Pull Wire

StevenBogda · #1 (**permalink**) 06-05-2005, 05:31 AM

I doubt this topic should be in here but I am used to being in this section.

I want to have a shot gun blast to someone in the next little video I make. I also want to make the person being shot fly back since it is a shot gun. I was thinking of attaching a wire to the person and just having a bunch of people yank him off his feet backwards.
But then I wouldnt know how to get rid of the wire. The onyl thing I could think of is photoshoping it out for every frame with the clone tool to fill in the spots that the wire should have been. This would take a few years to photoshop that many frames.

Any Ideas?

Tony A · #2 (**permalink**) 06-05-2005, 06:11 PM

It's much easier and faster to use the clone tool in After Effects. Cloning with the paint palet set at 'constant' instead of single frame, it will do a lot of the donkey work for you.

StevenBogda · #3 (**permalink**) 06-06-2005, 02:59 AM

Thanks
I will have to find some tutorials on that cause I know nothing about that tool.

Alan Mills · #4 (**permalink**) 06-06-2005, 11:22 AM

Well, given the cost of purchasing After Effects I would advise the following.

Do as you suggested in Photoshop. It will not take as long as you thought, believe me. You are going to yank a guy off his feet. I suspect you will have at most about a second of footage to edit. This will be 25/30 frames to touch up. If you're used to Photoshop then a quick clone brush would only tgake an hour to do this lot.

Once you cut to the dude lying on the floor for any close-up shot you would have removed the wire so no editing needed there.

All you then have to worry about is not to shoot any footage of him waiting to be shot wioth the wire hanging around behind him. Arrange your shoot so he stands on his own, cut to the person with the gun, cut back for the getting shot scens where your actor is now harnessed up.

It shouldn't be too hard to reduce the amount of work needed by planning the shoot.

Tony A · #5 (**permalink**) 06-06-2005, 09:45 PM

Profuse apologies - I wasn't suggesting that he should buy the program. The trial download is worth a butcher's hook for all editing enthusiasts.

StevenBogda · #6 (**permalink**) 06-07-2005, 01:56 AM

I have access to both programs. I will try them both.

Thanks

Mike Thorpe · #7 (**permalink**) 06-07-2005, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Alan Mills

Do as you suggested in Photoshop. It will not take as long as you thought, believe me. You are going to yank a guy off his feet. I suspect you will have at most about a second of footage to edit. This will be 25/30 frames to touch up. If you're used to Photoshop then a quick clone brush would only tgake an hour to do this lot.

I don't think that this will work. If he's cloning each individual frame, then it's extremely unlikely that he's going to be cloning from the same spot on each image, so the background won't be consistent.

StevenBogda · #8 (**permalink**) 06-07-2005, 10:01 PM

i thought about that.maybe if the background is a solid color it might look somewhat alright, like a blue sky or something.

Alan Mills · #9 (**permalink**) 06-08-2005, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by Mike Thorpe

Originally Posted by Alan Mills

Do as you suggested in Photoshop. It will not take as long as you thought, believe me. You are going to yank a guy off his feet. I suspect you will have at most about a second of footage to edit. This will be 25/30 frames to touch up. If you're used to Photoshop then a quick clone brush would only tgake an hour to do this lot.

I don't think that this will work. If he's cloning each individual frame, then it's extremely unlikely that he's going to be cloning from the same spot on each image, so the background won't be consistent.

In photoshop you are allowed to 'cut' a piece of the background out from one still and you'll be able to 'paste' it over the top of all the other stills. The 'replace' will be as consistent as you want it to be. thge only (slightly) awkward bit is making sure you do the 'paste' from the same pixel each time or they will not line up. Just make sure you cut and paste the entire frame with most of it as transparent. It will then always line up.

This is exactly how I did the 'walk through the title' shot of 'Final Hit' for the last comp. It doesn't 'wobble' one bit.

And anyway, if it's good enough for T2 then it's good enough for all of us anyway. Juyst check out the motorbike jump again in that movie. It's really obvious where the wires were because they were early piooneers and hadn't got it quite right back then

I agree though, if you have access and can afford the learning curve, After Effects would be the way to go.

Mike Thorpe · #10 (**permalink**) 06-08-2005, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Alan Mills

In photoshop you are allowed to 'cut' a piece of the background out from one still and you'll be able to 'paste' it over the top of all the other stills. The 'replace' will be as consistent as you want it to be. thge only (slightly) awkward bit is making sure you do the 'paste' from the same pixel each time or they will not line up. Just make sure you cut and paste the entire frame with most of it as transparent. It will then always line up.

I never thought of doing it that way

I just assumed that effect was done in After Effects.