[John Cuevas]

Rotobrush isn’t exactly intuitive, you might want to to watch a few tutorials on Rotobrush, because from your brief description it sounds like it’s working the way intended. It only does about 10 frames and then you have to extend the frames it will do out or set start frame selection. It takes work, but compared to actually cutting the person out frame-by-frame, it’s really quicker.

Here are a couple of tutorials that might help you understand rotobrush better.

AfterEffects CS5: RotoBrush

How to use the Roto Brush tool | lynda.com tutorial

I messed around with your image and it’s not hopeless, but that image will take a lot of work. Did they use a filter in camera to achieve that color? Was that backdrop there with the idea of keying it in post? If that’s the footage you received they didn’t go out of there way to make it easy for you. The feathers are going to be particularly tricky. This might be a case where you will need to rotobrush, mask and possibly key to get an 100% perfect pull.

Here’s my results, quickly messing around with the rotobrush.

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.

[John Cuevas]

To add to what Tom said, in film, zooming is used more more infrequently, if at all. When the camera needs to get closer, it’s moved closer, it’s not zoomed. Just another thing to consider.

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.

[John Cuevas]

Why are you repeating what’s already been stated?

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.

[John Cuevas]

This will probably make it easier. True Comp Duplicator, is a name your price script(you can pay nothing, if you so choose).

Creates a complete duplicate of a comp hierarchy including sub-comps. If a comp is used multiple times, the comp only gets duplicated once and all remaining references point to the first duplicate. If the comps are arranged in a special folder hierarchy in the project panel, that folder hierarchy is preserved or duplicated (depending on user preference) for the duplicated comps.

The problem you are having is when you copy the top layer, it links to the original pre-comps—new ones aren’t created. To do this manually, you would have to duplicate all the pre-comps(and any nested pre-comps within those) and then replace them in your final comp—can be a real pain if you have many nested comps. The true comp script does this all in one swoop. You would highlight “Scene_04” in the project panel and run the script. Then open up the true duplicate, change the text and insert the new scene into your project.

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.

[John Cuevas]

It sounds like the text you need to change is in a precomp—something named like “change text here”.

Go to your project panel and duplicate that composition and rename it something appropriate. Now open that up and change the text. Insert that precomp into your final composition where needed.

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.

[John Cuevas]

Another option would be to duplicate your footage, make it a 3D layer, change the transfer mode to Hard light and lower the opacity. Add an ambient light to and adjust it’s intensity to get the footage looking like it did originally.

Now just add some red and blue lights to your scene and rotate them. In the my example project I added 4 lights(2 for red, 2 for blue) and added some expressions to spin them on the y axis. Here’s my project for you can use as a starting point. 5140_policelightsfolder.zip

By using the transfer mode, you create simulate the fall off(as the darker areas won’t pick up the lights much). Again I stress it will look better if you can come up with a practical solution you will be better served. For instance I took a look at the local craigslistings and found actual police lights for sale for 75 bucks. Also you if you know any DJ’s they might be able to loan you some lights…

Good luck with your project.

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.

[John Cuevas]

My advice is if you haven’t shot, figure out a way to do this in the field. Call some rental places, larger ones will have rotating lights that you can use pretty cheap. Locally I rent a police light for 8 bucks a day/16 bucks for the week, so look around.

If you try this in post, you will be trying to add a 3D element to 2D video, it can be done, but not as easily as just shooting it with the lights to start.

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.

[John Cuevas]

There was a pretty detailed discussion about it here: How would you go about producing this animation?

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.

[John Cuevas]

Try changing the transfer mode for the lens flare layer, maybe hard light or multiply.

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.

[John Cuevas]

Glad you figured it out.

If you are just getting started, you might find this helpful: Getting started with After Effects (CS4, CS5, CS5.5, & CS6). It’s a collection of links from Todd Kopriva(of Adobe) for the beginner in AE. If you check out point 4, there are 2 free getting started links, including the extensive work done by Andrew Davis and posted here at the Cow.

Have fun and Happy New Year.

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.