Wire Removal

Wire removal

Wire removal is a pretty straightforward effect these days. The best approach depends on the tools you have available, the nature of the original footage as well as your final delivery requirements.

You can use the pixels around the wire if you have a good clean uncompressed source to work with. But DV footage (which is inherently compressed) would require a different technique. If your shot is 'locked off' (camera not moving) but the wire is moving in the shot, then you can clone the background from the previous frame (or the following frame).

Commotion is a great tool for the task. Combustion has options. I've used After Effects as well. However, at the big studios, even with sophisticated tools, wire removal is pretty much a hand rotoscope endeavor. So expect to have to paint out each frame by hand.

DV footage will give you the most trouble because the comression artifacts will usually create a blurred area around the wire. So, while the wire is gone, the ghost of the wire is still there.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
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