Color Amid Black & White at DVinfo.net

George Brackett III · February 18th, 2003, 10:24 AM

I was watching "Joe Millionaire" last night and there was a sequence where the girls were introduced to "Joe". The room and all the characters were black and white, but as each girl was introduced, she was the only colored object in the room. How was it done- Chroma key and something else?

Paul Tauger · February 18th, 2003, 10:29 AM

I didn't watch Joe Millionaire, but the effect you described is done by keying using a travelling matte.

There used to be a good tutorial on this technique at:

http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial/index.htm

I just tried it, and the website appears to be down. Hopefully, it's just a temporary interruption.

Brian M. Dickman · February 18th, 2003, 12:20 PM

Also without seeing the effect, I would say either After Effects or more likely Commotion Pro might have been involved. Colored elements in a decolored scene is a common rotoscoping job, which is what Commotion does.

Alex Taylor · February 18th, 2003, 07:46 PM

I've done this effect a few times before. In After Effects I made a duplicate copy of the footage and made the lower one B&W and the top colour. My footage was of a Canadian flag that slowly turns to colour for a Remembrance Day video. I used Vector Paint to keyframe a matte on the coloured layer. Took awhile but it looked great!

February 18th, 2003, 10:24 AM	#1
George Brackett III Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Waterville, NY USA Posts: 83	Color Amid Black & White I was watching "Joe Millionaire" last night and there was a sequence where the girls were introduced to "Joe". The room and all the characters were black and white, but as each girl was introduced, she was the only colored object in the room. How was it done- Chroma key and something else?

February 18th, 2003, 07:46 PM	#4
Alex Taylor Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 390	I've done this effect a few times before. In After Effects I made a duplicate copy of the footage and made the lower one B&W and the top colour. My footage was of a Canadian flag that slowly turns to colour for a Remembrance Day video. I used Vector Paint to keyframe a matte on the coloured layer. Took awhile but it looked great! __________________ alextaylor.org

February 18th, 2003, 10:29 AM	#2
Paul Tauger Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Los Angeles (recently from San Francisco) Posts: 954	I didn't watch Joe Millionaire, but the effect you described is done by keying using a travelling matte. There used to be a good tutorial on this technique at: http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial/index.htm I just tried it, and the website appears to be down. Hopefully, it's just a temporary interruption.

February 18th, 2003, 12:20 PM	#3
Brian M. Dickman Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 148	Also without seeing the effect, I would say either After Effects or more likely Commotion Pro might have been involved. Colored elements in a decolored scene is a common rotoscoping job, which is what Commotion does.