How would you film, and do this in After Effects? at DVinfo.net

Jeff Troiano · October 25th, 2011, 10:28 PM

I have a question about how I would film this type of scene, and I hoped someone here might be be able to help me out.

Planing a music video shoot, and the guy wants to do a shot where he's driving in his car (real time footage), while the footage outside the car is like a timelapse. Kind of like the scene in the movie Practical Magic, where Nicole Kidman is driving and singing, and it looks like 2 days and nights flash by outside I'm assuming it would be 2 shots composited together in after effects. I'm thinking I would take the interior shots, and mask out the windows (or setup green screen outside car) film the interior stuff, then take the timelapse and composite into the windows.

Question is, how would I shoot a 2 day street scene timelapse, so it would look like driving down the road? Is this something stock footage might have? Do I take a road trip and set the gopros ontop of the car, and film? Lol....any suggestions?

I've got a few months until this shoot, but I'm trying plan this out now, so I can make things as smooth as possible.

Thanks for any suggestions,

In case it makes a difference, I have CS5 right now, and that's what I'll be using.

Jeff

Bo Skelmose · October 26th, 2011, 12:18 AM

The Ultra key in premiere does a great job.
Lot of things to consider doing a timelapse - a 2 day timelapse down the road will make the dusk very short if you do not change the speed.

Maybe if you drive several times and mix them together you could do it - no experience in this.

Robert Turchick · October 26th, 2011, 12:49 AM

Well, I think doing the plate (for TL part) would be easiest if the car was driven extremely slow with the driver out of sight or towed very slowly. Then when played back at a normal driving speed would give the fast look to the background. Then place your singer in the car and greenscreen behind him. Car can remain still and shoot all necessary scenes. The composite would be a masked and keyed actor that would be motion tracked onto the sped up car. Make sure you put some tracking markers on the car.

Another option would be to shoot a time-lapse plate without the car. Then greenscreen the singer and the car to composite. I happen to have a 12'x24' cloth greenscreen that could be mounted to the car with a frame so the car could actually be driven. Would be some creative rigging but if it worked would make post a piece of cake.

Hope these make sense! (it's late here!)

Kevin Currie · October 26th, 2011, 03:01 AM

Video Copilot just covered part of this. In Andrew's latest tutorial, he showed a great technique for keying out a car window while still keeping reflections and distortions in the glass. In an earlier blog post, he goes over how he set up the shot.

VIDEO COPILOT | Professional After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins & Pre-Keyed Stock Footage

The timelapse shot will be a bit more difficult. If you want it to look like 2 or more days have past, you would need to drive down a very long street and take 2 days to drive from one end to the other. What I would suggest is shoot a long street, but a little out of focus (real or fake DOF), and then shoot your own time lapsed sky or use stock footage, and comp your street and the tl sky together. That way you can use the same street footage on a loop.
Just some thoughts from a sleep-deprived lurker.

Gregory Gesch · October 26th, 2011, 05:54 PM

Hi Jeff. I would certainly suggest that you greenscreen it, unless you have the right rig(s) shooting a real driving scene can be a huge headache - bumps, distance consistancy, unexpected light changes, reflections that won't match with your replacement background, safety issues etc etc. The Tutorial mentioned at Video Copilot is now up.
VIDEO COPILOT | After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Professionals
More information about your timelapse might be useful: do you mean that the background is shooting passed at a thousand miles an hour in fast motion or is the car driving at normal speed and the normal speed background goes from day to night to day to night and then back to day? Also is it the same continuous street or does the scenery change ie: a road trip starting in the city and then through the country, into a desert etc. etc.? Do you see the background as being in focus, slightly out of focus or just a lot of moving bokah? Anything else that you can think of that needs to be taken into account - do we see him get into and/or out of the car in other shots so that beginning and end locations have to match etc. etc.?

Jeff Troiano · October 26th, 2011, 10:14 PM

Thanks for the reply guys. I'm not yet sure what all he has in mind, as far as the time lapse goes. He had just mentioned he had seen scenes like this before, and asked if I could do it. I watched the video copilot tutorial and it was great. I'm thinking I'll green screen all the car parts. That might be 3 different angles, side view, back of car looking forward, and from dash looking backwards. I'll probable be filming with a Sony fs100. So as far as time lapse goes, I'll film 1 frame a second time lapses, and slow the shutter speed down, so you get that nice motion blur from the moving vehicles. I might have to get a good car mount, and do this driving down a long road, and shoot the 3 angles I'll try and do some side, front and rear shots. Then I'm thinking maybe I can film some separate time lapses of sun set and sun rises, and do a sky replacement on the street time lapses.

It might work, again I don't know the extent of what he's interested in doing, I'm just looking into it now, so that when we start planning, I can be a little more praired.

