Home > Gallery > Kid Stays In The Picture

Download the video: [WMV] 1.6M (turn off looping to examine the last frame)

First off, props where due to the producers of "The Kid Stays In The Picture" [NEW WINDOW] the bio-pic based on the ongoing life of Robert Evans. The effect was improved and expanded for the feature "Resurrection" the story of Tupac Shakur. In 2004 a UFO documentary commissioned by ABC News and hosted by Peter Jennings did a miserable job of ripping off the effect. The PBS series "Strange Days on Planet Earth" did a reasonable job, sometimes excellent ... why the discrepancy?

Basically, it's a very difficult effect to produce combining traditional photography and cinematography with 3D compositions. Sort of like a subtle effect from the Matrix commonly called "bullet time" where the action freezes but the camera moves through the scene. The effect, if done right, is stunning and oddly captivating. The cool thing is you do this effect to STILL images, even old black and white images work really well!

"Peter Jennings did it well, 
but Rick Dolishny did it the best!" [LINK]

- Terry Debono, President Boardwalk Media

Once brought into a 3D space, 3D effects like lighting effects and smoke and colour can be added at will, increasing the perceived reality of an otherwise static image. Notice a shot in the demo video where the girls appear to be under the trees - the lighting effect was all done in the 3D workspace.

As a 3D animator and photography nut, I was compelled to figure out this technique and apply it to my current projects in some way. Early in 2005 I had an opportunity to create a short montage of the life of my Production Manager Michael McCleary and his fiancé Jennifer.

I took a number of images into Photoshop and duplicated layers:

1. 2.

Note the serious cloning in image 2. The fact that it's a bit sloppy doesn't really matter - the camera will only hint at the background, plus I will be playing with the focus extensively, effecting hiding most of the flaws.

3.4. 

In image 3 I used the Magic Wand tool to crop out the couple. Finally, I pulled out another layer of just the girl, who in the animation will appear to be leaning far into the camera lens, where I will do a dramatic pull focus and blur everything but the girl.

At this point I brought the layers into Combustion. Combustion is particularly well suited to this effect as it is a 3D compositor at a native level. After Effects has recently added a 3D workspace but for true 3D composites such as this Combustion is better. On the left is a preview of what the camera is seeing, on the right is a bird's-eye view of the composite. You can see there are three layers, each closer to the camera (unseen) farther to the right.
This is where it gets interesting. You can see on the left I temporarily moved the top layer to show how easily the magic and effect can be lost. You can see in this image the yellow camera to the far right.

This effect take a long time to nail, and it doesn't work on most images. You need a good, easily repeatable background, plus a number of foreground elements. Just one person on a background won't cut it.

I'm especially proud of the shot in front of the Toronto CBC building. Note I needed to create an entire street and half of the facade of the building. Not something I'd like to do all the time!

Enjoy the demo video and if you have any comments, error reports, or questions please drop me a line. Thanks to the newlyweds Michael and Jennifer McCleary for the use of their likeness.