Cloning a person -- with panning

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pootify

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Has anyone dealt much with multiplying a single person in the same shot? I know it's a fairly simple compositing trick, but I just wanted to hear the experiences of other people and get some tips if they were handy. Is there any simple subtractive-compositive type way to have a clone walk behind the same person in the same shot, or does that have to be rotoscoped?

Also, does anyone know of a cheapish way to get repetitive robotic-arm type movements? For example, the IKEA Catalog shot in Fight Club where the camera pans across the living room as it fills up with furniture. Thanks in advance!
 
Those mechanized rigs are extremely expensive to buy and even to rent (last i heard it's about $1500 for one day). You're better off keeping the shots locked down.

What kind of shots are you going for specifically? Having a person walked behind another person is pretty easy. Use an additive mask on the person in front and make sure that the shape of the mask fits them well. Make sure when shooting the foreground plate that the person stand as still as possible, that'll make your task easier. The gist of it is, simple, deliberate movements work best; having someone stalked around the room waving their arms around is a masking nightmare.
 
Also, if you are planning to have the camera be moving, this could also be a nightmare in terms of key framing and matting the shot.

I did do this effectively using a green screen. This is sort of an analog method, but it did work. We used the green screen only for the few seconds that we needed the characters to pass eachother.
 
I have done this kind of shot, it's realtively easy.

I used AE for this. You first shoot the other half of the picture then pan the camera and shoot the other one. You then turn these two pictures into 3D-layers in AE and put them in a "V"-formation and then create a virtual camera in the middle. It's hard to explain without pictures but it can be made look surprisingly seamles.

This guy had a tutorial up sometime ago but I can't find it anymore, he used this trick many times in this funny short: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~zap/kidwars/intermezzo/

The making of in that page explained every effect in detail but it seems to be down.
 
If you use Final Cut Pro there is alot you can do.
In EfX map there is something called "8 point canvas" (I think...)
Drag it onto your clip and you'll have 8 point to move around. The edges can be softenend with "feathing" which is located in the "motion" tab in the viewer window.
Make use you lock down you camera when filming! It can't move...good luck
 
Bazvde, I think you're referring to the 8-point "garbage matte." So you can cut off all that garbage you don't need I guess.

As to this whole cloning thing...the pan would require a set speed and pace. The start and end points don't matter, obviously, you just need a bit of room on either side for adjustment. You could try that by hand, if you're really good it could work. Otherwise it might be possible to hook up a motor and a gear to your head that would execute repeatable moves, and you could control it with a laptop if you figured out how to hook it up and run scripts...

It might be easier to do a couple of dolly passes at the same speed than a pan. Again, you need a good op (dolly grip in the case) but it seems like the dolly move would be slightly easier to pull off. Failing that, a couple of track wheels with motors attached that would maintain a set speed (this rig would probably be easier to find parts for and install).

EDIT: That fanfilm was incredible, awesome low-budget FX. The regeneration of the first clone? It looked like the nozzles were pouring beer at first. Classic.
 
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I just finished a short with cloning in it, but I decided before hand, since we only had our location for 8 hours, that I wasn't even going to mess with trying camera moves (on the clone shots) or attempting to have the clones pass behind each other, interact, etc. I'd ask yourself how crucial it is to the story to have things like that happen, b/c it may just be best to keep the effect simple and save yourself the trouble. The biggest challenge for me was to keep the acting believable and the dialogue timed. Make sure you grab SAFETY CUTAWAYS so you can cut in and out of the composited clone shot if needed. They might save your flick and any reshoots. I'm not sure what your using the cloning for, but keep that stuff in mind.
 
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