Now that we have the Layers pane hierarchy for our template planned out, we can begin to build the template from scratch. In the last few tutorials for this project, we will do just that.

For this project, I have decided to use the highest resolution settings for YouTube^R and the template will be 55 seconds in duration. Of course, you may want to change these settings for your project.

1. Open Motion^R 5 and choose Blank from the menu. Select Motion Project from the choices. Set the following options.
   
   Preset: Broadcast HD 1080
   Frame Rate: 29.97 fps - NTSC
   Duration: 55 Seconds
   
   
2. Let’s save a working copy of our template on the hard drive. We can name it “productTemplate” and save it in the .motn format.
   
   To start we have only two layers in the Layers pane, which are the main Project layer and an empty Group layer. Remember that we will be building our template from the bottom layer and working upward.
   
   
3. Rename the Project layer to “productTemplate” and the Group layer to “Intro and BG”.
   
   As we mentioned in a previous tutorial, we will be placing the background image and the Intro clip inside this group layer. The background image will be on the stage throughout the trailer and the intro clip will last 10 seconds. We will be using a placeholder Drop Zone for each of these design elements. In that way, we can change each as needed for each new product trailer.
   
   
4. Select the Intro and BG layer, and click Object - New Drop Zone from the top menu.
   
   You will see a new empty Drop Zone appear inside the Intro and BG layer and a large gray colored Drop Zone placeholder on the screen. It will automatically be sized to fill the screen.
   
   
5. Let’s rename the first Drop Zone layer to “BG” because this layer will contain the background image.
   
   
6. Next, click Object - New Drop Zone again to add a second Drop Zone to this group. Because we still have the first Drop Zone layer selected, Motion will automatically place the second above the first in the Layers pane.
   
   
7. Rename this second Drop Zone layer to “introClip” because it will contain our Logo intro reveal clip, which will change each year. Also we will be using special Logo intros for the holiday season.
   
   Unlike the BG layer which extends to the end of the Timeline. Our IntroClip layer will only extend to the 10 seconds position on the Timeline. We need to shorten the layer’s duration by trimming the Object Bar in the Timeline. The Object Bar is the blue bar in the Timeline.
   
   
8. With the IntroClip layer still selected, click and drag the end of the Object Bar to the 10 seconds position on the Timeline.
   
   

That almost completes the first group layer in our template. All we need to do yet is to add a fade out transition to the end of the IntroClip layer.

Finished Project Trailer

Apple, Motion, iBooks Author, GarageBand, TextEdit, Pages, iMovie and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. BellaOnline is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Screenshots used by permission.