How to put an image over a clip?

[iSamurai]

I'd like to know how you would put an image (png - so parts of it is transparent) over a video?

I'm making a clip, involving a scene similar to a news broadcast. So the video shows a person talking and I would like it to have lower-thirds and texts/images over the clip.

I am guessing that this will be something similar to Photoshop's layers... and is it possible to make transition effects for the lower-third, or simple ones like fade in/out?

I have iMovie, After Effects and Final Cut Express (but I dunno how to use any of them, lol). I don't think iMovie can do layering; and my after effects is old (6.5) - but I could get CS3 though.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[-DH]

In FCE, lay the video clip on track V1. The image goes on track V2, but you have to use an image format that support a transparent background (alpha channel) such as TIFF, PNG or PSD. My presonal preference is for uncompressed TIFF.

-DH