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Adding television reflection

TheArtist

TheArtist

Hello

i'm shooting a scene that involves a couple watching TV. To emulate the reflection of the screen on theur face, I know of a trick that consists in moving a white paper in front of the fill light (with a CTB) and that would do it.

I'm wondering if there is another way to do it completely in post.

Now, I don't know enough Premiere or AE to know what effect to use and how, that's why i'm posting here.

The idea would be to take the actual footage being supposedly watched and put it above my movie. Resizing it depending of the size of the said screen and feathering it a lot to avoid sharp edges.

Then, the effect would need to use the colors from the TV footage and apply them as light in my scene. I would have the TV footage projected in a way on my characters. I've seen so much modes in AE for layers (Add, substratc, multiply and what not) i'm somehow convinced it can be done.. I'm not sure it makes sense for you so i don't know if I should elaborate or not.

Anyway, tell me what you think.
 
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So if i get this correctly you want to shoot a couple watching tv with the tv off, and then edit in footage on the tv and have said footage relight the scene?

I am fairly certain that it will not work, photorealistic lighting in post is hard, and I would strongly advise against it. Especially if you add in moving footage. I also don't quite see why it has to be done in post, wouldn't it be a ton easier to do everything on set?
 
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No, that's not it.

Said footage is never to be seen playing. Let's say the girl is watching Titanic. I'm only shooting the girl in close ups and mediums. I'm never showing the TV, never showing the movie. But there is "Titanic sound" and I want reflections on her face. I could have a light and make it flicker to emulate it but I'm wondering it I couldn't add the flickering reflections on post (using actual Titanic footage).
 
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This is probably much easier as a practical effect. Rent\burrow a projector that you can connect to a DVD player and just use it as a light source and point it at the actors on the couch. Use some black wrap to shape it so its only where you want it. This will look "fake" but will have a be a cool stylized effect..
 
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There's always a way to do it in post. You can do virtually anything in post, given sufficient resources.

I'm not sure why you want to try to do this in post. I can only assume you've already shot the footage, didn't get the tv effect and cannot go back in and reshoot?

I've only done some basic training in AE so I don't know how to do it, but....

It all depends on the footage itself and what you're trying to achieve. I assume you're talking the James Cameron version. His style tends to be either blue light or tungsten lit scene. It also depends on the accuracy/realism you want.

I'd apply some reflective lighting filter (if that exists) to the foreground and the same to a slightly lesser degree to the background (if appropriate). If there is movement in the scene with either the camera or the actor, you'd probably need to add motion tracking to the whole equation.
 
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I will explore some ways in AE and keep you posted.

I shot it yesterday, a few hours after I asked here. I don't have the practical stuff to add the reflection on camera.
 
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Without the knowledge of proper composition software, nor (assumedly) the dynamic range of a high end camera, then it is going to be extremely hard for you to achieve.

Would have been, and is, much easier to achieve on set, which is why even large productions generally do it on set, rather than spending the extra time/money in post to do exactly what they could've done with an extra 30 minutes setup time on the set.
 
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