After Effect: Work Flow: Pre Compose

Using Pre-Comp makes work flow in After Effects much easier and can mean that multiple layers can be edited i.e. stabilising


First import the files you want:

Then resize them to fit your composition:

Then, with all your layers selected, shorten then to the frame exposure to what you desire. (for this piece of animation I shorted them to two frames:

Move the layers so that one frame follows the other:

With all the layers selected go to Layers and the Pre- compose:

Make sure that the second option is selected:

This creates one layer which can be edited as a piece of film, and makes the After Effects work space neater and creates a better work flow.