Creating a Shadow

JeffS · #1 (**permalink**) 09-06-2009, 12:35 AM

I'm not sure if this is the place to post this, but I need help and I'm not sure where to look.

I would like to create a shadow, that is: film myself, then turn my image to black on a white background so I can project the finished film as a shadow. Does anyone have any ideas how to do this?

Thank you, in advance.

BritishEye · #2 (**permalink**) 09-07-2009, 11:18 PM

A bit like the iPod+iTunes ads?
You need a green/blue screen and some software that'll edit with chroma key.

You'd film yourself in front of the camera doing dancing or whatnot, then when chromakeying, do the usual with picking out the green or blue. But reverse it, so whatever isn't green/blue is filled in - in this case with the colour black. You now have a black (shadow) image of yourself dancing in front of a green/blue screen.

At this point, you just need to change the green/blue to white. How you do it is up to you, as there are a number of ways. You could even apply the chromakey effect again to the green/blue and change its colour to white.

Hope that helped.

JeffS · #3 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by BritishEye

A bit like the iPod+iTunes ads?

Exactly. Great example.

You'd film yourself in front of the camera doing dancing or whatnot, then when chromakeying, do the usual with picking out the green or blue. But reverse it, so whatever isn't green/blue is filled in - in this case with the colour black. You now have a black (shadow) image of yourself dancing in front of a green/blue screen.

At this point, you just need to change the green/blue to white. How you do it is up to you, as there are a number of ways. You could even apply the chromakey effect again to the green/blue and change its colour to white.

That's perfect! Thank you, Rob.

Do you have any idea how to do this with Windows Movie Maker or Adobe Premier? For WMM I picked up this code on the internet:


<TransitionsAndEffects Version="1.0">
<Transitions>
<TransitionDLL guid="{C5B19592-145E-11D3-9F04-006008039E37}" >
<Transition name="Bluescreen" iconid="12" comment="Makes first clip show through blue areas of second clip">
<Param name="KeyType" value="1"/>
<Param name="Similarity" value="100"/>
<Param name="Progress" value="0.0"/>
</Transition>
</TransitionDLL>
</Transitions>
</TransitionsAndEffects>

Do you know which parameter I would change in order to fill in all the non-blue/green areas?

Thank you, again, for your time.

Jeff

BritishEye · #4 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 03:42 PM

Hmm. I've never used added code to WMM before, so I can't be totally sure. Have you tried this code already? Do you know how to use it?

"KeyType" looks like something to fiddle with. I'd have a look at what changing that number does.

JeffS · #5 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 04:59 PM

I haven't used the code before. In fact, I've never done chroma keying before. "KeyType" was what I was thinking too. I'll give it a shot. Thanks again for your help, Rob.

BritishEye · #6 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 06:20 PM

That's ok.

Let me know how it goes.

smifis · #7 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 02:42 PM

In Adobe Premiere, in the effect panel search for chroma key and then using the eyedropper tool select the green/bluescreen.