Adobe 25510629 User Guide - Page 62

Choosing the background or virtual set The best results are achieved when the virtual background and the subject are similar not only in brightness but also in color saturation, hue, and contrast. When selecting a background or virtual set to be digitally inserted behind a particular foreground subject, look for one that will match reasonably well in these regards. You can apply color correction settings in Ultra to make sources match even better, but it's best to not rely on digital color correction to make divergent sources match exactly. Directing on a virtual set Performing in an imaginary environment can be challenging for the actor portraying your subject. Powerful technology like Ultra now means that the subject must not only get into character but also into location. Actors tend to perform differently depending on the size of the space they are in and how far away the camera is. Now that you can digitally manipulate these aspects with such ease, actors will need some coaching and feedback to help them work with the virtual environment during shooting. You should encourage the subject to look around the environment and gesture to virtual objects such as on-set monitors as appropriate. If they are going to be digitally scaled down to simulate a far-away camera, the subject must project their voice as they would when performing to a far-away camera. If the subject will be inserted into a large virtual environment with a distant camera, they may want to be more expressive with their arms and entire body. Details help complete an illusion. How the subject is dressed and what props they're holding can sell the scene to the audience and help the actors hold their mental image of the virtual environment. If the virtual background will be footage of a hot day at the beach, for example, you may want to consider adding a little sweat to the brow or some ocean breeze from an offcamera fan. Improving the quality of the source footage and facilitating recording Adobe® OnLocation CS3 can take a lot of the guesswork out of recording video that will key well. OnLocation provides tools that will help you improve the quality of the video that you shoot. Two tools in particular, the Waveform Monitor and Vectorscope, can be invaluable when you're recording footage that you will then key in Ultra. These tools digitally analyze every pixel of every frame in the video stream and graphically display the brightness, color, and saturation. With this information, you can adjust the camera settings, lighting, and other variables in the shooting environment to achieve the cleanest, most consistent background possible. OnLocation also lets you record clips directly to an internal or external hard disk. As soon as you stop recording, you have a digitized input clip ready to drop into Ultra. Even if 62 How to