Music Video ‘Morph/Echo Trail’ Help!

[Dave Johnson]

This recent post string might help:

Re: duplication effect by Dave Johnson on Feb 26, 2009 at 9:14:09 am
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/951800

I didn’t watch the whole example you gave, but it looks to me like, in this case, it was done with multiple instances of the same source slightly offset in time. No matter which method is used, the subject to be trailed obviously has to be independent from the background and/or other elements that are not to be trailed, which is where either chromakeying, rotoscoping or a combination of both come in.

[Kevin Camp]

i agree with dave, the talent was most likely keyed. you might be able to get away with shooting on black and using an effect that can blend frames on frames using a blending mode that will ignore black like lighten.

in addition, the part that you are talking about, where the guy ‘smears’ as he moves, was also shot at high speed to create that slow-mo look… that technique will go along way towards creating that smear effect… basically, more frames will create a smoother blend, rather than a stepping effect.

another time effect you might give a try is cc time blend, crank up the accumulation to 95-99% and set the transfer mode to lighten. just remember to click ‘clear’ often… those cc time effects are kind of tweaky.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

here’s a quick test with cc time blend. settings — transfer: lighten; accumulation: 97%.

the footage was just a grab off of tv. i deinterlaced it and time stretched 100%, then applied cc time blend.

you can get a pretty good smeary streak out of this and there was nothing special about this shot. i think if you planned a shoot around this method you could probably get very close to what you are looking for. a high speed camera would help, but you might be able to get the subject to move at about half speed to get smoother blurring/smearing.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW