Few people makes a crowd at DVinfo.net

Derek Morrison · March 3rd, 2008, 05:58 PM

Hey everyone, i'm a new starting film maker and i have Final Cut Studio 2 and a HDR-FX7. I'm making a small film for my schools film festival and it has a small battle sequence in it. i have pretty much no budget so i'm trying to create the few people makes a crowd effect. I have my location which is a field that has dark dirt, i'm not exactly sure what i'm doing , but i would like to create something like the guys did in this short film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9cpOMYv0

Do i need to color key the image for the dirt and just keep the people, or chroma key, idk. After i do, i don't know how to get the actors by themselves after i separate the characters.

any help is appreciated

Thanks,

-D

Alex Sprinkle · March 4th, 2008, 01:33 AM

"get the actors by themselves"? i'm not fully following...

I love that video, btw ... it blows my mind!

Derek Morrison · March 4th, 2008, 07:45 AM

you know how on a green screen you can remove the background using a key and add any background that you want, i was wondering if thats what i need to do here where i remove the background on all but one of the different positions and use the one i didn't to create the background. and add them all together like they did in the video to create a sort of army.

Ger Griffin · March 4th, 2008, 08:33 AM

it depends on the shot you want to do.
notice how they didn't move the camera on the wide shot of the beach with all the soldiers.
that is because it is a lot easier to composite things which have the exact same background.
you just choose an overlay method in your compositing program. whatever that may be - aftereffects would be ideal.
or you can use a series of loose masks.

Derek Morrison · March 4th, 2008, 09:31 AM

thats what I wanted to do but is there anyway to create the composite with final cut studio 2?

Alex Sprinkle · March 4th, 2008, 11:17 AM

I've never tried with FC, only AE. I know that you can change the transfer modes in FC (I believe you just right click the clip, then select "transfer mode" or "composite mode"), but I know I've seen a "4 point mask" effect, too. I've never even used that option though. Theoretically, it should work

Paolo Ciccone · March 4th, 2008, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek Morrison

thats what I wanted to do but is there anyway to create the composite with final cut studio 2?

You could use Motion but last time I tried its keying was pretty bad. This is After Effects territory.

Ger Griffin · March 4th, 2008, 12:00 PM

even those transfer modes probably wont give you 100% opacity on what you are compositing.
Any time I've ever done anything like that i used masks in ae.

Derek Morrison · March 4th, 2008, 12:06 PM

I would love to use after effects but I have no budget for this thing, is there anyplace that has after effects for less than $999?

Alex Sprinkle · March 4th, 2008, 12:25 PM

any shot you're a student? gradware.com has it for like $350 if you can prove your enrollment ... that's quite a knock down

Derek Morrison · March 4th, 2008, 05:46 PM

Ya i'm a sophomore at my high school. i checked the sight out great deals. will it export as a quicktime movie or do i need the adobe video software too?

Ger Griffin · March 4th, 2008, 06:16 PM

you can export it to just about anything with ae these days.
I would advise you to get it if you can as theres a nice learning curve to it
but its well worth it. You can take it with you all the way to Hollywood!

Alex Sprinkle · March 5th, 2008, 01:55 AM

I agree with Ger. AE used to scare the beJesus (what do I capitalize in that word?) out of me, as it's not like any other NLE's or anything I'd worked with. It's stinkin' amazing! Start now, and stick with it. It's amazing what you can do with it (i feel i should get some sort of cut from this). At least go to adobe.com and download the 30 day trial.

Chris Coulson · March 5th, 2008, 04:06 AM

It also should be mandatory :-) that anyone who uses after effects, should visit this site!

www.videocopilot.net

I don't have anything to do with the site, but man, I wish I did! :-) The more people that visit, the more chance there is he'll do more free tutorials!

AE is daunting at first, but once it clicks with you, anything is possible!

Nick Jushchyshyn · March 9th, 2008, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek Morrison

thats what I wanted to do but is there anyway to create the composite with final cut studio 2?

