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Shooting Touch Screen Interaction
I frequently shoot marketing and training videos about laptops, tablets, and PCs. Whenever I have to shoot a device with a touch screen that requires a demo of the touch interaction, I face a dilemma. Do I shoot the demo in real time, or do I try some kind of screen replacement?
If I shoot in real time, I face issues like screen refresh rates not matching up with my shutter speed. I also have problems with the screen brightness or pixels showing up in a moire pattern.
On the other hand, if I use screen replacement I have to deal with composting, corner pinning, and syncing hand motions with the screen recording. I have the particular challenge this time of having to show a video game in action.
My question is: what is the industry preferred method for this type of shoot? Does it involve chroma keying and screen capture software? Can I shoot some how in real time and reduce or eliminate the moire patterns? -
5 Replies
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The standard is screen replacement. If done properly it offers better overall clarity. Most commercials are also shot with prototype devices that may have limited working software.
The screen on mobile devices can rarely get bright enough to be photographed against a normally lit screen. I do like keeping the screen up along with putting physical tracking dots on the camera as it also aids the actor in knowing where to place his/her finger on the screen.
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It would be cool if you could tap the actual device to feed it’s live output to a recorder. Then matching-back the screen action to the finger work is simple, but you have an independent layer of video to manipulate to perfect the brightness and other aesthetics.
You’d still have to roto it back in, though.
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Correction: “putting physical tracking dots on the phone”
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Angelo LorenzoNeed to encode ProRes on your Windows PC?
Introducing ProRes Helper, an awesome little app that makes it possible
Fallen Empire Digital Production Services – Los Angeles
RED transcoding, on-set DIT, and RED Epic rental services
Fallen Empire – The Blog
A blog dedicated to filmmaking, the RED workflow, and DIT tips and tricks
Can your post production question fit in a tweet? Follow me on Twitter -
Ah, thanks for clarifying that one, Angelo. These are all good suggestions. I think I’ll try a combination of all the advice I’ve been given. Thank you!
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We’re doing this with an app demo video right now. It’s a pain in the ass to be honest!
We use the screen replacement method. Otherwise, you’ve got the added problem of the touch screen becoming a giant mirror!
We’re also using a still image of the hand holding the phone, and have recorded a series of swipes and taps from the other hand over a green screen with the device screen marked out on it.
Yes, there’s a lot of compositing, (or ‘composting’ as your typo suggests! he-he!), but the end result should look a lot cleaner.
If you look at the Apple app ads, the hand holding the phone is 100% perfectly still – to the extent that it has to be either a model hand or a still image. Interestingly though, the right hand still casts a shadow on it as it taps and swipes the screen. I’d like to know how they’re doing it!
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