Looking for advice: remove the head of an actor

M. Gilden

M. Gilden

Canon DSLR Moderator
Was asked to help with a short film that involves a sort of dream sequence in which someone wakes up and is missing their head.

The obvious approach of a green face mask is not enough, as I'll need to replace the back of his shirt. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to tackle this would be... should I just get a static shot of the back of a shirt and motion track it in AE behind the keyed footage layer?

I get the feeling that this may not be enough, as the actor may not always be facing the camera directly. If the back of the shirt does not bend properly, will it totally ruin the effect? Is there a better way I should be approaching this?
 
You didn't say what roll you've been asked to play in this production . . . director, camera operator, actor, gaffer, dp, editor, etc? If as a consultant on how to make it work, then you might want to know what is the wardrobe of the headless character; is this in a fully lit scene, or dark bedroom; does he have a neck, a stump of a neck, a severed neck; if in pj's does the collar of the pj cover the missing neck area. What is the action and camera blocking? What specific shots and angles are planned?
One might also want to consider shooting the whole sequence on a green screen set with a green hood on the character. Pick up background plates later to match the angles, mood and framing of the green screen shots. Keep the camera below the neck ine so as not to see down in its hole.
As complicated as this could become, you might want to suggest some testing before actually shooting . . . lots of testing (including test editing).

Good luck,

Ken

P.S. - After it is all composited you might add a silk or other effect to give the dreamy quality (and cover any keying mistakes or errors).
 
Sorry, I guess I should have specified my role would be handling the visual effects and compositing.

I had asked the writer/director about wardrobe, static versus moving camera shots, and whether the neck should be a stump or just a hollow hole. Her reply was that she's honestly open to any suggestions to make this happen and look the best.

Here is how I'm currently picturing it:
Green hood / morph-suit mask, actor wearing a T-shirt to avoid lapels and complicated necklines. Turn the shirt inside out and get a still of it on someone's back, take that still into photoshop and isolate just the top of the back and add some shadow, then use motion tracking in AE to place it behind where the head was keyed out.
Does that sound about right?

Obviously we will need to conduct a LOT of test shots first, but I'm just looking for workflow suggestions at this point. I'm not sure if the way I'm picturing it will work, or if there is a better way.

The turning shirt inside-out trick is something I've done before in still photography, when I did product photos for these guys: http://product_images_hq.s3.amazonaws.com/formrecordhoodie1/product/formrecordhoodie1.jpg
They call it the "invisible mannequin". I'm hoping this will work as well in video as it does in stills, but I'm very skeptical.
 
You might want to visit the Mocha site (Imagineer systems) . They have a tutorial that is almost exactly what you want to do. It may be part of a paid tutorial but there are clips anyway and you can see if it's what you are looking for.
 
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