You could get either Conduit or dvMattPro which are plugins for FinalCut Studio and either one is less expensive than the student price for AE:
http://www.dvgarage.com/prod/prod.php?prod=conduit2
http://www.dvgarage.com/prod/prod.php?prod=dvmattep3

March 3rd, 2008, 05:58 PM	#1
Derek Morrison New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 21	Few people makes a crowd Hey everyone, i'm a new starting film maker and i have Final Cut Studio 2 and a HDR-FX7. I'm making a small film for my schools film festival and it has a small battle sequence in it. i have pretty much no budget so i'm trying to create the few people makes a crowd effect. I have my location which is a field that has dark dirt, i'm not exactly sure what i'm doing , but i would like to create something like the guys did in this short film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9cpOMYv0 Do i need to color key the image for the dirt and just keep the people, or chroma key, idk. After i do, i don't know how to get the actors by themselves after i separate the characters. any help is appreciated Thanks, -D Last edited by Derek Morrison; March 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 PM.

March 4th, 2008, 01:33 AM	#2
Alex Sprinkle Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Moore, Oklahoma Posts: 408	"get the actors by themselves"? i'm not fully following... I love that video, btw ... it blows my mind! __________________ What if hand guns were really hand guns?

March 4th, 2008, 11:17 AM	#6
Alex Sprinkle Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Moore, Oklahoma Posts: 408	I've never tried with FC, only AE. I know that you can change the transfer modes in FC (I believe you just right click the clip, then select "transfer mode" or "composite mode"), but I know I've seen a "4 point mask" effect, too. I've never even used that option though. Theoretically, it should work __________________ What if hand guns were really hand guns?

March 4th, 2008, 12:25 PM	#10
Alex Sprinkle Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Moore, Oklahoma Posts: 408	any shot you're a student? gradware.com has it for like $350 if you can prove your enrollment ... that's quite a knock down __________________ What if hand guns were really hand guns?

March 5th, 2008, 01:55 AM	#13
Alex Sprinkle Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Moore, Oklahoma Posts: 408	I agree with Ger. AE used to scare the beJesus (what do I capitalize in that word?) out of me, as it's not like any other NLE's or anything I'd worked with. It's stinkin' amazing! Start now, and stick with it. It's amazing what you can do with it (i feel i should get some sort of cut from this). At least go to adobe.com and download the 30 day trial. __________________ What if hand guns were really hand guns?

March 4th, 2008, 07:45 AM	#3
Derek Morrison New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 21	you know how on a green screen you can remove the background using a key and add any background that you want, i was wondering if thats what i need to do here where i remove the background on all but one of the different positions and use the one i didn't to create the background. and add them all together like they did in the video to create a sort of army.

March 4th, 2008, 08:33 AM	#4
Ger Griffin Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 579	it depends on the shot you want to do. notice how they didn't move the camera on the wide shot of the beach with all the soldiers. that is because it is a lot easier to composite things which have the exact same background. you just choose an overlay method in your compositing program. whatever that may be - aftereffects would be ideal. or you can use a series of loose masks.

March 4th, 2008, 09:31 AM	#5
Derek Morrison New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 21	thats what I wanted to do but is there anyway to create the composite with final cut studio 2?

March 4th, 2008, 12:00 PM	#8
Ger Griffin Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 579	even those transfer modes probably wont give you 100% opacity on what you are compositing. Any time I've ever done anything like that i used masks in ae.

March 4th, 2008, 12:06 PM	#9
Derek Morrison New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 21	I would love to use after effects but I have no budget for this thing, is there anyplace that has after effects for less than $999?

March 4th, 2008, 05:46 PM	#11
Derek Morrison New Boot Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 21	Ya i'm a sophomore at my high school. i checked the sight out great deals. will it export as a quicktime movie or do i need the adobe video software too?

March 4th, 2008, 06:16 PM	#12
Ger Griffin Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 579	you can export it to just about anything with ae these days. I would advise you to get it if you can as theres a nice learning curve to it but its well worth it. You can take it with you all the way to Hollywood!

March 5th, 2008, 04:06 AM	#14
Chris Coulson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 101	It also should be mandatory :-) that anyone who uses after effects, should visit this site! www.videocopilot.net I don't have anything to do with the site, but man, I wish I did! :-) The more people that visit, the more chance there is he'll do more free tutorials! AE is daunting at first, but once it clicks with you, anything is possible!