HELP! Explosion between back- and foreground

[Beginner90]

Hi Guys!

Unfortunatley Im originaly from Germany. Therefore my English isn't that good.

Anyway I didn't work a lot with AE yet, therefore I would like to ask you guys, if you could give me a hand.

I have a scene where you first can see a bunch of bushes. A few seconds later the camera rises. In the front you still can see the bushes, while in the mid / background trees are covering the scene. Somewhere in between there is a little bit of space. I would like to add an explosion in there with action essentiells. Unfortunatley the explosion isnt that visible. Its literally a little flash. Second - either the fire is covered by bushes or trees.

Is there any way I can realize to see the fire or the explosion in this part of the screen, where it normally has to be?

Hopefully you guys can understand me.

Cheers and thanks a lot!

Kind regards

[Kyle Hamrick]

Can you post some screenshots of what you're trying to do? The more of the interface (and relevant animated/changed properties on the layer(s) in question) the better.

[Rick Gerard]

You will have to separate the foreground from the background, and it may be a good idea to create a couple of more layers with middle-ground elements. Then you put your explosion between the layers.

If the camera is locked off you might be able to create some kind of procedural matte so there is little or no hand masking involved. If you have not shot the video yet it would be a really good idea to try and pick a location that will let you pull a matte from colors or luminance values. If you have the budget you take 2 shots, the clean plate, and then put up green screen (or blue since you are dealing with plants) and position it behind the most complex foreground elements.

If you show us the shot I can give you some ideas on how to cut out the foreground elements.

[Beginner90]

Thanks a lot guys for your quick help! I tried to find a way but unfortunatley its not that easy...

I might need a little more advices to get along with this -.-

I am really looking forward to make that scene pretty good, but its quiet hard for me. I added a photo below.

The blue line is the border for the foreground. The red arrow shows where the explosion should take place. The rest of the background should be behind the fire, smoke etc.

If you could give me a name for the technique I also can read by myself and you dont have to waste a lot of your time. I am looking forward for your help guys

[Rick Gerard]

If the shot is locked-off and there is little or no wind you can probably export a frame to Photoshop and create a matte by selecting the sky, then doing a fair amount of painting on the layer mask.

If it is windy or the camera is moving you'll be better off finding a better location.

[Towerguy]

Hi. The general term for what you want to do is "Compositing". There are a lot of  techniques that you need to learn, including;

Camera Tracking (to keep your explosion/smoke etc in the right place when your camera moves)

Rotoscoping (cutting out the things that are in front of your explosion so they stay in front)

Color Correction (so your explosion looks believable in the scene).

Action Essentials comes with 4 tutorials which you should view, perhaps they will give you a good starting point?