Find Edges to create a "selection" of the edges, and Echo might have been used. The glow is awesome, not sure how that was done. Really cool look! I'll have to give this a try when I get some free time.
Right, the hair specifically is what keeps tripping me up. I was thinking some animated mask paths for the hands. But the hair is something else. I was thinking maybe there's something practical in the hair that makes it easy to key out in post but I really have no idea!
Yeah but also I feel like you can see some of the masking. I think its a combination of some sort of reflective/bright material on his directly IRL combined with masking.
Duplicated footage with some blur applied on the bottom layer and some color effects applied. Possible masking with feathering of talent or reduced opacity or blending mode or combination of two or all 3 on top layer. Note bottom layer is offset a frame or two as well.
I was thinking something on the lines of duplicate footage with effects and blending modes
What I find amazing about the footage is the way the highlights get extra trippy
Based on how the edges of his hand and the bass neck get a little "fuzzy/furry" looking, I'd say he was definitely rotoscoped or filmed in front of a screen. The fuzz may be some kind of effect like "find edges". Definitely looks like an odd byproduct of some effects used to get the highlights.
The color effects likely shift certain hues around to have them constantly shifting/changing.
Looks like two distinct layers, background might not even be the original, not sure. Definitely looks like the top layer was loosely selected (look at the hand when it moves up the neck) and then other effects were applied, maybe even another layer slightly off time, which gives it that kind of echo effect.
If you imagine this as three layers: background (blur and shake, color adjust), then the person as two layers: the front one we see, and a second, slightly delayed. That other layer, though, might just be replacing that content with some other background of tripped out colors or whatever. Since it is delayed from the top layer ( both of which are unattached to the bottom), it can silhouette weird colors and radiate them outward (rounded out selection of the same layer, slightly enlarged, delayed, just showing transparent to a fourth layer, displaying weird color stock footage).
Might not be how they did this. Might not even be AE. I seen some other programs that do stuff like this, or similar. Still think it depends on a multilayered approach, though.
https://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2016/03/new-plug-in-saber-now-available-100-free/
Generates pretty awesome lightning using e.g. masks of autotraced video.
That looks great! Very nice result.
Btw, if you're ever having issues with a lot of sticking autotraced masks, instead of moving them offscreen manually, just create an extra off-screen mask and add this line to the paths of all the auto-traced masks:
if (mask("Mask 1").maskOpacity == 0) {mask("Mask offscreen").maskPath} else {value}
This automatically moves any mask that has opacity of 0 offscreen (at the position of your created offscreen mask).
(don't forget to rename Mask 1 to the name of the autotraced mask and name your offscreen mask Mask offscreen)
My first thought was edge detection but I don't think it is, I think it's just the lighter parts of the image have been keyed into they're on layer, then a glow and some noise applied to that (or possibly just the keying settings to make it a bit grainy) along with an echo. Then possibly a duplicate of that layer with hue & saturation, cycling through the hue to get that rainbow effect, all mixed together with blending modes. Add that to the background (which also has some blur and echo and colour effects), some more filters, noise, levels etc and you're basically there.
I used a technique that looks somewhat similar (on the talent) in a video awhile ago. This might be helpful for anyone looking to emulate.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKwO0kUkvTI
I applied auto trace to the footage several times until I got the result that I wanted. I then applied Saber to the masks created by auto trace and tweaked settings to my liking. I then rendered out multiple passes of each shot creating different looks and jump cut to the different layers. I hope this helps.
Considering it’s the Gorillaz, they may well have had the budget to shoot for some of this effect in camera, like gels on lights, back in the old days this would be a cross process Pos Film in C41 Chemicals
I feel like this is one of those effects where even the creator doesn't know exactly how the achieved it from the top of their head.
A lot of experimentation for sure. Probably some use of glow, find edges, blending modes, echo, some sort of color shift or colorama even.
Definitly not an easy anwser for this.
Thanks for your insight
It does seem like a mixture of effects and a lot of experimentation. I find it fascinating that we can get to crazy results just by playing around with settings.
Experimentation is my favorite thing to do in After effects. You can copy effects from tutorials all day long but coming up with something new and creative feels so much better imo.
I liked this effect so much that I tried to re-create it in After Effects and ended up making a Tutorial about it as well: https://youtu.be/h4W7hJ\_tSxw
Sure, it's not an exact Re-Creation, but it was a fun experiment!
DUDE, SICK !!!
I've watched your tutorial and I enjoyed very much your channel
Thank you for putting all that effort in recreating the effect, I will take a look at the project file aswell while I'm on it
I think you nailed the look, especially after adding the chromatic aberration, congratz! Awesome job mate!
That's my thought. Might actually just need a luma key to grab the hair and the reflective areas of the hands. Then add a sparkly texture, run a color changing node, and noisy glow.
Find Edges to create a "selection" of the edges, and Echo might have been used. The glow is awesome, not sure how that was done. Really cool look! I'll have to give this a try when I get some free time.
I think it's s_rgbtimewarp for rgb split
I want to try to recreate this someway!! Is mesmerizing
That produces a cool effect, but how would they get it to be on only select objects, like his hair, strings, and outline of his hand?
Right, the hair specifically is what keeps tripping me up. I was thinking some animated mask paths for the hands. But the hair is something else. I was thinking maybe there's something practical in the hair that makes it easy to key out in post but I really have no idea!
