Improving Bicycle-Flying Scene

[John Cuevas]

I don’t know how you are really going to fix that, most importantly, the lighting doesn’t match at all. The shadows are going in two different directions, he should of been keyed from the back, not the front. If you can’t fix that issue, it will never look correct.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[Steven L. gotz]

It seems to me that you could solve the hands and the wheels not moving issues quite simply.

Using a green screen, prop the bike up and spin each wheel. Without the kid on the bike.

Use a matte to get rid of the original wheels and replace them with the spinning wheels.

You are going to have to deal with the fact that his foot keeps going in front of the back wheel, but a little rotoscoping never hurt anyone.

Steven

https://www.stevengotz.com

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

If there’s no re-shoot option, here’s what i would do:

Get stills of just the wheel, cut a nice matte for it in PSD and then roto out the wheels together with the hands from the shot. Build the wheels back in (with the fork in the front)and animate the wheels to spin matching the movement of the background (use motion blur).
Then try to find some sort of effect- a glow maybe- to “enhance” the moment when the kid gets ready to fly and after.. this can hide some of the imperfections.
In the end I would color grade the shot – this will blend in the imperfections even more and make it more believable… but this is tricky, because if you do not have color grading on the rest of the movie it’s hard to justify just this one… maybe you can sell it as an “enhancement” as well.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Alan Wagner]

that’s ok, it’s intended to look a little cheesy.

[Alan Wagner]

Here’s what I’ve got so far:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJPn0HRr2h0

Aside from making sure the two wheels spin at the same speed, is there anything else you’d suggest to improve this shot?

I also have this final shot, where the kid flies triumphantly into the distance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJLIETQ6HMY

I realize I should have made him shrink more, but is there anything more I can do to make him seem like he’s really off in the distance?

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Besides what you mentioned- animating the size of the kid at the end to make it look like he is going away, I stand by my suggestions from my other post to you:

The end shot – color correction and blur should do it. Use Levels to cut the black and white values a bit (animate as the kid becomes smaller) and add a bluish overall hue (animated as well) using Photo Filter. Also, use a Lens Blur to soften a bit the kid.

I would change the first part as well- instead of having the kid in the same place I would animate him moving from left to right as the camera travels- like he is going a bit faster that the camera- this way you can add motion blur on him and help blend him in.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist