VideoHelp Forum
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 12 of 12
Thread
  1. Hi guys,

    I'm cutting together a trailer and looking to create the same kind of effects that are used in the Brooklyn Nine Nine opening titles:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTSBB4ExDCY

    Essentially, a standard video shot that is then freeze-framed and altered to saturate the background in colour and add animated text/graphics.





    I'm assuming this is a relatively simple effect to achieve for folks who know what they're doing, but I haven't a clue. Is it all done in after-effects or is there a Photoshop element?

    Any advice or tutorials you could point me in the direction of would be greatly appreciated.
    Last edited by pcboom; 26th Mar 2014 at 13:25.
    Quote Quote  
  2. Member budwzr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    City Of Angels
    Search Comp PM
    That's a "Levels" adjustment in one or more of the color(RGB) channels. Looks like a decrease in the blue channel. Any editing software can do this easily. Note the suspenders are different colors.
    Last edited by budwzr; 26th Mar 2014 at 14:19.
    Quote Quote  
  3. Thanks for the reply. Decreasing the blue channel would affect the entire shot, not just the background though?
    Quote Quote  
  4. Member budwzr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    City Of Angels
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by pcboom View Post
    Thanks for the reply. Decreasing the blue channel would affect the entire shot, not just the background though?
    Looks like a gradient overlay. Note the suspends are different colors.
    Quote Quote  
  5. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    It's just an animated lower thirds type credit with masking of the actor's outline, and then multiple FG/BG layers so you get the effect of the credit running behind the arm but in front of the torso. The mask aslo helps with the posterization/tinting of the background.

    Can be done in AE, Vegas, many more. PS would probably not be used for this unless it were ALL a freezeframe, as those others can already do masks, layering, text+graphic titling, and posterization - all within themselves. PS wouldn't bring anything extra & necessary to the table.

    Scott
    Quote Quote  
  6. Originally Posted by Cornucopia View Post
    It's just an animated lower thirds type credit with masking of the actor's outline, and then multiple FG/BG layers so you get the effect of the credit running behind the arm but in front of the torso. The mask aslo helps with the posterization/tinting of the background.

    Can be done in AE, Vegas, many more. PS would probably not be used for this unless it were ALL a freezeframe, as those others can already do masks, layering, text+graphic titling, and posterization - all within themselves. PS wouldn't bring anything extra & necessary to the table.

    Scott
    Thanks, Scott. So this can be done without AE, just in the editor alone? The trailer is being cut in Premiere -- is there a tutorial (or a bunch of tutorials) that you know of that would break down the process?
    Quote Quote  
  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Deep in the Heart of Texas
    Search PM
    Some editors, not all. Depends on which version of Premiere you have, but it SHOULD be able to do the masking (which is probably the hardest part).

    Should go something like this:
    1. Create a lower 3rds title w/ accompanying shadow graphic box. Save it. (It will likely already have built-in alpha masking)
    2. Do a 3D warp or perspective shift of it so it angles in correctly. Save that. (Hopefully, it will still be vector & not yet rasterized)
    3. With the subject (probably a freeze-framed cap of it), create a mask on the body outline (via roto tools, whatever is at your disposal). Save the mask.
    4. Make 4 layers: A(bottom/bkgd)-subject image w/no mask, B-subject image w/ mask, C-titles, D(top/foreground)-subject image w/ mask.
    5. On the topmost layer, do additional masking so that only the arm is selected (probably easier via garbage mask box selections).
    6. Tint/Posertize the bottom layer
    7. Animate the title movement (add masking gradient, etc as desired)

    That's it!
    I won't go into the details of Premiere masking and/or layering, as there are already plenty of tutes available for this and I'm not going to waste my time reinventing the wheel for you, sorry. It actually is fairly straightforward once you break it down to its elements.

    Scott
    Quote Quote  
  8. Thanks Scott, much appreciated. I've found various videos on masking and layering that I'm looking at, so I'm waiting for the footage to be sent to me now and I'll jump in and give it a blast. Thanks again.
    Quote Quote  
  9. Member budwzr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    City Of Angels
    Search Comp PM
    First, you need to separate the talent from the background, and composite it back over the color work. Then you can easily separate the arm with an eraser tool, or use a lasso-type tool.

    The arm doesn't have to be perfect except for the part that has the graphic mixed together.

    Last edited by budwzr; 26th Mar 2014 at 17:44.
    Quote Quote  
  10. That's a good breakdown by Cornucopia

    The only thing I can see you having problems with doing in PP - it doesn't have a native motion blur implementation. You can do various workarounds and blurs, but it doesn't look right. But you can get motion blur through 3rd party plugins for PP

    This would be easier to do in AE (it's masking tools are far better than PP)
    Quote Quote  
  11. Thanks, guys. I am going to use AE, I think, for that reason. I've never done any rotobrushing before, it seems fun.
    Quote Quote  
  12. Member budwzr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    City Of Angels
    Search Comp PM
    It's easier to see how they did it from frame grabs. Also, this sequence shows they used a snap that has motion blur on the left hand, hahaha.

    The outline can be easily cut out with a lasso, or similar edge selection tool, set to a low tolerance, and edge softened. The interior blue background seen through the hair can be easily selected and ousted with a magicwand type tool. A little sharpening and color balance and you got yourself an RGBA cutout.



    This kind of fX would be difficult for an editor to do if it was in motion. That's why they used stills. Also, this animation, where two graphics travel together along different paths, then unite, is fairly common.

    In my opinion, the idea of the animation is to provide a "synergy" that translates into the way the show is designed to depict diversity coming together. So it's crucial to time it properly.

    I suppose AE can do this sort of thing, but the learning curve is going to be very steep. In that case, I'm going to recommend PhoShop and most any NLE that supports compositing. Simple tools, yes. Sexy tools? No. But no one has to know.

    Most everything I post is made with free or supercheap software. So long as you can grasp the concept of what you want to do, that's what makes the end result. A good Paint software beats any NLE. For creating graphic elements.

    Then when you get ready to do the animation, these are your "parts". The text can be done in the NLE as regular text with a transalpha. Don't forget to kern the letters.

    The first name gets parented to the banner, then swished in with motion blur. Last name comes in via z-axis, AKA 2.5D space. So there you have it.

    BTW, the background gets tinted by changing it to grayscale, then throwing a couple gradients over it.



    The other posters can easily do this too, but I don't have a paying gig right now. So I have time. Hope it's helpful. My NLE is Vegas12PRO.
    Last edited by budwzr; 27th Mar 2014 at 23:51.
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

Visit our sponsor! Try DVDFab and backup Blu-rays!