Led.h"*
*@implementation ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate*
*@synthesize window;*
*- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {*
*// Override point for customization after application launch*
*[window makeKeyAndVisible];*
//RootViewController.m
*- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {*
* pvController = [[PickerViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"pickerview"/@"MainWindow"*//@"Control Box Cooke"//*@"PickerView"/ bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];*
* Led_Operateur= [[Led alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20,50,280,20)];*
* Led_Operateur.text=@" ";*
* [Led_Operateur setBackgroundColor: [ UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha: 0.5]];*
* [pvController.view addSubview:Led_Operateur];*
* [window addSubview:pvController.view];*
* // Override point for customization after application launch*
* [window makeKeyAndVisible];*
*- (void)dealloc {*
* [Led_Operateur release];*
* [pvController release];*
*[window release];*
*[super dealloc];*
-(void)Modifie_luma:(CGFloat)luma
* pvController = [[PickerViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"pickerview" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];*
* Led_Operateur= [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20,50,280,20)];*
* Led_Operateur.text=@" ";*
* [Led_Operateur setBackgroundColor: [ UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha: luma]];*
* [pvController.view addSubview:Led_Operateur];*
* [window addSubview:pvController.view];*
* [window makeKeyAndVisible];*
@end
file.h
Code :
Code:
*// ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.h*
*// Control Box Cooke*
*// Created by Bruno on 1/11/10.*
*// Copyright _MyCompanyName_ 2010. All rights reserved.*
*#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>*
*#import "SerialManager.h"*
*#import "led.h"*
*@class PickerViewController;*
*@interface ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate> {*
*UIWindow window;
* PickerViewController pvController;
* SerialManager portCunima;
* int portin,portout; // numero de port de com in-out*
* UILabel Led_Operateur;
-(void)Modifie_luma:(CGFloat)luma;
*@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow window;
@end
To the initialization no problem my label UILabel display itself very well with the transparency
of 50% ( alpha=0.5)
But when I modify this transparency with a button, in my window iPhone
the program call the method Modifie_Luma witch is the class
ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate
the program go on to this method, (I have fixe a breakpoint) but impossible to various this transparency.
So if I change in method (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching
the transparency
example alpha =0,5 => alpha =0,8
Code :
Code:
* [Led_Operateur setBackgroundColor: [ UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha: 0.8]];*
this example go on
resume
when I change the transparency in the method
(void)applicationDidFinishLaunching it 's OK
when I change the transparency in the method
-(void)Modifie_luma it's not OK
Have you an explanation ?

So the code , sorry but no marker for the code in post
How do you do ?
// ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.h
// Control Box Cooke
// Created by Bruno on 1/11/10.
// Copyright _MyCompanyName_ 2010. All rights reserved.
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import "SerialManager.h"
#import "led.h"
@class PickerViewController;
@interface ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate : NSObject <UIApplicationDelegate> {
UIWindow *window;
PickerViewController *pvController;
SerialManager *portCunima;
int portin,portout; // numero de port de com in-out
UILabel *Led_Operateur;
-(void)Modifie_luma:(CGFloat)luma;
@property (nonatomic, retain) IBOutlet UIWindow *window;
@end
// ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.m
// Control Box Cooke
// Created by Bruno on 1/11/10.
// Copyright _MyCompanyName_ 2010. All rights reserved.
#import "SerialManager.h"
#import "ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate.h"
#import "PickerViewController.h"
#include <fcntl.h>
#include "Led.h"
@implementation ControlBoxCookeAppDelegate
@synthesize window;
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {
// Override point for customization after application launch
[window makeKeyAndVisible];
//RootViewController.m
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(UIApplication *)application {
pvController = [[PickerViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"pickerview"/@"MainWindow"*//@"Control Box Cooke"//*@"PickerView"/ bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
Led_Operateur= [[Led alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20,50,280,20)];
Led_Operateur.text=@" ";
[Led_Operateur setBackgroundColor: [ UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha: 0.5]];
[pvController.view addSubview:Led_Operateur];
[window addSubview:pvController.view];
Led *ZoneA;
CGRect Dimension;
ZoneA = [[Led alloc]initWithFrame:Dimension];
[pvController.view addSubview:ZoneA];
[window addSubview:pvController.view];
[ZoneA Modifie_luma:0.5];
[ZoneA release];
// Override point for customization after application launch
[window makeKeyAndVisible];
Led *Led1;
CGRect frame;
Led1=[[Led alloc] initWithFrame:frame];
[pvController.view addSubview:Led1];
[window addSubview:pvController.view];
[Led1 release];
[label release];
[Error_message release];
[path_port release];
- (void)dealloc {
[Led_Operateur release];
[pvController release];
[window release];
[super dealloc];
-(void)Modifie_luma:(CGFloat)luma
pvController = [[PickerViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"pickerview" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
Led_Operateur= [[UILabel alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(20,50,280,20)];
Led_Operateur.text=@" ";
[Led_Operateur setBackgroundColor: [ UIColor colorWithWhite:1.0 alpha: luma]];
[pvController.view addSubview:Led_Operateur];
[window addSubview:pvController.view];
[window makeKeyAndVisible];
@end

