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My Evil Twin
This effect is very quick and will make you love tripods. Let’s say you need two of the same actor in one frame. Here’s how you can combine two locked-off shots into one seamlessly.
Ingredients
● Two shots of the same actor, without a change of frame.
The Shoot
Most of the success of this kind of shot depends on how well you set up the shoot. For the first step, set up the camera and frame it so that there is the right space for two actors; if you can, use a stand in one while you frame. Now, do as many takes as you need with the actor in the fi rst costume and then have the actor change. Follow that with a second shot of the actor in a different costume, should that be necessary. If you have any major changes within the frame you should start again, as we need consistency between the two shots.
Even though I did these back to back in under 10 minutes, you can see that the lighting changed. Luckily we can fix this in After Effects.
The Effect
Step 1 — Import the two shots into After Effects and create a new composition. Place the two shots directly above each other and trim them so that they are the exact same duration.
Step 2 — Draw a Rectangular Mask on the top layer. You should already see the effect working.
Step 3 — Now we have to fix the light shift, as you can see even a subtle change can ruin the effect. On the man#1 layer, apply Effect>Color Correction>Levels.
Done — With some tweaking you should get a seamless match. If you want to have some fun with this, try adding a transition effect on the man#1 layer and watch him “appear. ” Also try setting up a shot with three, four, or more instances of the same actor.
The Options
Because this effect is so easy there’s no reason not to do it in your editing program; here’s how to do it in Final Cut Pro.
Step 1 — Similar to how we did this in After Effects, import the two shots, place one above the other in the time line, and trim the shots so that they are the same length.
Step 2— Go to Effects>Matte>Four Point Garbage Matte and apply it to the man#1 video layer.
Step 3 — Drag points 1 and 4 so that they cut the screen in half. Add some Feather to the edge.
Done — Add Effect>Image>Control Levels and adjust the Gamma until the two shots match.
Cityscape Fly-Through Animation
Most animation and compositing software offer the user virtual cameras. These cameras allow the VFX artist to animate the camera movement in ways that you could never move a real camera. A great exampleof a use for virtual cameras is to create a landscape from still photos and animate a fly-through.
Ingredients
● Still photos of buildings
● Still photo of asphalt for road texture
● Still photo of concrete for sidewalk texture
● Still photo of the sky for background
The Shoot
Grab your digital still camera and hit the city streets. Please note, some buildings are actually copyrighted so you will need permission in order to use a photo of the building, even if it’s a photo you’ve taken.
The Design
Sidewalk Texture
Step 1 — Open the concretetexture.psd file and make a small selection with Rectangular Marquee.
This solution is brought to you by...
The Visual Effects Arsenal by Bill Byrne
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