Changing a window background through VFX
- Giovanni Peresson
- Mar 17, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 22, 2023
By Giovanni Peresson 16/03/2023,
This project was a continuation of some work we did in class for my Visual Effects module at University. In class, we were shown how to create masks in After Effects to replace the background of a window. I later decided to try it out myself so using my camera and tripod I got some footage from the inside of an apartment and also some of the riverside in the Derry and recreated it, along the way there were a couple of issues I encountered I overcame.
The Process:
The filming was quite simple I just put my camera on a tripod and recorded about a minute of footage in 2 locations, I could've used stock footage but on that day some new equipment came in the post which I wanted to try out.
The first thing I done with the footage was import it into DaVinci resolve to color grade it, it had been a while since I've used it for color grading but in an upcoming short film, I will be working on I plan on using resolve for its superior color grading abilities so this was more of a catch up for the UI of the software for me. The footage I filmed was in a flat color profile to allow me to have more creativity in post. For the interior footage, my only goal was to give it a more natural real-life look to it and for the outside footage which is meant to represent what's outside the window, I gave a slight blue tint to it just to give the appearance of it being a window.
I brought my media into Premier pro for the edit and began to work on the window mask. I slowly used the mask tool mad the outline of the first segment of the window and very quickly realized it would be extremely time-consuming so I decided instead of doing each individual plane I would simply mask out the entire window for the sake of saving time and being able to focus on the elements of the project.
Once I had completed the mask I placed the background footage being behind it finish the window replace. I wasn't very happy with the result in the end and I wanted the window frame back but rather than re-masking the window I added a fake window frame to match the original using a png of wood that I manipulated to look like a window frame and matched the perspective to look realistic which you can see bellow.
What have I learned/Conclusion
Doing this on my own I was better able to understand what I was being shown during the tutorial at university as well as add my own flare to it and try to give it the most realistic appearance as I could.
Of course there are some things I could do to improve when using this technique in the future for example being finer with the mask, there wasn't any visible issues but when looking at it on the pixel level around the plant pot or adding glare/reflection to the background footage to improve the illusion.
This is one of those sort of techniques that does have a few uses in real world visual effects for things like replacing images on television, phones, picture frames and much more. There is a possibility on a future short film I will be working on "Teaspills" for my Dramatic Short module that this technique could be used for a scene where an actor jumps out of a window. Preferably what we would like to do is use a sugar glass window the actor can jump through but in the event this doesn't work out we can use this technique along with a green screen shot of the actor jumping a mock window in a controlled studio environment.
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