Can this vertical menu be done in Muse?

I am wondering if a vertical navigation system can be created in Muse such as the one at www.nclud.com.
Their vertical menu seems to be pinned to the left and snaps all the way from the top of browser to the bottom of the browser. It also seems to function similar to an accordion panel widget. In the normal state only the icons are displayed and in the rollover state the menu expands and displays both icons and text
Below is a picture of the menu in the normal state.
the following picture shows the rollover state.
Can this be done in Muse as of the latest release? My apologies for all the typos and updates. Time for me to call it a night.

hi,
yes of course it can be done in Motion, and its easier too!
The second one first. In AE you comp layers together to make them more managable, in Motion its even easier since you just create a new group and drop the layers inside that.
So in this example you would add two background layers and add a text layer. Then create a new group and add the text and one of the background ( or jump backs as he calls them) to it. The other jump back should be underneath the new group.
navigate into the group and you can add blur and levels filters to the jump back. Then select the text and form the inspector change its blend mode to silhouette alpha, this will show the blurred jumo back through the text). You may have to click on the group itself and change its blend mode from pass through to normal.
finally you can add a colourise filter to the lowest jump back layer like they do in the tute.
easy!
thanks
adam

Stencil Luma is acting funny when moving 3D camera.

Hi Everyone.
I've got some .PSD images in a layer. About 9 images. They are images of text I created in Photoshop and imported into Motion.
They are scattered around in 3D space.
They all sit in front (in 3d space) of a large image of a man.
I want to have the letters reveal the man and anything that is not letter to get masked out.
Does that make sense? Where the letters are white... the man shows through. Where the letters are black the man does not show through.
What I did was group all the text images into one group and I put a Stencil Luma Blend mode on it. It works great.... however, when I try to animate the camera to zoom into the images the Stencil Luma group starts acting weird. It works fine zooming in up to about 1/2 way of my animation. Then once the camera gets in the mix of the images their is 1 frame where the images distort and then vanish.
If I leave the Blend Mode on Normal... the text images stay perfect... but they loose the ability to mask the image due to their Normal Blend Mode.
Any ideas? Does this make sense? I can post the animation online if it will help you all to see it.
Thanks in advance
Fraky

Anyone have any suggestions. I'm stumped on this and am at a point where I can proceed no further.
Here is a link. I've uploaded the video footage for review.
www.drewwfilms.com/QandA/TextQuestion.html

When to use luma and alpha mattes

I'm starting to explore alpha and luma mattes, but it's not clear to me from the reading I've done when one form is preferable over the other.
Thanks for any clarification/links you can offer.

An alpha travel matte looks at the transparency information of the layer below and applies it to the layer with the composite mode. This works for images that have transparency. So if the underlying layer is text that has transparency information it works well.
A luma travel matte looks for the luminance value of the underlying layer to provide transparency to the layer with the composite mode. Whatever is white or pale in the layer below will be opaque in the layer with the composite mode. Whatever's black or dark in the layer below will be transparent in the layer with the composite mode. This works well with gradients and things like that that have no transparency of their own but have luminance values.

Stencil Alpha Blend mode question

Hello guys,
I would like to achieve this: video clip embeded on BLOCKS LEFT DOWN REPLICATOR with another video as a background. So I first apply Replicator, than place the "embeded" video clip into the layer below it. Then I select Replicator to make it active, go to it's properties in Inspector and apply Blend Mode-Stencil Alpha. Up to this point everything works fine. Video plays embeded beautifully on blocks as I want. So I place my background video into another layer below. Here is where the problem starts. My background can't be seen, because it's covered by black areas between blocks. Could you please tell me what I do wrong? How can I make that black area between blocks transparent so anything behind the blocks could be seen?
Thank you so much for any tip or advise,
Cheers,
K.

