Multiple shots of same person in FCP?

This is going to be a lot of work, obviously.

You would want to shoot anything in the foreground against the green screen and then use the chroma keyer to mask it out. And then shoot what ever is in the background against a real background, and this would make the background for your other performances.

So you would have to run through the song 3 times just from one camera angle. Bass and guitar against the green, and then the drums against the background with amplifiers and stuff. To add some realism to it you could have you characters interact with each other at certain times during the performance. You should put markers on the floor for each character to stand and know at what time in the song you want them to interact.

If you are going to try any moving camera shots I would keep them tight and at angles that would not allow for another band member in the background. Remember you have to recreate everything at least twice, so a moving camera shot would be near impossible to create.

A less advanced approach, which may be good for someone new to compositing, would be to lock-down your camera on a tripod facing the stage and arrange your instruments so that you can play at each "instrument zone" without your movement affecting the movement (and shadows) in any of the other zones. (For example, guitar on the left, drums in the middle, bass on the right.) Stack up the clips of you playing the different instruments in Final Cut, then use the crop function or 4-point Garbage Matte filter to "cut out" the area of the shot in which you are playing, allowing the other clips to show through around it. For the bottom layer, you may want to use a clip of the empty stage in case your masks don't fully cover the screen.

Once you've mastered a basic composite like this you'll begin to see the endless ways in which this could be extended with other techniques (like chromakey).

Good luck.

Zap

I'm quite new to FCP and I'm trying to achieve a certain effect..

Final Cut would be where you assemble your footage, not where you necessarily perform the compositing and effects construction and design.
Spend a few hours in the manuals and on google looking up terms like "difference matte" and "locked down effects." Then try some of that advice. Then try looking up "rotoscoping."

We see this question about once a month here and on the Motion and After Effects forums. Once ou find some threads, you may also find some links to production blogs from some folks who have used the technique successfully. Hopefully they will have lots of advice on what NOT to do.

As an effect, multiple appearances by the same individual can be classy and elegant. It has been done often by talented wannabes so it's not unique in its basic form. Your challenge is to come up with something original. But you won't be able to elevate what has has become a cliché until you understand the craft of performing the composites any more than you can create and perform good music before you learn how to play an instrument and play it very well.

bogiesan

"It has been done often by talented wannabes"


Including Sir Paul McCartney !

Steve Mizen wrote:
"It has been done often by talented wannabes"
Including Sir Paul McCartney !

I've been told he was in another band when he was a kid.

bogiesan

Hmmm . . maybe. . . any idea what they were called 😉

I was referring to his performance here

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DO6w9T1YzgE