Simple Effect Test

Just wanted to see how convincing this would look...I think it came out decently...

It's part of a larger short I'm working on for a friend of mine who wondered if it could be done. Six clones of myself, all in my dormroom, one of them trips. Another snaps his fingers and freezes all but himself. He then maneuvers around them and places the Chef Boyardi cup back in the falling clone's hand, then restarts time so the clone can catch it.

This was done using a combination of techniques, with a few things I've figured out on my own, from Ryan Weiber (thanks a lot man, lol) and Collin Leevy (don't think he comes to this board...but eh...)

Anyway, enjoy:

Right Click/Save As

Lemme know what you think Done on After Effects 5.5 PB with a Canon ZR-60 Camcorder. Go cheapness!

 

Looks pretty good, the only thing that needs work is the mask feathering. It looks like you masked to the edge of the frozen clone, then added a feather to it. What I recommmend is either getting rid of the feather (but that will create too hard of a line), or better yet, move your mask inside of the frozen clone just a bit, and keep the feather on. That will get rid of the background showing through on the frozen clone when the other one passes behind him. Good job and good luck.

-DeadEyesSmiling

 

Hmm, I'll give that a try...it was my first attempt at an effect like this of any kind, so thx

 

Ooh ooh! Also!

Hyperspace Test

Well...more of a "hyperjump" test, using a simple model from Sci-fi 3d in my aging version of 3d studio max

Anyway, ignoring the cheesy models, how's the actual star effect look?

 

Looks okay, but the stars only stetch a little before you jump...in the movies, anyway.

 

As for yur first clip, if one watches it sped up, you can perceive a slight bumping of the camera, while the clone stays in the same place.

~Neszis~

 

...bump in the camera? How do you figure...? It was sitting on a flat surface started by remote control, lol, nobody else in the room...

And I watched it, I didn't see anything...anyone else??

 

Yup. Several.

 

Oh, THATS what you meant by sped up, LOL!

I wonder how it did that...but it looks fine going normal speed

Seriously, there was nobody else in the room and the camera was just sitting there, controled by remote...that's pretty weird...

Funny, but weird...any idea how to correct this?? I'm stumped...

 

If you're referring to the cloning tutorial, that's acually mine. And isn't Colin "effstops"? Or is that another Colin?


Anyway... I think it looked good. You could stand to sharpen that mask feather. I would imagine that the motion blur contributed a lot to that. Part of what would make this scene look a lot better is if you could lose the motion blur altogether. Not at all easy unless you film at high speed. But, it's just a thought.

 

I thuoght that was very good and original too.

so well done i usually hate clone test too

 

I'm with Twowiththeforce on this one. Normally I get tired of clone tests, but every once in a while I see one that just knocks my socks (pretty much all of Ryan's). This one was different, not just the typical two or three of the dudes sitting in a room. Congrats!

 

Yup, I'm Colin Levy. And effstops. And I come to this board.

Hey-- you stole my idea! I'm making a film where a certain clock controls time... and it has something to do with an object which I catch once I stop and rewind time, and then go to normal speed. You shall see.

Good clips!

NOBODY ELSE do this until mine is done!

--Colin

 

Nice avatar...

Anyway, you may have gotton vid clips from a "Jose", Colin, he's my best friend, lol. I got into digi editing right before he did and he's the one who found your site.

Thanks again for the method. Jose actually taught ME how to clone after your tutorial

Everyone look forward to mine being BETTER than colin's....

Just kidding

 

You big stealer! You stole my idea and my avatar!

You're best friends with Jose? Coolioso! So you guys gonna try out the NightCrawler next?

And for the tutorial, anytime! I'm glad I was helpful.

Here's an offer: Your movie can be better if mine is finished first.

--Colin

 

To fix it, I think it would take a while (except with the PB, which I am assuming you don't have). You'd have to use Easy Ease and keyframe the motion of the camera onto the clone layer. Or you could do the opposite and "counter-keyframe" (fake term alert!) the motion of the room. That may be bad, though, because then you'd have to crop the image.

The cause is most likely your own movement. If you are in a dormroom, which I think you are, your footsteps are bumping the floor which are, in turn, bumping your camera.

~Neszis~

 

The cause is most likely your own movement. If you are in a dormroom, which I think you are, your footsteps are bumping the floor which are, in turn, bumping your camera.

That's deep...

Anyway, at normal speed, it looks perfectly fine. All you nitpickers who watch it by sliding the bar manually are the only ppl who see the problem, lol...

BTW - Jose and I ARE going to attempt the Nightcrawler effect next

 

Actually, I pressed the Fast Forward button. What would be easier is simply reshooting, and use a higher shutter speed.

~Neszis~

 

Cool. Good luck with the NightCrawler. Please don't make it better than mine.

--Colin

 

Cool test. I've been meaning to do a test like this for awhile.... there's a very similar effect in the Matrix (woman in the red dress part).

I'd say cut DOWN on the mask feather a little though. Also, since the clone in the foreground is a still image, the noise on him from your camera is also stilled. To fix that, make a 50% solid grey layer set to soft light and matte it out so it's a cutout of the stilled foreground clone. Then generate some noise in AE and mess with the opacity and blurring.

Also, you might be able to fake a shadow effect on the background clone by taking the matte from the foreground clone, dupping it, blurring it, setting it all the way to black, and messing with the opacity. Keep up the good work.




-Brandon

 

Hmm...if only that last post made sense...

 

It does; what is wrong is your interpretation of it.

 

Agreed.

 

Not what I meant, I meant I have no idea how to do that stuff

 

(except with the PB, which I am assuming you don't have).

He said he has AE5.5PB. In that case I think he could just track the background and apply that to the clone layer.