Rotoscoping Made Easy

2010-08-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, if you shot video and didn't like the background you could replace it by a technique called "rotoscoping". You accomplished this by going frame by frame and painting out the background, using an insanely expensive super super computer system. Now, After Effects in Adobe CS5 has a tool called Rotobrush which allows real people to replace backgrounds at will in no time flat. I replaced the background of an interview in a conference room in 20 minutes and most of that was render time. No portable green screen. No sweat. Oh, I forgot to mention, the replacement background was in motion... video. This is a game-changer for a lot of us.

Makeup

2010-05-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

I've been shooting HD for awhile now and there is one thing that I've never seen anybody write about when describing the difference between HD and SD production.... the need to powder down the talent during an interview. Because you see SO much more, especially in CU, you can often bring home much more than you saw on the screen at the interview. That is, unless you drag along a large field monitor... which is most often impractical. Facial shine is exaggerated, blemishes, even teeth are a factor. To counter some of this, I've started shooting my interviews, unless by design, in medium close-up to avoid surprises. No kidding. I have come back from interview shoots and was shocked at the detail. You can see much more than what you'd normally see with the naked eye unless you were a foot away from the subject's face. Be careful though... too much make-up also shows. I foresee a boom in business for make-up artists.

New Media Samurai

Rotoscoping Made Easy

Makeup