AHH!!! Get the boom outta here!! at DVinfo.net

Brad Simmons · October 2nd, 2002, 01:29 AM

Ok guys I have a problem here.

Can you please look at this quicktime movie (small - under 200k)

http://www.fusionarena.com/forumpost/boom.mov

If you look at the upper right of the shot, you will see a boom mic shadow moving around. Bad lighting gave a nasty shadow that went unnoticed here. Obviously this is totally unprofessional to say the least. Unfortunatley its the only shot I have and we need to use it in a scene.

How can I get rid of this shadow? My available tools are Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and Premiere 6. I guess I could always go edit frame by frame in photoshop, but that would take ages. Anyone have any tips to clear this out?

Thanks guys!

Josh Bass · October 2nd, 2002, 02:30 AM

Can you crop it out of your shot by enlarging the video?

Brad Simmons · October 2nd, 2002, 02:56 AM

yes I guess I could, but wouldn't enlarging the video distort it? I've never tried that before. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

Josh Bass · October 2nd, 2002, 03:15 AM

It doesn't distort (that's not the word I would use anyway) but it does pixelate, because you are enlarging the already existing pixels from the image. The image will get softer as it gets bigger, losing apparent sharpness. If you don't do it too much, it shouldn't be noticable. How much of the frame does the shadow occupy. Do you know wher your movie will be seen?

I'm not trying to talk down to you if you already know this stuff, but it's possible that if it were shown on certain screens, the portion with the shadow would be invisble due to the way the camera shoots. The camera shoots more (about 20%, I believe) all around the frame than you'll actually see on any screen except a broadcast monitor. All camcorders do this. Are you editing nonlinear? See if your software has an "action/title safe" option that you can turn on. This will be a white (dotted, usually) line that goes all the around the frame that denotes the area that most screens will show. Everything outside the outermost dotted line would only be shown on the broadcast monitors.

At any rate, when you enlarge the video, if you don't do it more than around 20% it should be okay.

I don't know how this stuff applies to digital projectors. Does anyone out there?

As it says below, I probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but boy howdy do I try.

Brad Simmons · October 2nd, 2002, 04:27 AM

Thanks for the help.

Im planning on this clip being just for internet delivery right now. Odd enough, its on the internet where you can see the boom shadow the most. I've viewed the footage on a TV and you can't see the boom shadow that much - both because the shadow is lighter, and it cuts it off a little.

Yea what I meant by distort was pixelate, just used the wrong word there. On TV, you can still see it, just less of it. But you can still see the bottom part moving around a bit...Most people probably wont notice it. But it really shows up on the web because the footage is darker.

I tried zooming in with After Effects first. and it worked well, but the problem is that when I cut out the boom shadow, it also cuts out part of the girls head because her head is so close to the top of the frame. Is there any other way of getting rid of this besides trying to crop it out?

Thanks again

fargogogo · October 2nd, 2002, 08:33 AM

Is that the length of the whole scene? Or just a sample?

If it IS that short, I would try to make a soft edge mask of that background area in Photoshop, and then animate it to match the camera movements using After Effects.

I think the shadow extends too far down into the frame for cropping and enlarging to work (her head would be cut off, too)

Good luck -

(Someone should invent a transparant boom!)

Zac Stein · October 2nd, 2002, 08:42 AM

totally unrelated but...

When is this movie being posted, she is quite stunning :)

:)

ok related, you could actually create a mask/layer in photoshop, or in afx using the pen tool, but photoshop is more precise, and either apply a gausian (spelling) blur to it, and feather it enough so it basicly looks like a shallow depth of field ... or do the mask again and darken it to look like the entire wall is dark....

if followed through in afx to match each frame using keyframes for movement, opacity and then sizing it could work...

personally to be very precise, export a filmstrip file of the scene and open it in photoshop and do it frame by frame, it is not actually that difficult, just keep duplicating the layer and slightly tweak it by using the transform tool, until it is over.

anyways...

my 2 cents

edit:
back i actually did an example of the blur, it took me approx 2 minutes to do, i dunno how effective it will be for u but here it is...

www.mindfreeproductions.com/test/boom/boom.jpg

that is the original

www.mindfreeproductions.com/test/boom/boom-blur.jpg

the effect

Brad Simmons · October 2nd, 2002, 10:29 AM

Allright! Thanks guys! Hey thanks kermie that looks nice! It even looks more filmish now. Im not a pro with Photoshop but I'll give that technique a try. Yea luckily this is the only small snippet with that boom shadow. Everything else in the scene is shot from a different angle, or the boom shadow was not in frame.

Posted by Kermie
"When is this movie being posted, she is quite stunning :)"

hehe, well its almost done. Here is another short we did with her you might enjoy (shes the driver in the second car).

http://www.fusionarena.com/films/Lips2Lips/

Thanks again guys. I'll try to animate a blur.

Paul Sedillo · October 2nd, 2002, 03:58 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Brad Simmons :
hehe, well its almost done. Here is another short we did with her you might enjoy (shes the driver in the second car).

http://www.fusionarena.com/films/Lips2Lips/

Thanks again guys. I'll try to animate a blur. -->>>

Brad,

That was a great short! Well done! I love the way the story played out.

