Combine a clip

[Simon Hustings]

Hi Leah,
Can you expand a little on this? Are you talking about merging two separate clips on the timeline so they be managed as one clip, or are you talking about taking two separate clips and being able to view a portion of each one at the same time? (Like a split screen effect?)
The latter option is doable from the Motion Tab by changing the crop and basic motion parameters of the respective clips.The speed option will allow you take one of the two clips and reverse it.
Thanks
Simon

[Leah Stipic]

Hey Simon,

It’s the split screen effect I’m wondering about. My only hesitation is that it may look obvious the media has been merged together… I want it to look as though it’s one piece of media and not 2 pieces slapped together – Is there a certain way to shoot the footage to make it blend better if I use this effect?

Thank you for responding!!!

Leah

[Simon Hustings]

Yeah it’s all to do with the shooting of the footage.
Simply enough, lock the camera off on the tripod so it’s nice and steady, then just shoot the respective scenes; one clip, with the action to the left of centre, the other to the right of centre. Just make sure you don’t move the camera, lights, props etc between takes. That way when you bring it into FCP, the background is exactly the same and static in both shots, then and all you have to do as discussed before, is to crop the two images together and apply the time change. The BG should match perfectly between the two shots. Just consider what is going on within the shot, make sure the action stays on it’s respective side of the centre otherwise you might lose some of the action when you crop them together.
If you want anything more intricate than that, you may be looking more at shooting on a green screen then comping it together.

[Bob Geballe]

I have a question, too. We want to shoot a conversation between ONE person – facing one way in one shot, then answering herself in the the other shot. But superimposing the two shots so she is talking to herself (same background, different postures screen position. We’ve shot the two shots, and want to combine them in FCP. Is there any way to do this – a cross-dissolve doesn’t last long enough – we really just want to superimpose one shot over the other…

[Simon Hustings]

Hey Bob,
Check out the crop option on the Motion tab of the clip. It allows you to crop any of the four sides of the clip. Have a play with the parameters and you should get the answer you need.
Simon.

[Leah Stipic]

Thanks Simon you’ve been extremely helpful – much appreciated!!