It’s a kind of magic!

1 Import clips

Choose File>import>media. Browse to import ‘Hide Clip 01‘ and ‘Hide Clip 02’ into a new Event. Drag ‘Hide Clip 01’ into the timeline. This features the woman moving past the pole.

2 Layer clips

Drag ‘Hide Clip 02’ into the timeline. Place it on a parallel cutaway layer above the ‘Hide Clip 01’ layer. This top layer features the garden location without the woman present.

3 Add a mask

Go to Masks in the Effects browser (cmd+5). Drag Shape Mask onto the top layer clip. This creates an empty location that hides parts of the woman on the layer below.

4 Reshape the mask

Drag the mask’s central control handle to move it right. Drag the rotate handle to make the mask’s edge follow the slight tilt of the pole. Drag the green handles to reshape the mask.

5 Reduce feather

In the Inspector, go to the Shape Mask and reduce Feather to zero. The mask now creates a patch that makes the girl vanish when she goes behind the pole.

6 Card swap trick

Add Card Swap Start to a new project. The man displays two cards and hides them. He freezes while the woman swaps them. He then reveals the ‘magically’ swapped cards.

7 Cut out the woman

To make the trick work we need to remove the card-swapping woman. Scrub the ahead to 6:24. Press cmd+b to split the clip, and then split the clip again at 8:20.

8 Disguise jump cut

Press backspace to delete the woman. We now have a jump cut to deal with. Go to the Dissolves section of the Transitions browser. Drag Flow between the two clips.

9 Seamless swap

Play the clip. The Flow transition creates a smooth morph that disguises the jarring jump cut between the two clips. The playing cards now appear to swap, as if by magic.