October 25th, 2011, 10:28 PM	#1
Jeff Troiano Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Nashville TN Posts: 480	How would you film, and do this in After Effects? I have a question about how I would film this type of scene, and I hoped someone here might be be able to help me out. Planing a music video shoot, and the guy wants to do a shot where he's driving in his car (real time footage), while the footage outside the car is like a timelapse. Kind of like the scene in the movie Practical Magic, where Nicole Kidman is driving and singing, and it looks like 2 days and nights flash by outside I'm assuming it would be 2 shots composited together in after effects. I'm thinking I would take the interior shots, and mask out the windows (or setup green screen outside car) film the interior stuff, then take the timelapse and composite into the windows. Question is, how would I shoot a 2 day street scene timelapse, so it would look like driving down the road? Is this something stock footage might have? Do I take a road trip and set the gopros ontop of the car, and film? Lol....any suggestions? I've got a few months until this shoot, but I'm trying plan this out now, so I can make things as smooth as possible. Thanks for any suggestions, In case it makes a difference, I have CS5 right now, and that's what I'll be using. Jeff

October 26th, 2011, 12:18 AM	#2
Bo Skelmose Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Denmark Posts: 495	Re: How would you film, and do this in After Effects? The Ultra key in premiere does a great job. Lot of things to consider doing a timelapse - a 2 day timelapse down the road will make the dusk very short if you do not change the speed. Maybe if you drive several times and mix them together you could do it - no experience in this. Last edited by Bo Skelmose; October 26th, 2011 at 12:58 AM.

October 26th, 2011, 12:49 AM	#3
Robert Turchick Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 1,389	Re: How would you film, and do this in After Effects? Well, I think doing the plate (for TL part) would be easiest if the car was driven extremely slow with the driver out of sight or towed very slowly. Then when played back at a normal driving speed would give the fast look to the background. Then place your singer in the car and greenscreen behind him. Car can remain still and shoot all necessary scenes. The composite would be a masked and keyed actor that would be motion tracked onto the sped up car. Make sure you put some tracking markers on the car. Another option would be to shoot a time-lapse plate without the car. Then greenscreen the singer and the car to composite. I happen to have a 12'x24' cloth greenscreen that could be mounted to the car with a frame so the car could actually be driven. Would be some creative rigging but if it worked would make post a piece of cake. Hope these make sense! (it's late here!) __________________ The older I get, the better I was!

October 26th, 2011, 03:01 AM	#4
Kevin Currie Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Calgary, Canada Posts: 85	Re: How would you film, and do this in After Effects? Video Copilot just covered part of this. In Andrew's latest tutorial, he showed a great technique for keying out a car window while still keeping reflections and distortions in the glass. In an earlier blog post, he goes over how he set up the shot. VIDEO COPILOT \| Professional After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins & Pre-Keyed Stock Footage The timelapse shot will be a bit more difficult. If you want it to look like 2 or more days have past, you would need to drive down a very long street and take 2 days to drive from one end to the other. What I would suggest is shoot a long street, but a little out of focus (real or fake DOF), and then shoot your own time lapsed sky or use stock footage, and comp your street and the tl sky together. That way you can use the same street footage on a loop. Just some thoughts from a sleep-deprived lurker.

October 26th, 2011, 05:54 PM	#5
Gregory Gesch Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Brisbane Australia Posts: 114	Re: How would you film, and do this in After Effects? Hi Jeff. I would certainly suggest that you greenscreen it, unless you have the right rig(s) shooting a real driving scene can be a huge headache - bumps, distance consistancy, unexpected light changes, reflections that won't match with your replacement background, safety issues etc etc. The Tutorial mentioned at Video Copilot is now up. VIDEO COPILOT \| After Effects Tutorials, Plug-ins and Stock Footage for Post Production Professionals More information about your timelapse might be useful: do you mean that the background is shooting passed at a thousand miles an hour in fast motion or is the car driving at normal speed and the normal speed background goes from day to night to day to night and then back to day? Also is it the same continuous street or does the scenery change ie: a road trip starting in the city and then through the country, into a desert etc. etc.? Do you see the background as being in focus, slightly out of focus or just a lot of moving bokah? Anything else that you can think of that needs to be taken into account - do we see him get into and/or out of the car in other shots so that beginning and end locations have to match etc. etc.?

October 26th, 2011, 10:14 PM	#6
Jeff Troiano Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Nashville TN Posts: 480	Re: How would you film, and do this in After Effects? Thanks for the reply guys. I'm not yet sure what all he has in mind, as far as the time lapse goes. He had just mentioned he had seen scenes like this before, and asked if I could do it. I watched the video copilot tutorial and it was great. I'm thinking I'll green screen all the car parts. That might be 3 different angles, side view, back of car looking forward, and from dash looking backwards. I'll probable be filming with a Sony fs100. So as far as time lapse goes, I'll film 1 frame a second time lapses, and slow the shutter speed down, so you get that nice motion blur from the moving vehicles. I might have to get a good car mount, and do this driving down a long road, and shoot the 3 angles I'll try and do some side, front and rear shots. Then I'm thinking maybe I can film some separate time lapses of sun set and sun rises, and do a sky replacement on the street time lapses. It might work, again I don't know the extent of what he's interested in doing, I'm just looking into it now, so that when we start planning, I can be a little more praired.