Cloning, or duplicating an actor to give the illusion of a twin or doppelgänger, is a rather quick and easy effect to achieve on a basic level in multiple post production programs. You have seen this effect countless times in numerous films and television shows, and it was developed through the advancement of post production techniques and programs. In this blog entry, I will be explaining the basics of creating the cloning effect, and the “rules” that need to be followed, along with giving you a step-by-step tutorial on how to record and edit your footage together in order to create the effect in After Effects CC.
THE RULES OF CREATING THE CLONING EFFECT
When you are thinking of creating a basic cloning effect, you have to think of how you will be shooting the scene. Since we are focusing on the basics, the first thing you need to establish is a dividing point in the scene between the clones. What do I mean by that exactly? Well, if you look closely at the video again, you will notice that at no point do the clones cross in front of one another, nor physically interact in any way.
In fact, this effect was created with one continuous shot. First, I sat on one side of the couch fiddling around with my phone for about twenty seconds or so, then slid down to the other side of the couch, picked up a book and read for another twenty seconds.
I made sure that I did not reach across or invade the space of where the other “me” would be, and avoided any type of overlap that may have occurred. In After Effects, I will cut this single take and overlap the footage. Then I will create a matte, which will create the ideal clone effect.
To clarify a few points… the reason I captured one continuous shot is because it is absolutely paramount that the two scenes line up perfectly. I mean pixel perfect! By hitting stop and record on your camera, you create a small variance in the camera’s location (aka you move the camera a little bit each time you touch it, even if you don’t think you are). The only way to avoid this is simply by not stopping the recording and capturing everything in one take.
CREATING THE EFFECT IN AFTER EFFECTS
Let’s take this step by step. Once we record our single take of multiple positions throughout the shot, we can then import the footage into After Effects CC and create a new comp.
Scrub through the footage and find where the end of the first position occurs (for me this is where I set my phone down, and slide to the other side of the couch). Once you have located the spot in your footage, you can split your footage by hitting CMD+SHIFT+D, or by going to EDIT>SPLIT LAYER.
You can now CLICK & DRAG your footage on top of one another so they overlap on the TIMELINE.
Now we need to create a matte in order to reveal both sets of footage at the same time, and give the illusion of a clone. To create a matte, use the RECTANGLE TOOL (shortcut key Q) and click and drag a box around your footage, isolating your second acting position.
Voila! You now understand the basics of creating a clone in post production and are ready for more advanced techniques (overlapping shots with clones, handing objects from one clone to another, etc.). The last bit of advice I have would be to feather the matte out a bit. To do that, simply click M twice on the layer in After Effects that has the matte, go to MASK FEATHER, and increase the number to about 30. Mission complete!
