Cloning Me

[jaelupo]

This is a Special Effects video I shot using the HV20 and edited with Adobe After Effects 7 and Vegas 7. I was able to clone myself 4 times in one scene and make it look like we were all talking to each other. And no I don't have 3 brothers this is all me!! Very cool effect!!

Jae

http://hv20.info/yopu/Quad Clone.mov (http://hv20.info/yopu/Quad_Clone.mov)

[Mark Dog2]

very very cool jaelupo liked it did you shoot 24p or 60i ????????????? and if 24p did you shot with cinemamode ???????????????????? alsohow exactly did you do the effect if you could explain ????????

peace n luv

Mark Dog

[Mark Dog2]

also what was your lighting set up for this cause i have readthat the HV20 is in need of more light then some the other prosumer HDV cams so what kind of liths were yo uworking with if regular hosehold what was the wattage you used thanxxxxx

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

[neocastillo]

He used a tripod and probabl a garbage matte. It a really easy efect to do.

Just place the camera on a tripod and have it recording. Then move to the different spots (making sure not to cross one of the others yous' virtual space because then it become a harder effect to do.)

You can do this with pretty muhc any editing program (FCP, Adobe, and Vegas). To edit layer each video on you sitting in each space. Then with a garbage matter block out a space for one of the other you's to show through. Repeat this for each "clone". It is a really really simple effect that you can use for various thing such as ghosts, people just apearing out of nowhere and other things.

[jaelupo]

It is simple once you do it a few times. You have to shoot each clone in a different position in the scene with the camera on a tripod. The two most important things to remember are not to move the camera and keep the lighting exactly the same in each shot. You also have to shoot a clip or a till with no one in the scene and use this as your base. The other clips are layered on top on the blank one masking out only the part you want to see. You must also keep all the clones away from each other so they don’t cross each other out.

I did this shot at night (so the outside light would affect my recording) with normal overhead lighting (about 150 watts) in 1080i mode. It helps to lock the exposure and shutter so that each clip has the same lighting. I tried to do this outside a few times and it was almost impossible because the lighting changes so much with the sun and the clouds.

If anyone wants more details on the workflow I will post it.

Jae

[bluegrass]

It is simple once you do it a few times. You have to shoot each clone in a different position in the scene with the camera on a tripod. The two most important things to remember are not to move the camera and keep the lighting exactly the same in each shot. You also have to shoot a clip or a till with no one in the scene and use this as your base. The other clips are layered on top on the blank one masking out only the part you want to see. You must also keep all the clones away from each other so they don’t cross each other out.

I did this shot at night (so the outside light would affect my recording) with normal overhead lighting (about 150 watts) in 1080i mode. It helps to lock the exposure and shutter so that each clip has the same lighting. I tried to do this outside a few times and it was almost impossible because the lighting changes so much with the sun and the clouds.

If anyone wants more details on the workflow I will post it.

Jae

I assume you're saying you have to have multitrack video capablilty in your RLE. In other words there is nothing in the digital effects built in the camcorder to allow such a video to be shot such as overdubbing with audio.

At anyrate jaelupo, please do more of this kind of unique stuff. this adds a lot of fun & flavor to the forum as for as i'm concerned. i know we can get serious here and get a lot of infomation disemenated and answer a lot of questions but let's have some good old fashion fun here too. i think that kind of stuff makes the fourm more interesting.

more more everyone.

[jaelupo]

Bluegrass,

You are right these effects are not built into the camera you can do it with any camera but the HV20 makes it look good. Basically you are layering and masking several video clips to create the effect. I used After Effects to do all of the masking and layering and Vegas to edit and render the final clip. There is so much you can do with AE, this is just scratching the surface.

I will upload some more clips using AE so everyone can get some ideas on fun things they can do with their clips.

Jae

[PWHerman]

Hey Jae, how's it goin? Glad you signed up!

That's an awesome little thing you did there. I'm gonna try to do something similar in the coming weeks.

Once again, happy that you made your way over here...you have a wealth of footage that the people here are going to appreciate!

[jaelupo]

Hey Jae, how's it goin? Glad you signed up!

That's an awesome little thing you did there. I'm gonna try to do something similar in the coming weeks.

Once again, happy that you made your way over here...you have a wealth of footage that the people here are going to appreciate!

No worries. I am glad I can share some of my videos with everyone. I have a bunch more I will upload soon. I have been very busy with work and haven't had much time to film and render but I will upload somemore soon.

