[AmyRuhl]

Hello All,

Thank you for reading my first post. I am hoping to get some tips and advice from more experienced people on this project that I'm undertaking, in hopes that I won't feel so overwhelmed

I am beginning a new short film (independent, low budget) that I am shooting and acting in in entirely in front of a green screen. In addition, I have several scenes where I will be "headless" and will need to key it out. I am not replacing the head with anything. In fact there are scenes where I would like to appear as if I'm physically removing it and setting it down, or carrying it. thus the desired end result after keying is just a body, no head, no background. I will be shooting with either a dvx100 or I could possibly borrow an hvx200a. For compositing i have after effects 6.5 (which i'm still learning).

So far i only know as much as that I will need to purchase a chromakey hood- this one is really the only one I've been able to find:
http://store02.prostores.com/servlet...d--dsh-/Detail
(i already worry that this particular green is not exactly the same as my green screen, and I'm not sure how much suffering and time that will cost me in post.)

The first question I have is is there a special lighting technique (beyond the usual for lighting subject and greenscreen) that I should be aware of for this special situation where I want to be a) removing the head along with the backdrop but also b) preserving the body
and
for the special scenes in which i would like the body or another character to be holding the head, what is the best way to go about making them look like, well, they are holding it? Gesturing as if they holding it, and then motion tracking the head to their hand?

I can't express how much I would appreciate any advice, cautionary tales, suggested tutorials, or instructions.

In general I suppose i'm also asking is how doable is this effect for someone not working within a studio?. Am I nuts to try it? Will it be ridiculously time consuming?

Again, thanks for reading and double thanks in advance for any help!!!!

[Steven_J]

I am by no means an expert but I have created very similar VFX in a short film of my own a few years ago. The scenes involved keying out legs, arms and the head of an actor.

The first thing I would say is that the effects you are aiming to create don't need a studio or an army of specialists but they are quite complicated and will be difficult for someone who is not comfortable in after effects. However, I can offer some tips that that I used for the VFX in my film and they will at least get you started off.

First,

I would try and get a more up to date version of After Effects if that is possible. 6.5 is way out of date and you won't have a lot of the new tools that will make your post work a lot easier. For example, After Effects CS2, CS3 and CS4 come with Keylight (a plug-in specially designed to key the DV format). I also believe the motion tracking in newer versions is more advanced than in previous versions. Updating is not essential but keying and tracking standard def DV is always difficult and better tools will make it easier.

Second,

Using different greens (for hood / screens etc) is not a huge deal. As long as nothing else in the scene is green or anything close to green (like bright yellow). But for DV try to keep your lighting on the screen even and try to make sure your screen is free of shadows/creases. For the subject (who should be a few feet away from the screen at least to avoid shadows) light them however you want, BUT the green hood will have to be even and bright despite the rest of the body. A few low Watt point lamps should do this okay. The same goes for when you film the head that will be held. Which I assume will be filmed seperatley on green screen and then tracked in.

DV is always going to be grainy and difficult to key. Just make sure everything is sharp in focus and even throughout. HD is better for keying in my opinion but shooting HDV and other formats will complicate the post hugely so avoid shooting HDV unless your edit and VFX guys know what they are doing.

Third,

I would try and keep low angles when shooting your headless body as you will see that the back of the collar and the neck are missing when you key the green. The actor will have a gap where their neck should be. Tracking this back in is complicated.

Fourth,

Use track markers. If you want the head to be in someones hand then stick two small squares of card (a colour that will sharply stand out against the actors skin colour) on their hand (where the head will be so they will be hidden after post) so you can track the rotation and position off this and then make the head follow that path so you don't have to animate frame by frame.

To be honest what I have typed barely scratches the surface of what is involved in creating these effects. The best advice I can give is to plan all shots carefully. Storyboard and work out your angles so everything matches up in post. Get a really good Director of Photography because they will know how to light screens and this will make a huge difference. How difficult your post will be all depends on how good the media you have was captured on the day.

I don't think what you want to do is too muchto achieve. But don't rush into it. It may be more complicated than you think. Or maybe you know much more than I have given you credit for and if that is the case I hope I have not insulted you with my technical baby steps.

You may also want to disregard everything I have said as I am no expert. These are just tips that worked for me when I was experimenting with green screen.

Good luck with the project and if you need any more advice I will try and help out.

Cheers.

[AmyRuhl]

Steven, thank you so much! This was immensely informative. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go along, so I greatly appreciate your willingness to help. Also, I'd love to see the short you mentioned you made which had similar fx. Is it online anywhere?

Thanks again,

Amy