From the course: After Effects CS5 Essential Training

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Creating a layer for effects

Creating a layer for effects

So, we want to apply some effects; however, we cannot do that in this project, because we have nothing to apply the effect to. So, I'm starting here in a blank, fresh project. Go ahead and make a new composition by clicking this icon here. When this comes up, we'll go ahead and change the preset. Just go ahead and go to NTSC DV. This is Standard Definition, which is quickly going out of style, but for right now, I'm just going to go ahead and click OK. That creates a composition for us. But notice there are no layers in our composition, and you need a layer to apply effects to. Oftentimes, you don't want to apply the effect directly to an important layer. Let's say you have some video or something. If you put the effect on that layer, as we'll see, then it will completely replace the contents of that layer. So, what we need to do is come down here to a blank area of the Timeline panel and right-click and go to New. Now, we're going to create a different type of layer. From this New…

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