I have some timplapse footage as well that I just uploaded. I love Vegas 7 and After Effects. With those two programs and an HV20 you can do anything.

Jae

[Lunchbox]

GREAT JOB! It was fun! You got me fooled! Until the very end then I know how you did it :) it shows a frame of some "green" aera.

[neocastillo]

Here is some footage showing some dream sequence scenes from a short I shot using this same technique in other ways.

http://hv20.info/yopu/strange_clip.mov

It's an extremely easy effect to accomplish that usually gets a wow factor. Many people always ask if it was green screen and I tell them that it is so much easier than that, practically a no brainer if you plan your shots well.

[Mal]

Ha, great clips.

[Mark Dog2]

thanx jaelupo for answer the question and you to neo , only thing istil ldid get got the wattage but did you shoot this in 60i or 24p and if 24 did yo uuse cinema mode ????

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

[jaelupo]

thanx jaelupo for answer the question and you to neo , only thing istil ldid get got the wattage but did you shoot this in 60i or 24p and if 24 did yo uuse cinema mode ????

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

Sorry Mark, I shot it in 60i with manual settings so that the light would be consistant in all the clips. You don't really need the cinema mode for something like this. The lighting was just normal overhead lighting about 150 watts.

Jae

[jaelupo]

A few people have mentioned Green Screens. This clip was not done with any green screens. It's all done in Post with After Effects.

Jae

[jaelupo]

Here is another Clone video. This is just one clone and me.

http://hv20.info/yopu/Single_Clone.WMV


PS I am a terrible actor!!

[Mark Dog2]

was this in 24p jaelupo ??????????? or still 60i ?????????????

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

[jaelupo]

was this in 24p jaelupo ??????????? or still 60i ?????????????

peace n luv

Mark Dog 2

This was 60i.

[crobs808]

why not just film yourself on a green wall, then you dont have to worry about overlapping? use Ultimatte AdvantEdge...easy as pie in Premiere Pro

P.S. - feather your mattes next time if you are going to do it that way, avoid tha harsh circle edges and shadow cutoffs. you also need to make sure you don't "overact"...when you are sitting at a table with people, you do not leane back to see the person next to you. also, you can tell your eyes are looking "past" the next person...put an actual dummy there, so it's more realistic that your focus is on what is sitting in the chair, and not the wall or carpet 10-15 feet past where the person sits. (had to combine greenscreen video with a cartoon once, and had foam dummy objects painted in blue and green for the actors to work with, so when the cartoon was to the left and in front of them a little, it really looked like they were looking at it, and not off into the sky beyond the actual cartoon/object)

[neocastillo]

why not just film yourself on a green wall, then you dont have to worry about overlapping? use Ultimatte AdvantEdge...easy as pie in Premiere Pro

I know the reason I use this effect is when I don't "need" to use a green screen. It just makes thing alot easier. I don't feel this is a replacement for green screen at all, but it does have it's usefulness.

[crobs808]

hmm, to me green screening is a lot less work then garbage matte. at least when using Advantedge's software for Premiere Pro.

[neocastillo]

If i set up the shot right all i need to do is make four clicks and the matte is in place wammo bammo.

[jaelupo]

This is much easer then Green screen. Plus it is free to do if you have the AE. I don't own a green screen and it would cost a lot to setup with the proper lighting.

[gibo]

Do you have the ability to feather your garbage mattes? That would help them blend into each other better and would hide the mattes.

[jaelupo]

Do you have the ability to feather your garbage mattes? That would help them blend into each other better and would hide the mattes.

Yes you can. This was a ruff draft of the final project. I astually uploaded the wrong file. The final one looks a lot better. I just can't delete the files on the FTP so I just left it.

I am going to dp a new one when I have time and upload it here. I am working on one where the camera moves (very hard to do!).

[VaNdaL]

I'm downloading your clone footage right now!

On a related subject... I made a music video with clones of myself playing different guitar parts of my own instrumental rock song. I used blue screen technique (blue ironed sheets!) to film myself playing all the parts and then used Lightwave 3D/Photoshop to create all the backgrounds I inserted myself into, it took quite an effort! The camera I used was only a Canon S1IS which shoots poor 640x480 VGA footage, I cleaned it up as best I could in Photoshop. I can't wait to see how my brand new HV20 performs using the same technique, should be ace!

http://www.dweebtheater.info/tjimage.jpg

Here is the link to the video... http://www.dweebtheater.info/tjvideo.htm

The link above may not always work as it seems the traffic allowance for my website has been exceeded this month (June) which means you can only download from next month, unless they let me host it on here!

