Duplicate Yourself on Screen With Adobe Premiere Pro!

You may or may not have seen the really neat art putting two of the same person in a single camera clip at the same time. One famous example includes “The Parent Trap,” where Lindsay Lohan plays both twin sisters – Annie and Hallie – and they both have to be on screen in the same shot several times.

Well, at least, it appears that way! Read on to see how you can play two different characters at the same time, in the same camera shot!

You only need a few things in order to do this!

1. Camera (can be your phone)
2. Tripod
3. Adobe Premiere Pro
4. Knowledge on how to start a project in Premiere Pro

I don’t know what your movie is about, but you do! You likely have an idea of the shot you want to create and where you want your characters to be in the shot. However, to have two different “yous” in the scene requires some space. It’s best to have a fairly wide shot so that both of the “yous” have room on the camera.

Basically, pick which “you” is going on which side of the screen. In order for this to work, one of your characters has to be on one side of the screen, and the other character has to be on the other, and they absolutely cannot cross. Each character has to stay on their side of the screen.

Making sure your camera is fastened in its place, whether its propped up onto something or on a tripod, film one “side” or “character.” Nothing is complicated about this part! Just film that character and make sure that they stay on their “side” of the shot.

Again, make sure that your camera does not move in order to make sure that blending the two clips together later goes seamlessly. But just like your first character, film your other character on the other side of the shot.

You’re done filming! Time to edit the two together. In Adobe Premiere Pro, start a new project, and first insert one of the clips – one of the two clips you films with one of your “characters.”

Now put in the second clip that you filmed with the other character, placing it right on top of the first clip you put in (so that if you were to play the sequence, they would play at the same time, and you’d only be able to see one of them since they’re on top of each other).

Select the clip that you input last (the clip that is on “top” of the other), and select the “Effects Controls” tab that should show in the top left of your workspace.

Scroll down to “Opacity,” where you then should see a “Pen Tool” icon, as well as a circle and a square.

Select the “Square,” and a square bordered by blue lines and dots in the corners should appear on your preview screen.

From here, you should be able to move the square and designate where you want the split to be! You are essentially cropping that top clip so that the one below it is now in view.

In my case, while the camera may be in the right place, the lighting in both of my clips is slightly different (I guess time passes when you have to do a costume change). So, I just went into the “Effects” panel, scrolled down to “Lumetri Color,” and adjusted the temperature and exposure a bit

Once you crop that clip down, you now have both of your characters at the same shot at the same time! Enjoy!