Content may be questionable, but techniques are undeniable.

For those of you who don't know, there's a whole unwritten subcategory on Youtube called Youtube Poop videos.  These videos consist of various nonsensical topics that just take random subjects and distort them with audio or video techniques, and some Youtubers go as far to make their own stories with the distorted content.  While some are incredibly easy to make, others take some very advanced techniques, like some of the techniques we're learning in class right now.

One of my favorite kinds of Youtube poop videos involves Michael Rosen, a children's story author who has videos of himself telling the stories.  What makes him great material for Youtube poop videos is that he makes so many funny noises and faces, so some amazing imagery can be concocted.  Some of them are absolutely hilarious, and this one in particular utilizes some notable editing techniques like keying, motion tracking, and even some forms of 3D animation.  Sure the story can be strange and offbeat, but the editing is actually really well done.  There was plenty of effort put into this, unlike a lot of other Youtube Poops on the web.

The Michael Rosen Venture

Advanced Keying Techniques

So seeing as everyone will be keying their footage over the next few weeks, I'd like to share this tutorial. I used it for my scene, and it makes a tremendous difference. Traditionally I've always boosted greens a tad through the Hue/Saturation effect, then applied Keylight. Asides from that though, I don't do much else with green screen footage.

However this tutorial from 8 Bit Digital TV, shows a way of keying which preserves the colour of your footage, while using the matte from Keylight. See, normally the Keylight effect will not only remove the green background, but also green tinge in the skin. While this is helpful, since it's trying to remove so much green, it can take too much away from the skin and make skin tones look off. Whereas in this tutorial, you'll learn a way of simply using the matte Keylight creates, then taking away the right amount of green tinge in skin.

Check out the full video for a more in depth explanation, I'd highly recommend it for this project.

How far we've come

So I saw this commercial the other day and it made me think how far we've come this semester in Motion Graphics. Before this semester I wouldn't have had the slightest idea about the ins and outs of producing a commercial with graphics like this, but now I can saw with confidence that with time and effort I can probably do everything in this advert. Other than maybe the squirrels talking and the witches at the end, everything in this ad can be recreated in AE. There is definitely a lot of particle use and they for sure used green screens and keying. I think it's pretty sweet how I can see ads on TV now and say I can do that.

Forrest Gump Rotoscoping

Continuing with the theme of our current project, "Forrest Gump," provides a great example of the use of keying and rotoscoping in major motion pictures. The following three scenes represent how motion graphics can be used to further a story and provide comedy. There is no other way in which Tom Hanks could have been placed in scenes with such historical people like LBJ and John Lennon other than the use of green screens and rotoscoping. I believe the makers of the film used ADR as well to create three, nearly seamless sequences.

Holy Green Screens, Batman!

When George Lucas set out to make the Star Wars prequels in 1999, he used green screens to help bring his vision to life. He simply put his actors in an entirely green environment and had his VFX team create alien worlds such as Kamino and Mustafar.

We all know that green screens and chroma keying is a common practice to for all sci-fi and fantasy films. How else could’ve Lucas created a planet covered entirely in ocean, or make two Jedi go floating down a river of lava? (Well, he could have done it practically, but CGI makes sense here). But did you know that even the simplest scenes, like two guys sitting on some steps of a building in NYC, are green screened?

Check out the video below, it is fascinatingly eye-opening.

In class on Thursday we learned HOW to key things out, but I never knew the emphasis some productions put on keying. It's quite remarkable.

Green Screen Review

Hey everyone, considering our current project of chroma keying ourselves into a movie, here is a good review that I watched and refreshed some things I forgot.

Take note at a couple of parameters in After Effects that you may forget when chroma keying in Keylight...

Screen Pre Blur- use this after adjusting your screen matte, in the video he uses a setting of 2 and it helps to "feather" the edges through blurring.

Screen Shrink/Grow- use this to get remove the soft green edge around your subject, the video uses a setting of -3.5, (*negative* because you need to take the green out) but this is determined on a case-by-case basis.

And most importantly to get a good chroma keying result- use the eye dropper as close to your subject as possible!

Best of luck with your keying.

green screen tips

I have been affixed on green screen discussion and videos lately, probably because of our project -- next will I will try to change it up!! anyway ... this week I have decided to post some helpful tips about effectively and correctly keying, masking, and tracking green screen-ed footage


there really isn't that much to say about these videos / tutorials, there are so many others out there-- I just picked these ones because they looked worthwhile!!

I wish I watched some of this guys' tutorials before working AE ... he is  simple and to the point, yet very sufficient
http://vimeo.com/33159581

this tutorial is quite helpful with initially keying the object ... especially if there was "bad" footage -- bad lighting, or random taped colors, or wrinkled screen, or whatever!

So last week in class we learned the basics of green screen and color keying and i thought that it would be helpful if i found a tutorial to create shadows.  Without shadows, it simply looks like your person or object is floating.  This will help you make the object 3D as well.  It is another simple tutorial, hope you guys enjoy!

                                                 USE THIS LINK if the video does not load.

Chance to practice Green Screen

So I was looking up different green screen works when I found this. It's called Hollywood Camera Work and it's basically a site dedicated to practicing green screen and other visual effects. It allows you to download different pieces of each scenario for free, and while it might look a little cheesy, it provides a good chance to practice "keying, matchmoving, compositing, tracking..." with a green screen.

Again, this site seems like it would be really helpful for the basics of After Effects so check it out.

Practice matchmoving and chroma keying. 

 

Practice Tracking.

If you use these with other tutorials, like those on Video Copilot, I think they would prove really helpful, especially since we don't usually have access to actual videos with green screen.