I'm trying to do a scene in a restaurant where everyone becomes motionless except for one couple.

I thought there was some way to shoot the scene first without the couple, then with the couple and everyone else gone, and overlay the two shots, but I tried a test scene this morning in my apartment and I couldn't get it to work.

Any suggestions would be incredibly helpful.

I'm using FCE 1 (my computer's slow). Also, it doesn't need to be a tracking shot (though that would be cool); a static camera position would be fine.

If you're in the timeline or canvas window, SHIFT-N should create a new still clip in your viewer from wherever you're stopped in the timeline. ...er it should.

Now for your shot: Obviously, it's much, much easier if the camera is locked down (on tripod or other stable device). Probably the simplest way to do this is to use a garbage matte on the video with the couple (in motion). Put that on v2 over the freeze frame clip. The trick will be to use the garbage matte/s to isolate the couple, but not get in the way of anything/anyone that should be frozen. Oh, and if FCE doesn't have garbage mattes, you'll need to create a travel matte (See tip #8).

all the best

Thanks so much. I'm going to give that a try tomorrow.