Post-Production : How to make body parts disappear? by Amanda Murray

If your camera is mounted, it's very easily done with keying out the offending body parts. You just need to shoot the background without any actors in the way, then key out the body part, then composite back in the background. Now, if your camera is moving, this is much more complicated. But short answer, yes it can usually be done with most basic editing software.

It's actually pretty easy, provided you don't have a lot of moving shots (match moves are hard to do on a budget). Anyhow. Record your shot without anyone in the frame. Don't move the camera. Now record that same shot with the action in it. In post, there are a million different ways to blend those images, from rotoscoping to a basic wipe (fastest and easiest). Have fun!

Ive actually done a bit of post work making people disappear as if they were smoke. I used a folding green screen on the day to get the actor doing their move and used a clean plate for back ground. It really wasn't too hard even with the camera move. Just have good track points, a clean plate with the move and you're good to go.

are you being techical or do you need a plot device? as plots are my thing rather than cameras I'd suggest your characters finding a handy pig farm or tracking down a sizable incinerator both good for disposing of bits and pieces of inconveniant characters.

@ Evan and Rachael which soft ware is that ? , I'm also producing a short with lots of effects , and i have less or even no experience in effects making , though that's what i want in my story this time round , please i will appreciate your answers inother words thanks in advance

If you just want to do some simple effects with shorts, I suggest one of the inexpensive Sony Vegas editors. More complex effects you're looking at expensive software like after effects.

Amanda Surely the art of film is to create the illusion that what people are seeing on screen is really happening. What matters should always be; is the script good enough, and if it isn't, is the story good enough to get the script where it needs to be. Without knowing the ins and outs of the script it is hard to now exactly what you mean by disappear and exactly what you want to happen. Green screen is an obvious technique. But you could also just have the person walk off camera, hold the camera on the scene for a while, then edit out the bit where he walks off. Or you could even employ a magician who could show you how they do it. Of course you could just cut to a reaction shot then return to where the body part was.... You could create realistic balloon type models of people that you pop when you want them to disappear. You could do it by making the viewer believe there is no escape from a location such as a prison cell. Then one of two prisoners "disappear" providing we have bought in to there was no way out we will believe they have disappeared. More than happy to read the script and suggest exactly how I would approach it. but it probably would be a whole mixture of techniques and I would be very unlikely to use the same technique twice.

@ Amanda i'm sorry to hijack your thread .

Fairly esy to do... After effects will do it...

I have a professional editor who edits my movies. She uses Final Cut Pro. The story is about a boy who finds a magic sketch pad. When he draws a person and then erases the drawing, the person disappears. It's a comedy.

Try having the actor stand there, then cut, have him move, then record again. put it together and it looks like he just dissapeared! (Trust me, I've done it!)

It can be done, But It's not an easy job as you may be thinking. And will cost a good amount of money.

If the camera is locked off then yes as suggested above. If the camera is moving then you need to shoot it on a motion control rig. The moco rig will repeat the move exactly in time and space so you can do the effects you would do on a locked off camera on a shot that moves. Look at our FB page for some ideas... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Reflex-Motion-Control/367455206649537

Your shot is a breeze. Shoot the "plate" the set without actor. Then use masks to remove parts desired. After Effects, see Mask>feather too when Kf'ing

Amanda, you asked this question a year ago. Did you purchase the script? did you make the movie?

rubbish

Its pretty easy to do by putting chroma green clothes/tape over the areas you want to disappear and then taking a clean backplate, you key out the green to reveal the backplate and viola.. missing limb

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Evanesce/253879511457090?skip_nax_wizard=...

Even film students at NYU, UCLA can do it for you. Even if the actors are moving, you'll need a background plate, tracking points in the scene and on the body parts, and maybe 3d models of the body part to comp afterwards. This can all be done using Adobe After Effects and Maya, which most of these students have access too. Just make sure you plan your shots really well, and your DP knows how to keep the lighting the same. Lighting is key to making it look real. It may sound complex but find one of these students to help u for a credit and bit of cash.

Sounds like a lot of extra work. I simply use a traveling matte over the parts I want to "Erase." / A variable mask! Ta Da!

Depends. 3D space, camera movements, and type of shots. Google traveling matte to see it's limitations, see if it's right for you.

Just a quick comment. Blue screen or Green screen done right, create a very convincing "illusion." Green Screen to shoe off effects less convincing and almost annoying at times. (Did I just contradict myself)?, regarding the merits? NO. I just needs to be done right.

green screen.

I was going to say this is easy, as I did it many times when in video production. However I see that others have provided accurate information. Good luck!

The one issue nobody is addressing here - removing a chunk of body, such as be arm below the elbow, is only half of the issue. It's essentially distills down to a job like a wire removal. As people have indicated, removing the arm (or whatever part) isn't as big of a problem as replacing the background behind it. A locked off camera of course is easier, but depending on the complexity of the background, a moving camera might not be too big of a problem. What nobody has mentioned is the "stump" of the arm or whatever. If all you have is a clean matte edge moving with the lower arm (or whatever part) and the background is replaced, the resulting look is going to look like a weird fake broken puzzle. You're going to need something in there to nicely define the juncture with the body part that remains, whether it's biological, magical, etc. I worked on a sequence a while ago in which an actor had to appear as if had lost a hand years ago. Our pipeline was essentially: -track the camera -track the motion of the actor's forearm (we had tracking markers for this. he wore a greensleeve sock on his hand, but that wasn't really important - it was the tracking markers on his wrist that were essential) -create a 3D "wrist stump", textured it to match the actor's skin. create the lighting for the environment -move the 3D stump in with the tracking data of the forearm. -render passes of the stump -roto/key out the actor's hand, use 3D camera data to replace the background with cleanly-painted chunks of plate, comp over the stump render, color correct voila!

Beau Janzen described the necessary process, regardless of the stump being realistic or magical, it needs a camera track, lighting recovery, arm tracking, whatever geometry or effect laid in place, integrated texture and lighting, mattes for anything blocking the view during the sequence(s), and if possible a motion control camera so the specific frame to frame view can be recovered for background replacement of the missing hand. Lacking the motion control camera, compositing software often has background replacement features that pull frame data from nearby frames. Note that for such a shot, one may need as many as 7-8 digital artists: matchmover, modeler, rigger, animator or effects animator, lighter, and compositor. To pull off such an effect convincingly, a single person with such skill would be quite rare - each is its own specialty. This may sound like overkill, but this process allows for complete freedom of camera motion and the actor with the missing body part for as much of the film as you desire.

It depends on your budget, time frame and expertise.