Motion tracking means following something that moves in the shot (a face, a product, a car) frame by frame, then attaching something to it or building the framing around it. Premiere Pro gives you three ways: Premiere's own mask tracking, the tracker in After Effects, and a plugin that builds the framing automatically inside Premiere. Which one fits depends on what you want to track.
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Premiere Pro's own tracking is for masks: draw a mask in Effect Controls and use “Track selected mask forward” to pin a blur or a color correction to a moving area. To keep a person or object in frame, Sylba's Motion Tracking follows the face you click or the object you box and builds the framing inside Premiere; it is part of the Pro plan.
Premiere Pro's own tracking is for masks. It works when you want to blur a face, hide a license plate or color-correct only one area. The mask follows the moving subject, but the clip itself does not move, so it does not reframe the shot around a person.
If the mask drifts, stop tracking, fix the mask by hand on that frame and continue from there. To track backwards, use “Track selected mask backward” on the same row.
If you want to stick text, an arrow or a graphic to a moving object, the classic route is After Effects. You send the clip from Premiere to After Effects with Dynamic Link; the tracking happens in After Effects and the result shows up on your Premiere timeline automatically.
This route is powerful but means working in two apps, and Dynamic Linked clips can make playback in Premiere heavier. Doing the tracking once the edit is locked makes life easier.
If you want to keep a person or a product in frame, meaning the framing should follow it, Sylba's Motion Tracking does that inside Premiere Pro. No trip to After Effects and no keyframing frame by frame.
With Auto-fill frame on, the picture is scaled up only as much as needed so no black edges appear; you set the maximum zoom. Motion Tracking is part of the Pro plan.
If you only need to blur an area or color-correct it, Premiere's mask tracking is enough. If you want to stick text or a graphic to a moving object, the After Effects tracker is the most flexible route. If you want to keep a person or product in frame, for example following someone walking when you cut a vertical video from a horizontal shot, tracked framing finishes the job without leaving Premiere.
Tracking works best on something clear and high-contrast: an eye, a logo, text or a sharp corner. A flat-colored wall or a blurry area gets lost easily.
Fast movement adds motion blur, which makes tracking harder; a faster shutter speed when shooting makes the job easier later.
If the subject leaves the frame for a moment or something passes in front of it, the track can drift there. Re-tracking from that frame on is usually enough.
Zooming in on the frame costs resolution. If you will cut a vertical video from a horizontal shot, shooting at a higher resolution leaves room for tracking.
Apply Gaussian Blur or Mosaic to the clip, draw an ellipse mask around the face under the effect in Effect Controls and click “Track selected mask forward” on the Mask Path row. If the person turns their head, switch the method to Position, Scale & Rotation; on frames where it drifts, fix the mask by hand and continue.
Premiere's mask tracking does not move text; the classic route is Track Motion in After Effects: apply the track to a null object and parent the text to it. For short, slow moves, a few manual keyframes on the text's Position can also do the job.
When you cut a 9:16 vertical video from a horizontal shot, the person can drift to the edge of the narrow frame. Tracked framing follows the person and shifts the picture with them, so someone talking or walking stays inside the vertical frame without you adjusting Position on every frame.
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