Hey, this is Steve Ramsden
and today I'm going to be talking about
how to add yourself
into historical footage,
AKA the "Forrest Gump" effect.
Now, this is a fun one to
demonstrate your compositing
and After Effects skills.
- [Forrest] Okay.
- [Steve] I found these clips
on the British Pathe YouTube
channel, I do not own them.
This is just for demonstration purposes.
Okay, step one: find a
piece of historical footage
that has good possibilities
for interaction.
Here's a shot of the Beatles
arriving at the airport.
Someone could step in front of them.
Step two: set up a green screen at home
and try to recreate
the lighting conditions
in the archive footage
as closely as possible.
Step three: shoot yourself interacting
with the characters in
the archive footage.
Costumes help sell the
effect, get creative.
Study the footage closely
and pay attention to
what you can react to.
Here I've used the fact that I
would be getting in their way
as part of the effect.
It looks like the
photographer has just told me
to get out of the way.
Step four: pick your favorite take
and do a rough overlay of your two shots
to work out the timings.
Also, check your frame rates match.
It's easier to match your footage
to the historical footage's frame rate
than the other way around.
Step five: remove the green
screen behind you or your actor
using Keylight in After
Effects or similar.
Step six: overlay the the keyed shot
on top of the archived footage,
using the timings that you
have already worked out.
Of course, the movements don't match yet,
so we have a solution for that.
Use the After Effects Motion Tracker tool
to map the archive
footage's camera wobble.
Of course a hand-held shot
presents more of a challenge,
but hey, we like a challenge.
Select something that doesn't
move in the shot's background
and then map the movements
using the Motion Tracker.
Give the Motion Tracker's
movements to a null object
and then parent your green
screen layer to the null object
so that you're now moving
and wobbling around
in exactly the same way
as the archive footage.
Step eight: color correct
the green screen layer
and add other effects to make
it match the archive footage.
Now, a lot of this old
footage is grainy and rough,
and of course black
and white is a big help
because it's easier to
match black and white
than it is color.
Normally, these old
videos aren't razor sharp,
which means you might
want to slightly blur
your gorgeous modern HD footage
to match the older version.
You can also add scratches, dust, hairs,
anything you'd like to try
and match the original.
I also replicated the camera flashes,
which is a really important thing
to sell the idea that it's all one shot.
And there we go, meeting the Beatles,
and being told to get out of way.
That's the easy way to do it.
I mean, it's okay, but I'm
just passing in front of them,
there's nothing really clever about that.
So, for added believability,
try making yourself
move behind someone or
something in the footage.
Here's another example that I've tried
with Churchill and Roosevelt.
This had good possibilities
for interacting
because Churchill turns around,
so I added myself behind them
and reacted when he
turned and looked to me.
You can do this by using the
After Effects Rotoscope tool.
You create another layer with the things
that you're going to be moving behind.
And as you can see, moving
behind someone in the frame
really helps sell that
you're actually there.
And there you have it, a very simple way
to integrate yourself
into historical footage,
just like "Forrest Gump".
I hope this has been useful.
Give it a go, tell me what
you think in the comments.
Share it if you like it.
- [Forrest] Okay.
- [Steve] Check out my other stuff,
including my recent trailer mashups
like "The Grand Overlook
Hotel" and "Casino Royale."
Look at SteveRamsden.com.
And thanks for watching.
