hp Advert

[Pauly]

Been seeing this advert the last couple months, but I love it. It's the one where they have the photographs then they stick them over their head, or move it in place and it goes from photo to live movement.

I haven't seen an advert so well done yet :) I assume most of you have seen it, if it can be found here (check all 3 out);

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/hpads/you/photography/index.html

[Jamie]

It really is a brilliant advert. The first time I saw it I had had a few beers, boy it really does look 10 times better after a few drinks. ;)

[Captain Howdy]

Very cool .. I know how they did it, but replicating it is a pain in the ass. I tried something sorta like it for my Media Animation final in college.

[the_pm]

Really? I've been wracking my brain to figure out how they did it. What type of software is used to achieve the effect you see in that commercial? It's brilliant, IMNSHO

[websterworld]

You give them blank blue cards and shoot the video then edit it and paste over the blue area with clipped photos? Just a guess. Probably wrong, heh.

[Pauly]

I always thought they used green to distinguish what was to be added with video editing and so on.

Webster I think you're on the right lines with using a blank card of some sort, just seems practical to do so. But the editing to make it all work as well as it does, time well spent I suspect :)

[sonicgroup]

Typically green is used simply because you don't often find too much green in everyday life (indoors), or in people's wardrobes, so it's a relatively safe color to use for compositing. You can really use any color (even black or white) if you want, it just has to be one shade and stand out enough to be easily replaced. One of the local TV studios here uses a bright blue one (versus the standard green).

[Christina]

Blue Screen...Green Screen....well Green is easier to take out for post production but if you're doing something that is never going to change like say the weather then Blue is okay :)

[Pauly]

Ah I get it now :) Thank you both!

[Captain Howdy]

I'm not sure what softwares they used .. but I used Adobe Premiere and After Effects.

Everyone is basicly right. You shoot the videos using Key Cards (blue or green for best results) and plain white frame cards (the white boxes they're holding up). Once you have all of the video shot, you take it into After Effects and Chroma Key the color out of the cards and replace it with the next video in the sequence of events. Once you done all of the Special Effects, you take it into Premiere and edit the video all together to run seemlessly. Then you take it back in to After Effects and add all of the post production work .. the flying + signs etc. It is a very tedious process with alot of attention to details.

Give it a try and show us the results.

[jtimbre]

I agree, those are impressive adverts. Some are pretty hard to design if the sizes are different- but thank goodness for these new programs that continue to be released!

[Christina]

I'd prefer to use either Avid or my favorite Final Cut Pro and After Effects.....

[the_pm]

Key cards would have been my guess as well. I had a lot of exposure to CG and blue-screen imagery back in my undergraduate days. The part that I'm having difficulty understanding is how they take a card from around their necks, pull it up over their heads and flash a picture into it. Those shots must be done another way, probably good old fashioned frame editing.

I'd prefer to use either Avid or my favorite Final Cut Pro and After Effects.....
The instructional media group here uses Avid and Stream Genie workstations. They seem to like them both equally. I've done a little Avid work, but Stream Genie was brand new to me.

[ethicaldesign]

The part that I'm having difficulty understanding is how they take a card from around their necks, pull it up over their heads and flash a picture into it. Those shots must be done another way, probably good old fashioned frame editing.

Yeah, that was the bit that I was wondering about aswell. My first thought when I saw that was bluescreening, but then there's this problem you mention and also that the overlayed image would have to distort with perspective as it's moved around.

My guess is that they used paper/card frames (with a hollow middle - like a picture frame) with little coloured dots in the inner corners, then they mapped the corners of the image that goes into the middle to those dots. That way the image would distort and remain in perspective, and when it gets to the bit where it's over his head it would revert to the paper frame without the overlayed image in the middle.

Perhaps a filter to remove the little dots that were used for the mapping over those frames from the final cut?

It's definitely an attention grabbing advert however it was done :)

[rosschapman]

I went to the CNN tour at the Time Warner Centre in NY, and they typically use green, and do exactly as has been described - card, chromakey etc.

Actually our guide did exactly the above, infront of a green screen and used a green card to cover her left arm.

I've just thought of a topic actually.....(evil laugh erupts from the depths of hell....)