How is this done?

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
I dont even know what this type of effect or style of editing is called. I was trying to explain to someone who edits on Avid and I was having difficulty! So I came across this website yesterday and wouldn't you know they had a little short film that used that same technique I was trying to describe.


The site is www.e3productions.com

The video I am talking about is called SENTIMENTAL. There are some other cool little short films on that site too.

You'll know what I am talking about once you see it. Stuff like the camera might zoom into a picture on the wall but then something in the picture might move and transition into something else and they kept the process going throughout the whole piece.
 
Re: How is this done?

Create mattes around the images inside the FX application (roto) or in Photoshop (since may of these are stills, saveselections as alpha channels and save in format that keeps alphas)
Create layers and just add key frame animation to move, rotate and zoom.
Please use splines, Most of the example shows how not to do motion.
 
Re: How is this done?

ScottDVX100 wrote: Please use splines, Most of the example shows how not to do motion.

wow. that's rad that someone ran across one of my videos (sentimental) as having something cool they want to try. Sentimental was created using a combination of Final Cut Pro and after effects. i got the idea from watching the trailer for "The kid stays in the picture". you open a pic in photoshop and you matte out your foreground elements, then cut and paste them onto another layer. then on the background layer you use the clone tool to fill in the blank space created when you removed the foreground elements. this allows you to move the foreground independently of the background in AE without seeing any blank space. when i was doing this in FCP, before i got AE, i think i imported layers as TIFF files (saves alpha channel info) but i guess i could have done it with PSD files too. the problem with FCP is that the layers don't really exist in any real 3D space. so i had to fake things like distance and depth of field using scale and blur effects. if you have AE 5.5 or higher however, you can simply import your layered PSD file as its own composition and then use AE's 3D space to position the layers and move virtual cameras around them. you can control depth of field and perspective as if you're pictures existed in actual 3D. it's awesome. i used this in two other shorts on the website under "recent additions" in the video section ("ronin" and "herbalife" university).
http://www.e3productions.com/videos/michael.html

i hope this helps and wasn't just confusing. if you email (through the site contact section) me with specific questions maybe i could give you a step by step walkthrough. i'm no expert but i think i know enough to get by.

in response to scottdvx100's comment above, i chose not to use splines because i wanted the movements to be abrupt and unnatural to draw attention to the falseness of the space i'd created. after first creating a version with bezier motion paths i found that the sharper motion was more engaging to people who didn't know the difference between splined motion and non-splined. so i decided i wasn't going to try and reproduce a smooth or realistic movement. there's a little bit of splining in the final sequence with all the pictures to make that section stand out.
 
Re: How is this done?

shooter,
i guess i didn't answer you're main question "what's this effect called?" sorry, i don't know. it's pretty darn popular these days, though. i get most of my freelance work doing that particular effect.
-michael
for a super awesome use of the psuedo 3D/2D effect but with live action added in the mix go to the diesel clothing site
http://www.dieseldreams.com/launch.html
under "DREAM MAKERS" and then "DA JOINT: I MUST DESTROY THE EVIL BEAR". these guys rock
 
Re: How is this done?

Fair enough. Typically moves default to linear motion in effects and 3D packages which tend to be very unnatural but used widely by people still leartning the craft.
 
Re: How is this done?

Michael,

Yea I came across your site the other night! I was telling some people at work to go and check out some of your material on there as well. I like the fight sequences in "Random Acts of Violence" and "Burn" had me dying in the begining! The book store scene was hillarious!

Thanks for the how to on that technique too. I just got PS and AE not to long ago so I am still trying to learn it.
 
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