changing eye color

[Harish Kumar]

guys i am doing a short for the upcoming toronto film festival and I want to show different eye color,now.....

1. I can use different color contact lenses

2. can I do it in post using premiere of after affects with something called follow mask or I dont know what exactly it is called ..........where we see a black and white film and only one cap is red color and it moves around in the commercial or a red rose .......every thing else is black and white ?

can somebody please guide me and also tell me what it is called?

Thanks

[Rob Lohman]

I would do it for real with lenses if possible. Doing it in post is
probably an enormous amount of work and very prone to errors.

[Mike Rehmus]

Premier has an effect that leaves just a single color on-screen with the rest black and white. AE does too.

I've seen the end results from Premiere but not tried it. Did it once with AE. A bit tricky if there are similar colors elsewhere in the video. Then you have to isolate it with a mask. But it works OK.

[Harish Kumar]

Thanks guys

I know it would be much easier with contacts , but buying 10 pairs of contacts would be expensive....would'nt it be?

and also oin post it would give me unlimited choice of colors ....thats what I think....tello me if I am incorrect

thanks again guys

[Harish Kumar]

and them if it is going to be very difficult in post then I would rather go hunt for the contacts

thanks Rob and thanks mike

[Rob Lohman]

Just do a test Harish. That's always the best. Shoot some footage
of your actor and try to change the eye color in post. Then decide
which way you will go. Contacts or post.

[Harish Kumar]

thanks rob

I think I should do a test.........

[Mike Rehmus]

I used to work for the Optometry Department at UC Berkeley a long while back as the technician in a vision research lab.

We bought special contacts (for cats) for $6 a pair directly from the optical lab that made them. I don't think they have gotten a lot more expensive since then.

If you go looking for one of the smaller labs, they might make you some plano (no power) contacts fairly inexpensively.

[Charles Papert]

Quick note to Harish and all who are investigating color contacts:

While researching a short that emulated the "red eye" zombie look from "28 Days Later", I discovered that the off-the-shelf colored contacts one used to see at costume stores as well as the exotic ones that people wore at raves etc. were found to be dangerous to the eyes and have largely disappeared. The only appropriate color contacts are bought through an eye care profesional (Optemetrists, etc), made for the individual who will be wearing them.

[Rob Lohman]

That's a very good point. My dad is in the "eye" business and I
can truthfully say that bad contacts can damage your eyes and
yes, those exist. Go to someone who knows about this.

[Mike Rehmus]

Interesting aside.

When the first Dune was being made, they came to my company to buy a digital camera so they could turn the actor's eyes that intense blue.

Three sequential scans with the camera for the 3 colors (it was a monochrome camera) feeding a Ramtek graphic display memory (the first solid-state graphic display) which was connected to a DEC PDP-10 which fed a Cray 1.

It took 30 days to compute 8 seconds of final images.

The camera is sitting on the shelf about 6 feet from me as I type.

[Brandt Wilson]

Mike,
Was this David Lynch's version? I guess, if it were a cray being used, this would make sense.

Did you work for Frank Van der Veer, or were you contracted separately for this experiment?

[Mike Rehmus]

My company as called Datacopy before Xerox bought it. Xerox Imaging Systems thereafter.

The Ramtek guys put it together because our founder and the Ramtek management team were together in an earlier startup called DataDisk which was the first commercial graphics display that did not use a Tektronix storage tube. One head and one disk track per scan line!

Except for receiving a thank you letter that I've lost track of and a little bit of tech support, we had little to do with it other than supplying the camera.

[Harish Kumar]

Thanks guys

You were right ROB...it is very difficult and time consuming in post as it is not just a still shot but the actor is moving around with changed eyes......so contacts is the way to go.....


hmm .....I read about the danger involved in using the wrong contacts ....but again as mike had mentioned I can go to a lab to get them made inexpensive........hope they are not bad for the eyes ....I believe if the lab does it day in and out ...those lenses must be good and not dangerous...


Hi Mike .....is there a lab you would recommend that has a website and I can contact them.?.....I dont have much time as the submission for the film has to be in early may......doing it in post is very tricky .......I did try premiere with the color pass technique ....by masking ....it would work but then the film would be black and white ......I am rethinking about that ....but still as ROB mentioned ...it wouyld be much less pain and trouble if I have the right contacts .......I need about 10 different colors .....




thanks guys

[Mike Rehmus]

I used the local lab in Berkeley. A long time ago. I really don't remember their name any more.

Were I you, I'd get an optometrist involved. They may be willing to contribute their time.

That person can measure your actor's eyes to insure you get contacts of the correct dimension. Soft contacts may be easier to fit.

I don't think a reputable lab will sell you contacts without a prescription.