This episode of Film Riot is brought to you by the nation campaign against drunk driving.
Today on Film Riot we replace the sky.
Welcome to Film Riot Mondays, I’m your host Ryan Connolly. Today, of all day days we will
answer this fine lad’s Twitter question, “Hey Ryan I love the show, I just wondered
if you could cover some sky replacement as it would be great for my zombie film.” And
I got this email as well, “I want to do a surreal sort of shot where I can adjust
the background separate from my actor. Thoughts?” I’ve got some thoughts, all kinds of them
actually. Some would make you blush, some would educate you, and some would threaten
national security.
Okay, so…
Sky replacement can be done a few ways, but the easiest way and the best results for me
has always been the one I’m about to show you in a second. Okay here we go. The original
shot without the sky replacement looks like this, ugly and boring like Josh. When shooting
outside it can be very difficult to expose properly…no nothing? You’re not going
to defend yourself; you’re just going to leave it? Meh, I’m used to it. Aw that makes
me feel bad. Let me do this again. This original shot without the sky replacement looks like,
ugly and boring unlike Josh. When shooting outside it can be very difficult to expose
properly for both your actor and the sky. If you get lucky and the right lights hits,
it can look awesome, but it’s not something you can really control or anticipate. So if
you get into your edit and the footage looks like this, fret not, correcting it is easier
than you think. For me, all I did was duplicate my footage then saturate that clip and add
levels. Next adjust the sky until it’s completely blown out and the rest is all black. Now my
image isn’t going to be completely black everywhere else, but that’s okay since I
can just mask that out. Then create a black solid and put it below my clip to fill out
the rest. Now I’ll pre-comp the solid and the duplicating clip, then bring in a picture
of the sky that I like for this and I’ll put that below the pre-comp layer. Now click
track matte and select lunar matte and the sky layer will now only show through the shape
of the white we created, but now it just looks ridiculous, but that’s okay because we’re
not done. Next I’ll duplicate my background footage and darken it and then add a square
mask and feather it so that the sky’s a bit darker than the ground, then I’ll the
opacity of my clip and position it how I want it. Now I just add my overall color correction
and ta da… here’s the before and here’s the after. But wait Ryan, where is Josh? Excellent
question dear viewer. I actually shot him on a green screen, but still in the same environment
so I could keep him out perfectly, but still have it completely separate from the background
so I could add whatever weird and surreal images I want to the clip like this. The reason
it’s important to shoot the green screen footage in the same area as the background
footage is so you get the exact same light so it fits perfectly together when you key.
But there you go one answer for two questions, bazamajam 2011.
The police will be out in force nationwide from August 19th to September 5th in a nationwide
effort to crack down on impaired driving. Don’t put yourself and others in danger
or risk the terrible lethal repercussions. Drive sober or get pulled over. Here’s an
interesting piece of info about the impact of drunk driving, on average 31% of people
involved in fatal crashes on the weekends are alcohol impaired, which every time we
do these reads and we get these numbers I’m always flabbergasted at how high they are.
I mean really there’s that many people out there that are that stupid, really? Plus I
mean why get hammered anyway, don’t you want to remember what you did the weekend,
isn’t that the point of having fun so you can remember it and create memories, that
way on Monday you’re like, “dude I did this and this and this on the weekend” and
you’re like, “what’d you do?” and he’s like, “I don’t even know, I’ve
such a headache” and you’re like, “did you drive home?” and he’s like, “yeah”
then pffff out the window. Ahhhhhhhh. Only the second floor, you only broke a few bones,
but now he knows.
Record numbers of state and local law enforcement and highway safety officials across the nation
will be taking part and they will be looking for drunk drivers day and night and making
the roads safer for the rest of us who remember what we did on the weekend. So do yourself
a favor and drive sober or get pulled over.
In the film industry there are lots of different terms thrown around and if you ever find yourself
on set and don’t know a few you may end up looking like an idiot or stupid person
or an individual who’s not educated. I think you get it. To solve that let’s learn you
some lingo. First word today is practical. Practical is any light on set that is seen
in camera and belongs there, for instance a lamp, Cinematographers will either use a
practical to help light a scene or put a low enough wattage bulb in the lamp to expose
for camera and use it as motivation for their lighting. Next word player. Last looks is
something the 1st AD will call out to signal that the shot is about to happen. This means
wardrobe and make up needs to take their last look at their actors to make sure everything
is ready and all other departments are on standby because they’re about to go. On
to the last word for toda, honey wagon. This ones’ kind of funny actually. A honey wagon
is actually just a moving Porta Potty for the set. The name supposedly comes from when
they used the honey bucket back in the day when there was no toilet, gross and hilarious,
honey wagon. And that’s your lingo for today.
So that’s it, we are Audi 5000…and one, but you know the drill, if you want to connect
with me do so on my Twitter or Facebook and I will see you loverlies on Thursday. So until
then stay safe and watch good films.
I love lamp.