How to create a ghostly effect

[Chad Bonanno]

Also, if you can get your hands on a copy of ReVision ReelSmart Motion Blur (RSMB) for AE, you can force the motion blur on certain shots to get that smeary effect.

We use this to add motion blur to our 3D renders based off of motion vector passes, but RSMB also has an auto feature that it will track movement of live action shots and add motion blur. I sometimes use this if I use an unusually high shutter speed for high frame rate , and want to bring the clip back down to 24, it will eliminate a lot of that squeakiness in the shot.

 

[Webster Miller]

Thanks Chad, I will take a look.

 

[Hal Long]

Another angle you might take is to shoot a background clean, then do a pass at 12-18 fps. Drop this into a 24p timeline and do a difference matte in AE. Then duplicate your matte several times and offset the timing for each layer a bit. This is kind of like a time filter but now you can apply blurs, bend, color effects, and distort keyframes (wiggles) to each layer independently. Set varying opacities for each layer. This approach has created some tasty effects for me in the past.
Good luck!

 

[Ernie Kovacs]

I was just trying to do the same thing on the Epic. The Panasonic Varicam does a great job of this in camera, I used to take advantage of that feature frequently. I assume it would be possible with the epic in some future software??

I agree, what I see in the viewfinder is perfect at 1 FPS, but it's timelapse on playback.

 

[Chad Bonanno]

I was just trying to do the same thing on the Epic. The Panasonic Varicam does a great job of this in camera, I used to take advantage of that feature frequently. I assume it would be possible with the epic in some future software??

I agree, what I see in the viewfinder is perfect at 1 FPS, but it's timelapse on playback.

So try just keeping a Framerate at 24 FPS ( or 30 ) , but lower your shutter as LOW as it can possibly go, That should give you a similar effect. Like 1/12th or something? don't move the camera though! =)

Worth a shot!!! In addition , maybe a combination of this PLUS Time Echo in After Effects may do the trick. Also, make sure you take that Echo Effects OFF of ADD mode or youll end up with a very hot frame, as it just keeps duplicating any motion in the scene.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

This really depends on what type of aesthetic you want. Since the camera is fixed just make sure you have a clean plate as suggested. With roto of the subject you can play with many different options in post, especially in AE, with much more creative freedom than getting it in camera.
Green screen is unnecessary unless you have a specific look defined which requires it.