"Ghost" effect

[Landon D. Parks]

Does anyone here know how they do this weird "Ghost" effect? Like when you see the travel channels re-inactments of ghost storys, they always have the apparitions that look like real people, but only you can see through them. It loks almost as if they shot a real person, then somehow made then "See through". I would like to pull off that effect in my upcoming film.

 

I'm not 100% sure how to explain what im talking about. But anyone who has the travel channel, knows what I'm talking about.

 

Thanks guys. :rolleyes:

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

Well, I've never seen the "Travel" channel or whatever it is, but generally this effect is really simple. (Depending on how good you want it to look)

 

The cheapest way is to just shoot the scene, then shoot it again with the actor in it. Merge the footage together digitally and then set a transparency level for the footage with the actor in it. You could light the actor with some blue lights e.t.c. (But don't make it look tacky...)

 

For the "Ghost" effect of the actor, well, loads of things. Obviously you can just slow the shutter speed, but make sure the set stays at the same light level. (Decrease shutter speed, counteract it with applying an ND filter or something. Changing the aperture will alter the DOF, which COULD screw up the merging of the two backgrounds)

 

Umm, try diffusing the actors scene. That can look pretty good.

 

There are more advanced methods, but they involve ALOT of cash. You could double expose with 35mm. (I.e. the first spirit in Muppets Christmas Carol, looking back on it, that was amazing)

Edited October 30, 2004 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

Hey, heres a short (crappy) example.

 

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bas/ghostmovie01.wmv

 

(Sorry, couldn't resist the sound track...)

 

 

Bear in mind that I knocked this up in 15 minutes, usually you would spend longer and it would look a lot better. I tryed adding green for an effect, didn't work out so well though... But, it gives you a rough idea of what effect I'm talking about.

Edited October 30, 2004 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

[Michael Nash]

Oddly enough, I happen to know the guy who does those cheesy ghost effects for the Travel Channel. ;)

 

It's pretty much like what Daniel describes, one image superimposed on another. In the old days (film only) it would have been an "optical;" then with on-line video it would have been a "mix" or "partial dissolve;" now in the days of digital, Photoshop et. al. it would be separate "layers" and opacity. All different technologies to do the same thing.

 

Try to keep the camera locked off (so both images are EXACTLY the same), so when you layer them the background matches perfectly between the two shots.

 

The Travel Channel then dresses up the effect with a little CGI and whatnot to make the overall image a little more surreal.

[Landon D. Parks]

Try to keep the camera locked off (so both images are EXACTLY the same), so when you layer them the background matches perfectly between the two shots.

Could'nt you also shoot the actor in front of a bluescreen, then superimpose it over the background plate?

 

The Travel Channel then dresses up the effect with a little CGI and whatnot to make the overall image a little more surreal.

Yeah, I've noticed they do that.

 

Hey, heres a short (crappy) example.

That was good video dan. I liked the effect!

 

 

P.S) Thank Dan and Michael. :)

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

Hey no problem.

 

Couldn?t you also shoot the actor in front of a bluescreen, then superimpose it over the background plate?

That's another method, slightly more complicated and expensive though. The advantages to doing that is that you could recolor the subject (ghost) without colouring the set. You could give it an ambient glow or something.

For instance I added green for an effect, trouble is it coloured the entire set.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

If you want to do that kind of trick, try a difference matte. It doesn't work very well in low-res formats, but it can be good enough (in the same kind of way that a matte during colour correction can be good enough) for you to do things like an ambient glow, if you blur it out enough.

 

Phil

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

I'd never attempt it with something like MiniDV. I'd probably use HD, I don't like the idea of using 35mm in blue/green screen studios. Hence why doing it that way is so expensive, worth it though. Even the XL2 struggles, greenscreen is about all you can do with that camera (due to the luma content), and even that's cutting it fine. Although, use a good keying system and theres a lot of problems cleared up.

Edited October 31, 2004 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I think you're missing the point. Pull a difference matte to give you a rough idea where glows and recolouring should go. Clearly, you're not going to be able to do your ghost extraction with that kind of technique.

 

Phil

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

OH, yeh, oops. :blink:

 

Yeh, it's now proven that you do need a high quality camera. I just tryed it with my camera, didn't go so well... Seemed to pick up half the set aswell.

Edited October 31, 2004 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

[Michael Nash]

Daniel,

 

If I were you I'd cool it with the shotgun references, especially joking about killing children. It's not funny, and totally inappropriate for the cinematography forums.

 

This is an open internet forum, readable by the entire world. Please get some sense.

[Michael Nash]

This forum is largely self-governing, in which case all the participants help set the rules and standards. I made my comments publicly in order to speak out AS a member of the forum, instead of as an individual responding privately. That way other members can step in to agree or disagree, and help set the standards.

 

Personally I understood the humor in your tagline, even if it was a little questionable. My objection was to it's appropriateness on the forum, not about my personal opinion of the joke.

 

I'm sorry you felt I was trying to ridicule you, but if you're going to make a joke publicly you have to expect that public will respond. If you don't want public attention to a statement, don't make it publicly.

[Landon D. Parks]

Personally, I never noticed dans signature had anything bad in it? What exacly did it say that was so wrong?

 

P.s) Rather than start a new post below yours dan: I understood where Michael was coming from. But still, I can understand it just being a joke.

Edited November 1, 2004 by Landon D. Parks

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

Oh well doesn't matter now.

-------------------------------

 

Anyone got any ideas on how they made the 1st Spirit in Muppets Christmas Carol?

 

It was pretty amazing I thought. I think they used a puppet actually (I can't see Henson using CGI...)

Edited November 9, 2004 by Daniel J. Ashley-Smith

[cineshooter]

Oddly enough, I happen to know the guy who does those cheesy ghost effects for the Travel Channel. ;)

 

It's pretty much like what Daniel describes, one image superimposed on another. In the old days (film only) it would have been an "optical;" then with on-line video it would have been a "mix" or "partial dissolve;" now in the days of digital, Photoshop et. al.  it would be separate "layers" and opacity. All different technologies to do the same thing.

 

Try to keep the camera locked off (so both images are EXACTLY the same), so when you layer them the background matches perfectly between the two shots.

 

The Travel Channel then dresses up the effect with a little CGI and whatnot to make the overall image a little more surreal.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This will also add to that 'not quite right' look of the ghost. Have the actor(s) do the scene walking backwards then playdown the actor's shot (in the post production) in reverse this will cause all the movement to be going forward but something will just look weird.

 

JD

[Guest Daniel J. Ashley-Smith]

This will also add to that 'not quite right' look of the ghost. Have the actor(s) do the scene walking backwards then playdown the actor's shot (in the post production) in reverse this will cause all the movement to be going forward but something will just look weird.

 

JD

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Depends how they walk really.

 

By the way there is actually a great "ghost" effect on premiere, really works well.

[Nate Downes]

You're all talking over-hi-tech and as a result you've missed that some of the best "ghosts" in cinemas history were created by much simpler methods.

 

Time to be introduced to the glass-ghost. First, make a large black box. Next, cut 3 holes in it, one in the front, one in the back, and one to the side. Next, insert a piece of glass. Last, have someone standing off to the side with a black background and line him up, he will "ghostly" appear in front of the normal background.

[Guest Andrew Ross]

I got the same effect using vegas video in under 3 minutes. That includes filming and editing. Pretty easy.