Don't use Stencil.
Click on your foreground video. Type ⌘-Shift-M to add a mask layer. Drag your blocks replicator into the mask well.
post back,
Patrick

Stencil Alpha revert after render??

I'm a bit neww to FCP so don't know if I'm doing anything wrong here, but as a Photoshop user I can't really think of another way to do this..
So I have a white solid background, then a clip in the background, and a white circle layered on top of it.
I set the circle to Blend mode: Stencil Alpha, and I get white background and the clip visible were the white circle was before.
BUT after FCP auto-renders my project the effect revert and suddenly I have a black background instead of a white.
Any ideas to why this is happening? Again, it looks right before rendering and wrong after..

If I understand you correctly you have a white solid generator on the storyline. You have an attached clip above it and an attached white circle shape above that. Select the top rwo clips ie the white cirle and your video clip and make them a compound clip. You should then have your white background back. FCPX composites from top down so the stencil blended circle is compposited with the video and that result composites with the white background which causes what you see. Hope this works for you.

Should be straight alpha, but it doesn't look like it

I'm using Keylight on some footage in AE CS4, and then bringing it into PPro CS3 for the rest of the editing process. In AE, one of my roses (a light one chosen to accentuate what is going on) looks like this:
I have "Unpremultiply" checked in Keylight, and here are my Output Module Settings for the render:
As far as I can tell, I should be doing everything right to end up with footage with straight alpha, but in PPro, I get the famous "premultiplied-alpha halo" anyway! At first, the halo was only appearing a second or two after I would click in a new spot on the timeline - that really got my attention that it was something other than just bad keying on my part. I actually tried to catch a screen capture during that moment before the halo would appear (to show the before-and-after), but by the time I decided to try that, Murphy's law had kicked in - now there is no delay and it looks like this all the time:
I have several roses that I have processed in the same manner, and they all have the halo, but it's of course not as obvious if the rose itself and/or the background footage is darker.
I'm pretty new to keying and alpha, but I thought I had done my homework, so to speak. What other settings should I check?

Thanks for the suggestion - it basically worked. PPro CS3 doesn't appear to have an effect called "Alpha Key", so I used "Track Matte Key", specifying the track where I put the alpha clip and selecting Luma Key for the setting (setting it to Alpha Key didn't do anything, and it was clear that the "alpha" AVI was not an alpha channel per se, but just a regular video clip with a B&W representation of the transparency). I also don't see any effect called "Minimax". Anyway, I followed your suggestion as best I could with the tools I have - you must be using a newer version of PPro. I can indeed see about a pixel or so that would be better if it was more transparent - I suspect your Minimax suggestion would have taken care of that. But this is definitely usable.
Key point for those reading this later: You have to choose "Straight" for the Color setting when you render by this method, even though you get some strong warnings that dissauded me the first time I tried it (I thought they were saying I had to include an alpha channel in the stream, not the method I was about to use).
One more question: When rendering the separate alpha clip (essentially just a grayscale video of the transparency) to be used as the luma matte for the Track Matte Key, does it matter whether the Color setting is Straight or Premultiplied? I can't imagine that it would matter for that clip, but if there is a subtle difference, let me know.
I have no idea why I can't get it to work with an embedded alpha channel, though - surely hundreds or thousands of people use these two programs to handle RGB+Alpha video files. For this time, I'll re-render my roses (twice for each rose to get the two streams - this will give my CPU a workout!) and use this workaround, but if someone has any insight about the more direct method, please enlighten us all.

Using video with alpha channel

I purchased a video clip from istock, the video clip is an .mov and has a alpha channel included. The video clip is santa clause over a black background and tagged at the end is a white solid of the video (I assume this is the alpha channel) How do I use the alpha channel to help key out the vidoe clip that I need. here is a link to the actual video clip I purchased. http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-video-11011749-santa-claus-with-alpha-channel-ntsc.php
Thanks Ja

As Szalam said, the b/w image can be used as a luma matte.
Also check if the actual piece of footage has an embedded alpha channel, i.e when you import it AE should know there is an alpha channel and let you know in the top of the project window when you select the element (or "interpret footage").
Alternatively just drag the footage to a comp and enable the checkerboard background to see if there is transparency. These three approaches are the same...just different ways of finding out about the alpha channel.

Stencil/Silhouette alpha/luma

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