To chisel on a tombstone

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Level 1

19 points

To chisel on a tombstone

Hi all,
I have this idea for a video that involves filming on a graveyard.
I don't wanna expose any names from the stones there, so I plan to shoot from the backside when getting closer up to them. Then, I plan to mock up some tombstone writing in Photoshop, and motiontrack the live footage to make the photoshop "chiseling" stick.

1) Do you think this is feasible, and do you have some good tips?
I am a Motion NOOB, and have never tried motiontracking with it.

2) If you have any photoshop ability: How exactly would you perform the "chiselling"? Probably based on a still frame out of the live footage of the stone in question, but ...?

No, I don't think shooting in a graveyard means I'm morally crippled 😐
If anyone bothers to feed me back, this can be a fun learning project on TWO amazing products! Imagine that 🙂

Cheers + thanks;
edv!n

MacPro 8-core, Mac OS X (10.4.10), Macbook 2GHz at home

Posted on Jun 19, 2008 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Jun 19, 2008 9:50 AM in response to edvinpedvin

What you're trying to do is much more difficult than you can imagine. It would be easier and cheaper to have fake headstones made out of plastic or simply create prints that you can paste over the names. or just shoot the names. I don't think there's a realistic privacy issue involved.

bogiesan

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Answer 2

Jun 19, 2008 10:45 AM in response to edvinpedvin

Take a look at _this video_ for motion tracking

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Answer 3

Jun 19, 2008 1:26 PM in response to edvinpedvin

1.) Not knowing anything of the nature of your project, I'll ask this: Is it absolutely mandatory to perform the motion-tracking? i.e. Can the camera be completely locked off and still get the same result you're going for? Or not? I'm of the opinion that it will look (more) "realistic" if the camera can be locked off.

2.) This tutorial video will show you how to create a stone look in photoshop. (This is more than you need because it discusses the creation of the actual stone texture - which you'll already have.) But the text treatment may be of use to you.

Good luck....

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Answer 4

Jun 20, 2008 1:07 AM in response to edvinpedvin

I am a lighting designer for Tv and movies and also a final cut/motion person. If you can change the script/scene from day to night and shoot it day for night. If you shoot the tombstones from the front but only backlight the scene and add a $75 dollar fogger. You will spend a whole lot less time in post and have a much more scary or interesting scene. let lighting create the mood for you and don't worry about motion tracking tombstone names. Just a thought. Also shallow depth of field ie. shooting at F2.0 will throw the names out of focus and keep your audience focused on your actor if one is in the scene
good luck !!

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Answer 5

edvinpedvin Author

Level 1

19 points

Jun 30, 2008 4:47 AM in response to lighting tech

OK,
thanks for the helpful feedback, guys 🙂
I haven't decided what to do yet, but all of the above is valid input.

Cheers;
e

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