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Flickering in green screen composite
I am getting some flickering in the hair of an interview subject. It was my first shoot ever, done on a borrowed Canon GL-2, and for some reason, my studio lights were flickering. Maybe it was a problem with the dimmers I wired up, or the lights just needed to warm up, I’m not sure. I SHOULD have known they’d be problematic but I’m pretty sure it’s causing me problems now. My other footage looks pretty good but the ones of this subject have a lot of flickering in the hair, and a bit in her sweater. Both were dark colors.
I’m having problems enough just getting the whole composite to look acceptable. Now this! Is there ANYTHING I can try to reduce the problem? Or I’m I out of luck, and have to just chalk it up to experience?
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3 Replies
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It is possible to create an expression/plug-in combo that monitors the color or brightness of a layer, and then use that layer to control correction on another layer…
There used to be a tutorial around that used a similar concept to control the depth of field for 3d After Effects objects so they could match the floating focus of the real life shot. They setup a plugin that monitored an area and returned a value based on the amount of gray in the area. The more gray=less focus, more white or black= more focus, and that information helped automate the focal length on the 3d camera so the 3d layers would float in and out of focus with the real footage.
I wish I could find that tutorial for you. It was pretty complex and I could never do it without having the tutorial as a guide.
Maybe someone else knows of the tutorial? Or the technique and can explain it further?
If your lights don’t flicker with a regular beat, and re-shooting is not an option, you might find this useful. Wish I could give you more information!
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Is it possible to find a way for someone to take a quick look at my file? I may be able to post it to a website I have, but I’m not very experienced in that area. I haven’t updated it in a while and I forgot how to make changes! I guess submitting e-mail addresses is too public? I could give mine if it’s okay and send the file to those who ask.
Anyway, just looking for more help!
Thanks!
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Basically, the problem is I’m an idiot. Okay, maybe not stupid but ignorant.
I shot the footage with a GL-2 in standard def. Since I’d later like to submit this to a local film festival in 16:9 I was trying to set it up as such, and the only way I got that to work in iMovie was going with 1280 x 720 in AE. In order to make that work I had to use my footage at 175%.
When I started over at 680 x 480 and the footage at 100%, I exported with no compression. Viola, everything looks good! Very little flicker, in fact I’m fine with it. It’s not feature film level compositing but for what I’m doing it will work!
Thanks again to all,
Thomas
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