Top 10 Most Popular Editing Overlay MP4s for AMVs & Edits

Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a significant number of new, never seen before aesthetic overlays being used in music videos, Instagram edits and anime music videos. Whilst some may be kept private and are difficult to reproduce, others have been recreated for anyone to use freely. We've rounded up some of the most popular overlays from around the web so you don't have to spend hours searching for them.
If you’re looking for overlays for premiere pro, after effects, davinci resolve, final cut pro, Capcut, Videostar or any other video editing software or app, you’ve come to the right place!

1. VHS Filter - Probably the best free animated overlay in this list, simply because of its frequency being used in 1000s of videos of all kinds. The VHS style is popular on Instagram to capture nostalgic memories. You can also use this with glitch effects to make it look more realistic in 90s styled videos.

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2. Camcorder Overlay V1 - Commonly found on Pinterest under sections titled ‘overlay aesthetic’, this overlay is similar to the VHS filter overlay as they’re commonly used to capture the vibes of older videos.

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3. Cherry Blossoms - this works extremely well with after effects color overlay presets which can be found here. You can easily change the color by adjusting the hue using the hue/saturation effect. Cherry blossoms have been used in several live wallpapers, backgrounds and just in general music sync edits.

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4. Shockwaves - This one has been a popular video star background overlay for years and years to come. There are thousands of varieties, the most common ones are the liquid displacement styles which are made by video co-pilot. Various types of shockwaves can also be created within after effects with no plugins. Simply use a circular mask, fractal noise and/or polar displacement effects to simulate the dynamics.

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5. Light leak- light leaks and lens flares are popular in videography filmed outdoor settings. Perfect for wedding films, real estate productions and commercials. They’re also popular in the AMV community. Artificial light leaks have been used as transitions, or just by itself to add a warm hint/glare.

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6. Film Grain - Similarly to the VHS filter, the film grain effect can add a similar vintage look to your videos, especially for sequences and themed edits.

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7. Twirls and twists - these are great for introducing the main subject into your scene. Simply synchronize it with the scale, rotation and/or position animation keyframes of the masked subject to make it look like it’s actually part of the scene.

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8. Coloured Spark Bursts - Similarly to the twists and twirls, the spark burst overlay is great for introducing subjects into the scene. Place it behind main elements like the subject for realistic effect. Great animated, less hyper realistic looking alternative to the shockwave overlay.

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9. Smoke/Fog - all rounder overlay. Place it over anything and add some basic color correction to create a hazy scene. 

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10. Other Particle Simulations - particle simulations work with any style of video edit. They are especially good for creating custom backgrounds inside of after effects, as well as transitioning between two clips to reduce the seam without using excessive amounts of motion blur.

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What are overlays in editing?

Overlays are additional VFX elements which are added on top of an existing scene. An overlay is just another layer used in video production, but rather than taking up the entire width and height of the scene, only the subject and/or main features are visible. Overlays are used in editing to accentuate certain themes and speed up production time whilst retaining quality, which ultimately helps to create a more aesthetic edit.

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How do overlays work?

Overlays work by separating the background from the subject elements. The background is usually black, green or blue and can be removed easily by setting certain blending modes or by applying the chroma key/color key effect to the overlay layer.

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How do you edit video overlays?

Video and photo overlays can be edited in many different ways. Since they work just like regular layers in an editing timeline, any effect or tool can be applied to them. Common effects applied to editing overlays include: glow aura, motion tile, transform, pixel sort, twixtor, twitch and more.

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