[Jake Ironshirt]

Here is some footage showing some dream sequence scenes from a short I shot using this same technique in other ways.

http://hv20.info/yopu/strange_clip.mov

It's an extremely easy effect to accomplish that usually gets a wow factor. Many people always ask if it was green screen and I tell them that it is so much easier than that, practically a no brainer if you plan your shots well.

I thought that was cool the way you pulled that clip together...if you don't mind what software did you use to make that happen?
Thanks
Jake

[neocastillo]

I thought that was cool the way you pulled that clip together...if you don't mind what software did you use to make that happen?
Thanks
Jake

Just carefull shot planning and FCP5 (using a garbage matte and reduced the opssity of the litte girl). After the shot was made it took about 2-5 minutes to set it up in FCP5 and the another 5 or so to render and that's it.

[Numbox]

Just carefull shot planning and FCP5 (using a garbage matte and reduced the opssity of the litte girl).

Just do add to this - if you don't want it to be seethrough just use masking in Vegas. Since it's the same background, you don't have to mask closely around the little girl, just make a shape around her and that's it, but be careful not to mask out the woman.

[jaelupo]

[QUOTE=VaNdaL;4870]I'm downloading your clone footage right now!

On a related subject... I made a music video with clones of myself playing different guitar parts of my own instrumental rock song. I used blue screen technique (blue ironed sheets!) to film myself playing all the parts and then used Lightwave 3D/Photoshop to create all the backgrounds I inserted myself into, it took quite an effort! The camera I used was only a Canon S1IS which shoots poor 640x480 VGA footage, I cleaned it up as best I could in Photoshop. I can't wait to see how my brand new HV20 performs using the same technique, should be ace!


Nice work on the Video. I would put this in a seperate thread since you did so much work on this. Some people might not see it. I can tell you spent a lot of time doing that video. It must have took days to render it??

[neocastillo]

Just do add to this - if you don't want it to be seethrough just use masking in Vegas. Since it's the same background, you don't have to mask closely around the little girl, just make a shape around her and that's it, but be careful not to mask out the woman.


Right but my intention was for her to be see through. The little girl is a memory from her youth. So I made her see through as to not make it look like this random person apeared out of no where for no reason. I would have posted the whole short you would have understood why she was see through.

[Numbox]

Right but my intention was for her to be see through. The little girl is a memory from her youth. So I made her see through as to not make it look like this random person apeared out of no where for no reason. I would have posted the whole short you would have understood why she was see through.

No, i got that, i was just adding to your explanation :hv20-smilie77:

[VaNdaL]

Nice work on the Video. I would put this in a seperate thread since you did so much work on this. Some people might not see it. I can tell you spent a lot of time doing that video. It must have took days to render it??

Yup, I left my pc on over many nights to render scenes. I've been experimenting in Vegas with blue screen fx and results are looking good, I use a little bit of blur & median to smooth edges of the matte. I dunno if I should start a thread on this as none of my video contains HV20 footage. I'll make a new music video with HV20.

That clone technique you used is neat, never thought of doing it like that before, the way I did my video was very time consuming and complicated!

[Numbox]

I use a little bit of blur & median to smooth edges of the matte.

Ahem, can you clarify for me what median actually does?

[VaNdaL]

Take a look at these 3 zoomed in images, 1st is an unedited mask, 2nd is using a bit of the blur tool which softens the edges, 3rd is the median tool which rounds/smoothes edges plus added a bit of the blur tool, best not to go too crazy with median or the original video won't line up with the matte/mask and the blue/green will start peaking through.

http://hv20.info/yopu/unedited.jpg http://hv20.info/yopu/blur.jpg http://hv20.info/yopu/median.jpg

[Numbox]

thanx, this will be very useful :hv20-smilie68:

[Lunchbox]

Check this out. This guy also did something similar. He video taped himself with 2 roles and edit using Premiere. Take a look at the video called "Kvitt'n"

http://www.suneworld.com/?pagename=videos.php

I asked him what was the dialog is about. He said he was just speaking garbbage. Pretty fun to watch!

[Doogs]

nice work, I liked the dream sequence....