October 2nd, 2002, 01:29 AM	#1
Brad Simmons Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Washington DC Posts: 304	AHH!!! Get the boom outta here!! Ok guys I have a problem here. Can you please look at this quicktime movie (small - under 200k) http://www.fusionarena.com/forumpost/boom.mov If you look at the upper right of the shot, you will see a boom mic shadow moving around. Bad lighting gave a nasty shadow that went unnoticed here. Obviously this is totally unprofessional to say the least. Unfortunatley its the only shot I have and we need to use it in a scene. How can I get rid of this shadow? My available tools are Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and Premiere 6. I guess I could always go edit frame by frame in photoshop, but that would take ages. Anyone have any tips to clear this out? Thanks guys!

October 2nd, 2002, 02:30 AM	#2
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	Can you crop it out of your shot by enlarging the video? __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

October 2nd, 2002, 03:15 AM	#4
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	It doesn't distort (that's not the word I would use anyway) but it does pixelate, because you are enlarging the already existing pixels from the image. The image will get softer as it gets bigger, losing apparent sharpness. If you don't do it too much, it shouldn't be noticable. How much of the frame does the shadow occupy. Do you know wher your movie will be seen? I'm not trying to talk down to you if you already know this stuff, but it's possible that if it were shown on certain screens, the portion with the shadow would be invisble due to the way the camera shoots. The camera shoots more (about 20%, I believe) all around the frame than you'll actually see on any screen except a broadcast monitor. All camcorders do this. Are you editing nonlinear? See if your software has an "action/title safe" option that you can turn on. This will be a white (dotted, usually) line that goes all the around the frame that denotes the area that most screens will show. Everything outside the outermost dotted line would only be shown on the broadcast monitors. At any rate, when you enlarge the video, if you don't do it more than around 20% it should be okay. I don't know how this stuff applies to digital projectors. Does anyone out there? As it says below, I probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but boy howdy do I try. __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

October 2nd, 2002, 03:58 PM	#9
Paul Sedillo Major Player Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 607	<<<-- Originally posted by Brad Simmons : hehe, well its almost done. Here is another short we did with her you might enjoy (shes the driver in the second car). http://www.fusionarena.com/films/Lips2Lips/ Thanks again guys. I'll try to animate a blur. -->>> Brad, That was a great short! Well done! I love the way the story played out. __________________ Paul Sedillo Image::Studio http://www.image-studio.com Houston, Texas

October 2nd, 2002, 02:56 AM	#3
Brad Simmons Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Washington DC Posts: 304	yes I guess I could, but wouldn't enlarging the video distort it? I've never tried that before. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

October 2nd, 2002, 04:27 AM	#5
Brad Simmons Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Washington DC Posts: 304	Thanks for the help. Im planning on this clip being just for internet delivery right now. Odd enough, its on the internet where you can see the boom shadow the most. I've viewed the footage on a TV and you can't see the boom shadow that much - both because the shadow is lighter, and it cuts it off a little. Yea what I meant by distort was pixelate, just used the wrong word there. On TV, you can still see it, just less of it. But you can still see the bottom part moving around a bit...Most people probably wont notice it. But it really shows up on the web because the footage is darker. I tried zooming in with After Effects first. and it worked well, but the problem is that when I cut out the boom shadow, it also cuts out part of the girls head because her head is so close to the top of the frame. Is there any other way of getting rid of this besides trying to crop it out? Thanks again

October 2nd, 2002, 08:33 AM	#6
fargogogo Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 49	Is that the length of the whole scene? Or just a sample? If it IS that short, I would try to make a soft edge mask of that background area in Photoshop, and then animate it to match the camera movements using After Effects. I think the shadow extends too far down into the frame for cropping and enlarging to work (her head would be cut off, too) Good luck - (Someone should invent a transparant boom!)

October 2nd, 2002, 08:42 AM	#7
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	totally unrelated but... When is this movie being posted, she is quite stunning :) :) ok related, you could actually create a mask/layer in photoshop, or in afx using the pen tool, but photoshop is more precise, and either apply a gausian (spelling) blur to it, and feather it enough so it basicly looks like a shallow depth of field ... or do the mask again and darken it to look like the entire wall is dark.... if followed through in afx to match each frame using keyframes for movement, opacity and then sizing it could work... personally to be very precise, export a filmstrip file of the scene and open it in photoshop and do it frame by frame, it is not actually that difficult, just keep duplicating the layer and slightly tweak it by using the transform tool, until it is over. anyways... my 2 cents edit: back i actually did an example of the blur, it took me approx 2 minutes to do, i dunno how effective it will be for u but here it is... www.mindfreeproductions.com/test/boom/boom.jpg that is the original www.mindfreeproductions.com/test/boom/boom-blur.jpg the effect

October 2nd, 2002, 10:29 AM	#8
Brad Simmons Major Player Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Washington DC Posts: 304	Allright! Thanks guys! Hey thanks kermie that looks nice! It even looks more filmish now. Im not a pro with Photoshop but I'll give that technique a try. Yea luckily this is the only small snippet with that boom shadow. Everything else in the scene is shot from a different angle, or the boom shadow was not in frame. Posted by Kermie "When is this movie being posted, she is quite stunning :)" hehe, well its almost done. Here is another short we did with her you might enjoy (shes the driver in the second car). http://www.fusionarena.com/films/Lips2Lips/ Thanks again guys. I'll try to animate a blur.