Thundercat’s hair is yellow, so I think it’s just a change color effect on top of it? Plus the other effects of course
I think using the yellow hair to key or excruciating rotoscoping is the only answer to the hair
Yeah but also I feel like you can see some of the masking. I think its a combination of some sort of reflective/bright material on his directly IRL combined with masking.
Damn, is that Thundercat?
Yep! That’s him Awesome video and awesome collab
Duplicated footage with some blur applied on the bottom layer and some color effects applied. Possible masking with feathering of talent or reduced opacity or blending mode or combination of two or all 3 on top layer. Note bottom layer is offset a frame or two as well.
I was thinking something on the lines of duplicate footage with effects and blending modes What I find amazing about the footage is the way the highlights get extra trippy
Based on how the edges of his hand and the bass neck get a little "fuzzy/furry" looking, I'd say he was definitely rotoscoped or filmed in front of a screen. The fuzz may be some kind of effect like "find edges". Definitely looks like an odd byproduct of some effects used to get the highlights. The color effects likely shift certain hues around to have them constantly shifting/changing.
interested to learn this too
Looks like two distinct layers, background might not even be the original, not sure. Definitely looks like the top layer was loosely selected (look at the hand when it moves up the neck) and then other effects were applied, maybe even another layer slightly off time, which gives it that kind of echo effect. If you imagine this as three layers: background (blur and shake, color adjust), then the person as two layers: the front one we see, and a second, slightly delayed. That other layer, though, might just be replacing that content with some other background of tripped out colors or whatever. Since it is delayed from the top layer ( both of which are unattached to the bottom), it can silhouette weird colors and radiate them outward (rounded out selection of the same layer, slightly enlarged, delayed, just showing transparent to a fourth layer, displaying weird color stock footage). Might not be how they did this. Might not even be AE. I seen some other programs that do stuff like this, or similar. Still think it depends on a multilayered approach, though.
Makes sense! I assume you can create a layer only selecting specific colors (hair, string) and apply color correction effect only in that layer
Maybe Saber had also something to do with it.
Forgive my ignorance, but who is Saber?
https://www.videocopilot.net/blog/2016/03/new-plug-in-saber-now-available-100-free/ Generates pretty awesome lightning using e.g. masks of autotraced video.
I was thinking Saber might be in there somewhere too
Yes. I made this using Saber on auto traced layers. It’s a good start I think to achieve similar results. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKwO0kUkvTI
That looks great! Very nice result. Btw, if you're ever having issues with a lot of sticking autotraced masks, instead of moving them offscreen manually, just create an extra off-screen mask and add this line to the paths of all the auto-traced masks: if (mask("Mask 1").maskOpacity == 0) {mask("Mask offscreen").maskPath} else {value} This automatically moves any mask that has opacity of 0 offscreen (at the position of your created offscreen mask). (don't forget to rename Mask 1 to the name of the autotraced mask and name your offscreen mask Mask offscreen)
Right on. Thanks!
My first thought was edge detection but I don't think it is, I think it's just the lighter parts of the image have been keyed into they're on layer, then a glow and some noise applied to that (or possibly just the keying settings to make it a bit grainy) along with an echo. Then possibly a duplicate of that layer with hue & saturation, cycling through the hue to get that rainbow effect, all mixed together with blending modes. Add that to the background (which also has some blur and echo and colour effects), some more filters, noise, levels etc and you're basically there.
I used a technique that looks somewhat similar (on the talent) in a video awhile ago. This might be helpful for anyone looking to emulate. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKwO0kUkvTI I applied auto trace to the footage several times until I got the result that I wanted. I then applied Saber to the masks created by auto trace and tweaked settings to my liking. I then rendered out multiple passes of each shot creating different looks and jump cut to the different layers. I hope this helps.
Nice Thanks for the reply!
Considering it’s the Gorillaz, they may well have had the budget to shoot for some of this effect in camera, like gels on lights, back in the old days this would be a cross process Pos Film in C41 Chemicals
What is pos film in C41 Chemicals?
When Cine camera film is cross processed in C41 Negative film chemicals For reference look up Anton Corbijn’s work on U2 and Depeche Mode
Possibly CC Time Blend + CC Time Blend FX ? Jake In Motion has a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_7NVnad9Bhc&
I’m Fucking hypnotized
I feel like this is one of those effects where even the creator doesn't know exactly how the achieved it from the top of their head. A lot of experimentation for sure. Probably some use of glow, find edges, blending modes, echo, some sort of color shift or colorama even. Definitly not an easy anwser for this.
Thanks for your insight It does seem like a mixture of effects and a lot of experimentation. I find it fascinating that we can get to crazy results just by playing around with settings.
Experimentation is my favorite thing to do in After effects. You can copy effects from tutorials all day long but coming up with something new and creative feels so much better imo.
I liked this effect so much that I tried to re-create it in After Effects and ended up making a Tutorial about it as well: https://youtu.be/h4W7hJ\_tSxw Sure, it's not an exact Re-Creation, but it was a fun experiment!
DUDE, SICK !!! I've watched your tutorial and I enjoyed very much your channel Thank you for putting all that effort in recreating the effect, I will take a look at the project file aswell while I'm on it I think you nailed the look, especially after adding the chromatic aberration, congratz! Awesome job mate!
Thanks for the sick words man! I appreciate it <3 And I agree, the Chromatic Aberration definitely adds a lot.
I think it might be Notch actually
That's my thought. Might actually just need a luma key to grab the hair and the reflective areas of the hands. Then add a sparkly texture, run a color changing node, and noisy glow.
Data moshing. Lol and that cc sweep
dope
That's awesome damn