Grid Block Reveal - After Effects

A friend of mine was trying to understand how this Movie's DVD Trailer was made and I could not find a ready-made effect within FCP; so I turned to Adobe After Effects. There was a ready made effect but it was a bit complicated to control and get the desired output. Here is a short guide to replicate the Grid Block Transition. It took me about 15 minutes to do it. Hopefully you'll be faster at it :)

So after getting myself a MacBook Pro, my instructions will be contain both windows and mac commands.

I am no expert in VFX learnt the basics of AE from the Guru Andrew Kramer. Here is the Link to the basic training program. Its all free and he has a good sense of humour as well ... so do see it. Also there's more advanced stuff which is actually very cool.

So what we need is a black on top of the video and then one by one the video is revealed within rectangular blocks.

We would need to make this Grid and Black arrangement within Photoshop as layers and then import the PSD in After Effects and animate the timing of the reveal.

Open Adobe Photoshop

1. Create a new document with the specifications of your video [Film & Video].
2. Check the size in pixels and resolution should be 72 DPI for film and video
•  [pixel aspect ratio for Progressive would be square 1:1 and for DV / Interlaced would be different]
3. Select Background as transparent
4. So my project and video is in DV PAL 25. Accordingly, my photoshop file is 720x576 pixels 72 DPI and pixel aspect ratio 1.09
   
5.  Create New Layer [Cntrl+Shift+N / Cmd+Shift+N]
6. With Rectangular Marquee Tool [M] make a selection for a thin rectangle which looks like a line.
7. Copy Paste it and form a grid. For Changing its orientation you can use Transform [Cntrl+T / Cmd+T]
8. Select all the line layers, right click and Merge Layers [to make one layer] and Name it Grid.
9. Now use the wand tool [W] to select an empty space in between the lines.
   
   
10. On a new layer [Cntrl+Shift+N / Cmd+Shift+N] fill black in the selection with Bucket tool {D to set colour default black then G for bucket tool} and click.
    
11. Repeat for all the spaces until they are each on a different layer and the frame is completely black.
    
12. Remember try to fill the colour and layers in sequence. It will be easier to animate if your stacking is correct.
13. Save as Grid.PSD. In the save box options make sure it is in layers. Exit Photoshop.

Open Adobe After Effects (AE)

1. Import your footage into AE.
2. Drag the clip onto 'create new composition button' (It's the third button from left at the bottom of the project window)
   
3. Rename it as Main Comp.
4. Now import the Grid.PSD file into AE.
5. Choose Import Kind as 'Composition - Retain Layers'
   
6. Editable Layer Styles ON. 
7. Right click on the Grid Composition and select 'Composition Settings' make sure that it matches your footage properties.
   
8. Drag Grid.PSD Composition into the Main Comp.
9. Line up its first frame with the first frame of your video.
10. Now double click on Grid Composition on the timeline. This will take you to the Grid Comp. Here we will be doing the animation.
11. Slide the bottom most "Black Layer" to end where you want the fist section of video to be revealed.
12. Line up the rest sequentially. Leave the same time you left in-between the blacks blank at the end without any black but only the grid ON.
    
13. in the effects tab search for a transition called fade - flash to white. Drag it onto the first "Black"
14. Expand the view of that black in the timeline window. Expand Effects Tab; under that expand the Fade Master Control.
    
15. Copy the last keyframe and paste it before the first one so the key-frames will now be 100%, 0%, 100%
    
16. Now, from the timeline itself copy the 'Effect' Heading by selecting it and pressing [Cntrl+C / Cmd+C]
17. Paste it on all the "Black" Layers and adjust the position of the keyframes by expanding the view.
18. Check the main comp. Bring your marker to the place where you want the Grid to start fading off.
    
19. To Fade the Grid select the Grid Layer and open Opacity [T]
20. Click on the stopwatch Icon to enable key-framing. Now go the the frame where you want it to be completely faded off and make a key-frame with Opacity 0%
    
21. Composition > Add to Render Queue.
22.  Select the settings and set destination as needed. Hit Render and press the Caps Lock Key for faster Render.

Here's the Test Video I made in the process.
Here is the Photoshop File I made.
Here is the After Effects Project File I made. [CS6]