How best to shoot one guy as a pair of twins?

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David_M_Payne

Well-known member
How best to shoot one guy as a pair of twins?

In one scene I'm trying to frame in my script I have one guy playing twins. The scene will be shot outside at night and I'm trying to figure out how to go about it. I want to have both of his characters in one frame once, and then have the camera pan back and forth with his character first on the left and then on the right. I was thinking of going from the one on the left to the body on the ground, and then back to the right where he will be standing. The only thing I can think of is to have him run around behind the camera when it leaves him on the left and pans down to the dead body, and then have him show up on the right. I guess if I use a slow pan from him on the left to the body and then back up to the right he should have enough time to move into position, but is this a practical approach, or is there a better way? I know about green screen etc but I don't think I'm ready for that yet technically. Anyone have any suggestions for better ways to go about shooting twins when you only have one of them in real life?

David
 
The easiest way is to hire an actor who has a twin -- think Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 (or was it Terminator 1?) They did a shot where they needed her in one frame and then pulled back through a fence and saw her looking at herself. How convenient was it that she had a twin? ;)

Okay, so, ruling that out... the second way to go about it is to get someone who looks an awful lot like the actor, and dress 'em and put a wig on 'em to make 'em look very very much like the target actor, and then try to shoot the "double" from behind. That's how you do your over-the-shoulder conversation shots.

For the shot you're talking about, I guess I'll need some clarification -- you're saying that you'll have twins standing over a dead body? Talking to each other and looking down at the body? If it's an absolutely locked-down shot, no movement whatsoever, then this shot is pretty easy to pull off, provided that the twins don't ever cross into each other's part of the screen -- just lock the camera down solid, have the dead body and the left twin play out the scene, then have the actor move to the right side of the screen and play out his half of the scene. Then in post you split the frame in half, using the left side for the left "twin" and the right side for the right "twin". If you have issues with the dead body moving, you can instead split the screen using a bezier mask, cutting out a hole so the dead body appears from one take in both sides of the frame (or, just stage your shot so that the dead body is only on one half of the screen).
 
Barry_Green said:
The easiest way is to hire an actor who has a twin -- think Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 (or was it Terminator 1?) They did a shot where they needed her in one frame and then pulled back through a fence and saw her looking at herself. How convenient was it that she had a twin? ;)
Click to expand...

I didn't know Linda Hamilton had a twin. Wow, I am going to watch that movie again. :-D
 
I have used the second technique Barry talked about (Locking down the camera) and it has worked very well, people still ask me how I did that. The only thing that I would add to the work flow is to shoot about a minute or so of the scene without the actor in the frame. That way you have a blank canvas you can mask in this shot to cover up any areas that don't look quite right. Good luck.
 
Barry_Green said:
The easiest way is to hire an actor who has a twin -- think Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 (or was it Terminator 1?) They did a shot where they needed her in one frame and then pulled back through a fence and saw her looking at herself. How convenient was it that she had a twin? ;)

Okay, so, ruling that out... the second way to go about it is to get someone who looks an awful lot like the actor, and dress 'em and put a wig on 'em to make 'em look very very much like the target actor, and then try to shoot the "double" from behind. That's how you do your over-the-shoulder conversation shots.

For the shot you're talking about, I guess I'll need some clarification -- you're saying that you'll have twins standing over a dead body? Talking to each other and looking down at the body? If it's an absolutely locked-down shot, no movement whatsoever, then this shot is pretty easy to pull off, provided that the twins don't ever cross into each other's part of the screen -- just lock the camera down solid, have the dead body and the left twin play out the scene, then have the actor move to the right side of the screen and play out his half of the scene. Then in post you split the frame in half, using the left side for the left "twin" and the right side for the right "twin". If you have issues with the dead body moving, you can instead split the screen using a bezier mask, cutting out a hole so the dead body appears from one take in both sides of the frame (or, just stage your shot so that the dead body is only on one half of the screen).
Click to expand...

Well I just looked up bezier mask and found out what that is, and I have the program to run it, after effects 6.5, so thanks for the tip Barry. This place is one great resource for guys like me that's for sure!

David
 
Watch the newer parent trap movie - watch how they do it. Notice that Lindsey Lohan (who has no twin) has a double that they often fail to show her face when they are together. They use creative editing and sometimes a split screen.
 
Hooray! An opportunity to plug my video. Seriously, check this out... it's split-screen on zero-budget... exactly what Barry was talking about.

It's all After Effects and keyframed feathered masks.

http://superkeen.com/video/index.html#Franklin

If you-split screen at night, be careful! If you end up with video grain, your matte will have to be heavily feathered so that you won't notice the "line", meaning that the characters can't get very close to each other.

For that matter, even if you DON'T have grain, make sure you at least have consistent lighting. If it's natural light, get the two shots done as quickly as possible before the sun moves.

As far as moving the camera, if it MUST be a pan from one to the other, make the pan quick and disorienting. Do it once for each chacter, and then cross-fade during the pan. It'll look pretty convincing.

Good luck!

-Paul
 
how about if you bluescreen the second person, this way you can actually have that person overlap the person not shot in bluescreen and it would make the illusion much more realistic?

or maybe shoot the backdrop and then both twins in separate bluescreen sessions?

matthew
 
araujofh said:
I didn't know Linda Hamilton had a twin. Wow, I am going to watch that movie again. :-D
Click to expand...

I didn't believe this either but of course Barry is THE MAN!
I'm sure had she not had a twin though that Cameron had the special effects capability to make that shot happen.
 
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