Compositing with Multiple Layers of Video

[Bluewave07]

Hey guys,

I am making a short film and for the final shot, my character is sitting at a table in a restaurant. He turns around and sees that at every table in the restaurant there is a computer monitor sitting in the seat where people should be sitting. All at one, the computer monitors turn on.

I only have one computer monitor, and obviously would not want to buy 10-15 monitors just to shoot this. So, for this shot, my original idea was as such:

Set the camera up on a tripod

Film 10-15 shots, each with a computer monitor at a different table. Each time the monitor will be plugged in offscreen so it turns on

Then, somehow in Final Cut, overlay these 10-15 shots on top of each other, copmositing so it looks as if all of the computers are there at the same time.


How would I go about doing this in final cut? Is it even possible????

Thanks!

[jumpthewire]

you COULD do it in FCP.
probably easier to do in motion or after effects.

masks + cropping + clever compositions!
sounds like a cool shot!

shawn

[grinner]

ditto... no need to make it harder.
This is what after effects is for. You could then make it a panning shot or at least not be married to a licked down static shot, if not desired. If it's just a pan, you wouldnt even have to track em all speratly. You could parent em together and just track as one.

[NoahK]

Could also be done in motion though not quite as slickly as in AFX. But yeah in FCP the matting tools for this sort of thing are very tricky to use. 4-point/8point garbage matte- very tough.

Noah

[VGurcu]

I was serious about suggesting prop laptops. May I ask why my post has been deleted?
PS:Just to clarify I dont know the vendor that I posted the link, maybe i shouldnt have mentioned the price?

[NoahK]

Let's just leave it at that suggestion and omit the vendor- it reads like spamola. Sorry.

[Shooter]

In a locked off shot without any overlapping action you may get away with basic garbage mattes.

[VGurcu]

Let's just leave it at that suggestion
Noah, let's not leave it there, here is another suggestion (this one is from an editor point of view):
Forget garbage(4 & 8 point) matte, it wouldnt work on that many layers. If you are absolutely doing the lock off tripod shot here is how it works:
-Slice the screen into 15 equal pieces vertically and make sure chairs are placed clearly within the sliced area.(no chair is on 2 sliced zone) Actor is on the last slice on either side.
-Go ahead, place the monitor on each chair, power on/off while recording continously. Actor has to be keep looking at the chairs throughout the shot.
-On FCP, duplicate this clip 15 times...(V1 to V15)
-Open V15 in the viewer, click on the motion tap and open the crop area. Crop from the right side until only the chair at the far left is visible.
-Apply the same croping method into every Video layer accordingly. All you need to crop is only left & right sides...
There you go, no matte, only croping through motion tap. PROBLEM is arranging the tables perfectly in a probably hostile location, it would take a whole day to setup...

LOGICAL way of doing it with a simple monitor is using KEY MATTE(or green screen)
Just shoot the monitor on a small green screen, then place this clip over your restaurant master shot as many times you want. Key out the green(or whatever color you used as key), scale down the monitor to a proportional size, boom!
You'll get away with even a DV camcorder because you'll be SCALING WAY DOWN(%10 maybe) this monitor onto tables, so keying mistakes will be more forgiving...

MORE LOGICAL way would be to spend $300 and buy 12 damn dummy computers, compromise on the script a bit(turning on/off) hence save the shooting time, save the editor time/cost and go with a single clean shot ;)

[Bluewave07]

Thanks guys I really appreciate all of the advice!

Unfortunately I do not believe I have access to After Effects. If that was the case I would definately use it, as I have far more experience in that editing system than in FCP.

The Greenscreen idea came up, but we weren't sure if it would look okay. Ultimately, that might be the way we have to go. It is the simplest.

The splitting the screen idea is really interesting. I might try that out. The shoot is not until Sunday so I still have some time to make arrangements.


Thanks again guys and Ill let you know how it all comes out!!

[jumpthewire]

do you have motion?
it probably would be a great project to 'sink your teeth in'

its fairly easy to grasp.

personally the greenscreen idea sounds harder to me.
you need to match the lighting and natural reflections precisely
otherwise it will look very fake.

would love to see your finished shot tho!
sounds cool.

shawn

[AwakenedFilms]

If you go green screen, what are you going to do about recreating the light increase/spill around the restaurant that would be caused by 15 monitors all turning on at once? Maybe it would be better to do the shot in camera by beg, borrowing and stealing additional monitors...

Curious to see how it turns out.


J

[Shooter]

How hard is it to borrow 15 monitors?

[Bluewave07]

The only problem with trying to borrow all of these monitors is that we would like all of the monitors to be exactly alike.

Yes, actually, I do have access to Motion as well. I am not experienced in it at all, that's the only problem I'm facing here.

If anyone would so desire, could they explain to me how this could be done in motion? Or atleast reference me to a thread that could be helpful

Thanks a lot guys. This is a huge help!