I was wondering the best method to fuzz faces out so they remain anonymous. How do the pros do it?

Anyone got a good technique?

thanks,
lmr

Shoot it that way with the proper lighting to hide the face.

I'm actually talking post-production here.

I found this nice tutorial, I haven't tried it but it looks cool, I might give it a shot when I get the time. Hope it's of some use to you!

EDIT: Forgot the link. http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/cops_redux_stone.html

Duplicate the video track with the person's face on it, use a lumamask between them with a oval shape generator...blur the top layer (or mosaic if you want less recognizability). Keyframe the lumamask manually to follow the nose of the person. It's an annoying manual process to key frame (especially for long shots), but gives good results. I've done this semi-recently.

If you have access to someone with shake or after effects, this is easier and more precise to do in those packages.

I saw a FCS2 demo last week of Motion that now has an auto-track feature. You pick the point and it creates a keyframe stream. You can then attach any effect to that keyframe and it will follow, eliminating a lot of the manual labor. If you're doing a lot of this, it would be worth the upgrade price.

It depends if you're using just FCP or if you have Motion....

If i was using only FCP I would do the same as Cole, but if the object you wanted to blur moved in shape, use the 8 point garbage matte to then mask any part of it.

In FCP You've not always got a pixelated effect (if that's what you're after?) but blurs are always fine too.

If you're using motion, you can do it on the same basis but a lot quicker.

This video explains it quite well

http://www.finalcuttips.com/episodes/blurout/19small.mov

(even for a 14 year old tutor!)

Neil

It depends if you're using just FCP or if you have Motion....

If i was using only FCP I would do the same as Cole, but if the object you wanted to blur moved in shape, use the 8 point garbage matte to then mask any part of it.

In FCP You've not always got a pixelated effect (if that's what you're after?) but blurs are always fine too.

If you're using motion, you can do it on the same basis but a lot quicker.

This video explains it quite well

http://www.finalcuttips.com/episodes/blurout/19small.mov

(even for a 14 year old tutor!)

Neil

oh Tucker....
kid kills me, but at least he's doing something productive with his time.

I feel old and somewhat under-trained now...

First I've heard of Tucker...

Uh... Thanks?

oh Tucker....
kid kills me, but at least he's doing something productive with his time.

Ah, youth. You gotta love it! What I appreciate is the fact that he has the makings of an excellent teacher. I love the fact that he explains things well without an ounce or arrogance. Kudos to Tucker!

Aye, more tucker...I could learn a lot from this kid!

Well, Tucker impresses the heck outta me. Looks like he is developing into quite a presenter and teacher of sorts. My favorite part is how he is still wrestling with typical adolescent speaking foibles - magnified by being 'on-cam' with which he actually does amazingly well. But I really liked the line:

"I've been Tucker MacDonald."

Good stuff.
-Jon