-
Shooting Suggestions-Freezing half the screen
Hello
I would like to shoot a conversation between two people. At certain times in the finished sequence I would like to have one of the persons -
8 Replies
-
trying to visualize what it is exactly your trying to accomplish brings up one problem……. Your going to jump cut back to the live talent after you “de-ice” them. are you shooting them on a green screen or in a studio setting. A green screen might work better to allow the background to stay alive….. even if nothing is happening it will still look alive as opposed to a complete freeze frame……. post you test shoot when you do it and share your results……have fun
-
Hello
Shooting in studio setting (actually quite basement in office) so no green screen. Was thinking about shooting a backgraound plate then shooting the two talking to each other. once for person one and once for person 2. Then matte them in and out…Will have to test it out.
-
I were tasked with this, off the top of my head I might approach it like this:
I would shoot each talent sparely against a non moving or neutral background (you could blue screen it if you had to)
Next, the entire conversation (or at least the first half) would have to be scripted well.
The second person would be essentially responding to a pre-recorded and edited monitor feed of what the first person was saying.
The next step of course, would be to composite them together.
Once the timing was down the freezing and unfreezing would be pretty easy.
You could achieve the audience effect by a few well played over the should shots and a few audience close ups.
I may be missing a few details but that would be my first thought on how I would try to make it happen.
Let us know what you end up doing.
Richard
-
Getting (allowing?) the actors to perform well is a director’s primary concern.
The best way for actors to perform well is to let them actually “interact”.
To do this “live”, shoot with two cameras at once in the studio and let them interact across the set.If you’re on two sets at different locations, and/or you don’t HAVE two cameras…
Have the “lead” actor fully perform an ENTIRE take (“freeze-pauses” and all) with “actor two” (or YOU) quietly reading “actor two’s” part so the “lead” can hear and react with the proper pace and style.
Shoot until you get a great COMPLETE “take”.
Then, for actor “two”… playback (softly), on-set, the audio of the TAPE of the “lead” actor’s “good take” and have “actor two” act/react to that recording.
After a few tries, you should have two perfectly-timed takes from both actors.
You can then just match them up and effect-in the split-screen.>>Here’s the FREEZE-FRAME “trick”:
Any time that an actor will be in an “edited” FREEZE-FRAME just have that actor actually HOLD POSITION (“live-freeze”) during those times.
This way you won’t need to contend with “bad timings” with the actors trying to “guess-match” reacting to each other in totally isolated takes.Then, in your EDIT, you can digitally create a “real” FREEZE-FRAME of the (already motionless) actor… and when you UN-FREEZE that actor (just cut or quick-dissovle back to moving video from the freeze), it will match very well.
If you have some additional BACKGROUND ACTION (fish-tank, clock pendulum, oscillating fan, etc.) in the same scene as the actors… when you make your FREEZE, then UN-FREEZE it, it will be more “dramatic”.
-
[Matte] “If you have some additional BACKGROUND ACTION (fish-tank, clock pendulum, oscillating fan, etc.) in the same scene as the actors… when you make your FREEZE, then UN-FREEZE it, it will be more “dramatic”. “
Excellent suggestion, I have used a celing fan in the past.
-
I think it’s being made tougher than it is. You can shoot the whole thing completely live and flawless if you accept one fact, you’re going to cut to a close-up at some point. Which would be nicer anyway.
Just shoot the two completely live on a two shot. Let the one person stand up and do the whole thing as if the other person were frozen. Then sit back down and start interacting again.
The trick would just be to make sure the two people have a little separation between them so you can freeze HALF of the image. Someone mentioned a fish tank or a ceiling fan. If you had something like that that you could crop in as well and keep going it would be very realistic. It would look like the only thing that stopped is the other person.
Let the effect linger for a sentence or two, and right about when people are trying to figure it out, cut to a closeup or medium shot of your speaking talent. When you cut back to the two shot for him to sit down (or interact) again, you use a different freeze of the background, the one right before they start speaking again. Just make sure the “frozen” talent is looking somewhat in the right direction.
Any other way and you’ve got huge logistical problems with timing, etc. and then somehow matching back in. Think of I dream of Genie or Bewitched.
So by using a split screen, freeze frame, CU shot, and back it should be flawless, and real easy to shoot. We can’t all be Speilberg.
-
Ohhhh…
I thought you actually WANTED to SPLIT the screen between TWO LOCATIONS (say one actor seated in a living room, the other in a train-station).If you just want a “left-right” split of two actors in the SAME ROOM (a single locked-down wide-shot)…
Everything I described earlier remains the same (but you don’t need to bother with the “two-camera, two-takes” technique).
Have one actor “live-freeze” during the other actor’s “aside(s) to the audience” and then, in post, create the “real” DIGITAL freeze-frame and cut it in over the “live” frame, but crop it to half-screen (or so).
At the point of the “UN-freeze” just cut (or quick-dissolve) the cropped freeze off the screen (the “frozen” actor will “break” from his “live-freeze” into action at that point and it should match very well.
-
Thanks for the all suggestions it was very helpful
I did some tests and Bret
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up