• Adobe After Effects

  Keying out most of a face

  Posted by Olaf Steel on October 8, 2011 at 10:53 pm

  Hi,
  I’m about to shoot a music video, and want to do a sort of Rocky Horror thing, however instead of a mouth, I want to see only one eye.
  I basically want to put an eye into footage I’ve shot separately of the sun – so it looks like the eye is in the center of the sun.

  To do this, I’m thinking of shooting the eye of my talent (making sure they keep very still), with the rest of their face painted green, then bring it into After Effects with the other footage of the sun and then keying out the green parts of the face.

  I’ll then reduce the opacity of the eye footage slightly and place it over the sun footage.

  I may not have a chance to practice this first, so I just want to be sure it will work. Is there anything I’m not thinking of, or anything I should be careful with?

  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  Thank you,

  Olaf

  Olaf Steel replied 14 years, 11 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Olaf Steel

  October 8, 2011 at 10:57 pm

  …Or perhaps there’s a better way to do it?
• 

  Ben G unguren

  October 9, 2011 at 4:01 am

  That would work, but it feels like too much work for what you want. I’d probably let them lean against a c-stand or wall, or put their chin on a table, to keep the head steady. Then I’d just film them without any fancy paint. Then I’d just use masks — MochaAE if there was any funky movement I needed to roto out — to cut out the eye.

  For my part, greenscreen exists to make roto jobs simpler. A static eye (even with the occasional blink) is so easy to roto out, it would probably take longer to paint the face, and then pull a good key with all the shadows, etc… So greenscreen would probably make this job more complex.

  Ben Unguren
  Motion Graphics & Editing
  http://www.mostlydocumentary.com

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• 

  Olaf Steel

  October 9, 2011 at 10:04 pm

  Thanks for your help Ben.

  Using masks sounds like the best method. Just so I have options in post, I think I’ll still paint any of the face that will be visible on camera green. Then if I have any problems, I can key it out.

  Thanks again.

  Olaf

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