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Suggestions on how to manipulate traffic?
Hi there. I have a locked shot of a highway (the camera is on a bridge). I would like the oncoming traffic to be backed up but still at a crawling speed while the ongoing traffic continues at full speed.
My initial thought is to have the bottom layer unaffected. The second layer with a freezeframe (without traffic in the oncoming lane) masked to only cover the oncoming traffic). Then mask each car in the oncoming lane on seperate layers. This would allow me to move the layers’ in the sequence in order to move them “bumper to bumper” as well as slow each of the car layers down to 25%.
In theory I THINK it would work perfectly fine, but I’m wondering if there might be a better way to do it before I jump in with this ridiculous amount of masking…
Thanks!
-Stephen
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3 Replies
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Would it be possible to shoot on two separate days (or times of day), one with the traffic moving at full speed, and one with bumper to bumper crawl, and then mask the two different shots by lane? You’d have to put marks on the bridge – or railing – and lock your tripod and lens to identical positions, also shooting at times of day when the light is pretty much the same. I don’t know whether this would simplify things, or make them more difficult. Just a thought…
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Thanks Joe,
Unfortunately that wont work as I already have the shot I’m going to use (it was shot for a different project and I’m simply recycling it). But, your suggestion probably would be the best way to go if I had the chance.
The idea for the shot is that I want a single car in the front of the traffic jam driving at a crawl (causing the backup). I’m working on it now and I think it’s going to work just fine… just a little time consuming.
I’ll post the results when I’m done.
Still open to other ideas if there are any! 🙂
-Stephen
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You can certainly try it masking and timeremapping – but fast cars retimed to move slow won’t remove the motion blur, so look out for that.
But Joseph has the right idea IMO. Two shots, similar lighting, doesn’t even have to be in the exact same position because you can ajust that in AE, and then simply make a split screen composite.
And the Lord said, “Come forth and receive eternal life.” But I came fifth and all I got was a set of steak knives!
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