-
How to in FCP — isolate the background w/ color when introducing a new subject
I wish I knew what this was called….and I wish I could find an example of it somewhere. But for some reason I can’t find anything so I’ll do my best to explain the technique and if it’s possible in FCP.
So in my clip, I’d like to freeze the frame a few seconds after introducing a new character. Then, I’d like to color the background (everything except the new character I’m CG-ing). Essentially, I just want the effect to stop the frame, color the background to make the character stand out, then drop text somewhere in the color space introducing the new character.
I know I can do this in photoshop…. but it might take me more time to grab the frame, edit the frame, the perfectly place it back in the clip.
Can this be done in FCP? Or maybe After Effects (which I have as part of my CS5 suite but haven’t really used yet).
Thanks for anyone out there who knows what I’m talking about…..
-
3 Replies
-
You want to mask out the background, which can be tough.
FCP isn’t the right tool. The best it has for this is the 8-point garbage mask, which isn’t good enough for what you want to do.
I would make a freeze frame in FCP just as a place holder, so you can figure out how long you want it to be. Then just export that frame and bring it into Photoshop. Cut out the background and add an alpha channel. Bring it back into FCP. It won’t be hard to match up since you already made a freeze frame as a place holder.
Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com -
You simply need to rotoscope a single frame. Easy!!! Photoshop, Combustion, After Effects, Motion all have this capability. In Combustion it takes me about 30 seconds.
CS5 has a new tool called RotoBrush that automates much of the process. Richard Harrington has a Cow tutorial on it, you should check it out.
-
I knew what he was looking for immediately Dave cuz that effect is used on one of my favorite shows, First 48 on A&E. They use it all the time to intro their homicide investigators. I kind of like it…
BTW, First 48 is a great show in case you haven’t seen it. The interrogations of homicide suspects are often quite chilling.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up