[Olaf Steel]

Thanks for your help Ben.

Using masks sounds like the best method. Just so I have options in post, I think I’ll still paint any of the face that will be visible on camera green. Then if I have any problems, I can key it out.

Thanks again.

Olaf

[Olaf Steel]

…Or perhaps there’s a better way to do it?

[Olaf Steel]

Sorry, should have said that…

My timeline settings are:

1920×1080 24p Apple ProRes (proxy)

Guess that’s all the info you need… My slow motion footage was shot at 60p.

Thanks for your help.

Olaf

[Olaf Steel]

Hi,

I followed the above steps given by Neil Sadwelkar. Thanks to him, I now have my 60p footage conformed to 24p and it’s in FCP. When I play it back in the preview window, it plays in slow motion, however, when I put it on the timeline with my footage that was shot 24p, it plays back at normal speed…
Is there a step I’m missing?
I want that clip to play back in slow motion.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Olaf

[Olaf Steel]

I have just found what I think I’ll use. I’m going to put a little more distance between the ghost and the main character that is not a ghost.

First I reduced the opacity of the ghost layer to about 60, then I’m added an Image Mask to the ghost layer and made it so that it covers the area around the ghost, leaving enough space around it to move around. As the ghost is walking forwards, I have keyframed the mask to follow the ghost.
As I mentioned before, there is a problem with the lighting – it’s darker where the layers overlap. So, I added a mask feather to the ghost layer and feathered it almost to 100. Now there is no noticeable difference between the two layers.

[Olaf Steel]

Thank you for your tips, Mark. I just started trying them today. Its working, its just a matter of trial and error, as you said. So far the best results have come from selecting “Multiply” in the “Composite” modes section. Then I have added an 8-point garbage matte around the ghost, leaving enough space around the edges for movement so I don’t have to keyframe it too much. Then I’ve feathered it almost to 100 because of the difference in color between the layers, because where they overlap, the colors obviously become darker.
Do you think there is a way that I can somehow color correct the ares not covered by the mask? Possibly darken them somewhat?

I definitely think I’m on the right track though. Luckily the ghost and the other actors never overlap.

I couldn’t figure out how to use the “difference Key” though. It doesn’t seem to make a difference really.

Again, thank you so much for your help. This is much lighter work now.

Olaf

[Olaf Steel]

Thanks a lot for that Mark.
I’m not at my editing computer right now, but I’ll try it tonight. I appreciate you trying to help out as I do already know that better fore-planning would have ensured I avoid this mess, as other people have been saying.

I’ll post back with how things went.

Thanks again. Truly appreciate it.

[Olaf Steel]

For the most part they don’t overlap.
I don’t understand why it doesn’t work when I place the ghost clip over the other clip and then lower the opacity of the ghost clip. Perhaps someone could explain this to me so I can get a better idea of how to approach this. Usually I avoid leaving this sort of thing to figure out in post, but in my head it seemed so simple, like doing the technique I described above in Photoshop.

[Olaf Steel]

Perfect! Thanks so much! You saved me hours of messing about. It looks great!

[Olaf Steel]

Thanks so much for your quick response.
I have tried what you said, however I dont have the ‘Open with cinema tools’ option when I right click on the clip.
Perhaps you are using an older version of FCP?

When I right click on the clip, I get what you see in the images below:

If I put the clip in the timeline and then go to Export, I get the following options:

Having never used Cinema Tools before, I’m quite lost with this.

If you have any further help, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.