This $80 Projector Trick Makes Incredible Films Live Projection 101
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Date: 2022-09-13
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Comments and reviews: 20
HealthyCoomer
In the future I'm sure we'll see this technique greatly enhanced by systems that can create a 3D effect in the room. Source material will be shot in 360 degrees providing exact reflections as well as capturing motion data. The video can then be played back live on set using a dome screen that surrounds the actors and a CPU controlled robot can move the stage in sync with said motion data. The robotics technology has been around since the late 90s, the making of the plane scene in Fight Club and the flying bus scene in Swordfish for example (both movies have great making of documentaries by the way. Back then there were very serious and expensive obstacles to do this sort of thing, motion sequences had to be programmed manually and there weren't handheld smart phones with gyroscopes and GPS to capture the movement of the car. Even if a director had the idea of recording the motion live during the shooting of the projector footage, the costs would have been several orders of magnitude greater than today's common place miniature-sized electronics. I think the biggest draw of all will be providing the cast and crew with a live aide (as demonstrated in the video at 7: 59. With a green screen, even if VFX have disguised all visual inconsistencies, you can almost always tell by how the actor's presence is different, that they aren't really interacting with anyone.
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In the future I'm sure we'll see this technique greatly enhanced by systems that can create a 3D effect in the room. Source material will be shot in 360 degrees providing exact reflections as well as capturing motion data. The video can then be played back live on set using a dome screen that surrounds the actors and a CPU controlled robot can move the stage in sync with said motion data. The robotics technology has been around since the late 90s, the making of the plane scene in Fight Club and the flying bus scene in Swordfish for example (both movies have great making of documentaries by the way. Back then there were very serious and expensive obstacles to do this sort of thing, motion sequences had to be programmed manually and there weren't handheld smart phones with gyroscopes and GPS to capture the movement of the car. Even if a director had the idea of recording the motion live during the shooting of the projector footage, the costs would have been several orders of magnitude greater than today's common place miniature-sized electronics. I think the biggest draw of all will be providing the cast and crew with a live aide (as demonstrated in the video at 7: 59. With a green screen, even if VFX have disguised all visual inconsistencies, you can almost always tell by how the actor's presence is different, that they aren't really interacting with anyone.
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fanjoy
As an enthusiast I agree that the more ways we have of shooting videos the better. This is a wonderful video showing the complexity of and how to shoot with a projector-thanks! But the contention that shooting with a projector is easier or cheaper, sure don't see the evidence from this video: 1. rent or have an enormous indoor white screen top, sides and bottom covered area; 2. have several thousand dollars of lights and audio, computer, equipment. 3. have a crew to set all of this up, etc. This actually looks like much more work than setting up a few cameras inside a car and just shooting the occupants. I disagree that in a budget film the actors cannot be driving. Yes, if you are doing stunt work that holds, but for basic dialogue, you can find a few easy quiet streets and do your dialogue there. If that were the case then carpool kareoke with James C, or comedians getting coffee would never work! Again, the process of making a quality film is complex, and not for the faint of heart! Thanks so much for this great video!
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As an enthusiast I agree that the more ways we have of shooting videos the better. This is a wonderful video showing the complexity of and how to shoot with a projector-thanks! But the contention that shooting with a projector is easier or cheaper, sure don't see the evidence from this video: 1. rent or have an enormous indoor white screen top, sides and bottom covered area; 2. have several thousand dollars of lights and audio, computer, equipment. 3. have a crew to set all of this up, etc. This actually looks like much more work than setting up a few cameras inside a car and just shooting the occupants. I disagree that in a budget film the actors cannot be driving. Yes, if you are doing stunt work that holds, but for basic dialogue, you can find a few easy quiet streets and do your dialogue there. If that were the case then carpool kareoke with James C, or comedians getting coffee would never work! Again, the process of making a quality film is complex, and not for the faint of heart! Thanks so much for this great video!
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Bjarki
I've lost count of how many times I've shot driving scenes with the actors actually driving the car and me pushing myself against the passenger side door with a 24mm lens, not wearing a seatbelt, to get a good frame. And in a film I directed, we couldn't use a car rig for the two-shot so we strapped the DP in the trunk of my car and had the picture car follow it. I was laying in the trunk of the picture car, monitoring the scene on my iPad and trying to hear the dialogue over the sounds of the engine.
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I've lost count of how many times I've shot driving scenes with the actors actually driving the car and me pushing myself against the passenger side door with a 24mm lens, not wearing a seatbelt, to get a good frame. And in a film I directed, we couldn't use a car rig for the two-shot so we strapped the DP in the trunk of my car and had the picture car follow it. I was laying in the trunk of the picture car, monitoring the scene on my iPad and trying to hear the dialogue over the sounds of the engine.
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Anthony
if you're going for realism, the angle of the windshield glass reflects what's above, so why project the road above the car?
Realistically we'd see street lamps or tall buildings overhead, or clouds.
Maybe it's one of those things to use our artistic license for bending the natural physics, and the audience won't care if it tells the story better.
But I did notice. and I thing street lamps passing OVERHEAD communicates the nighttime city drive just as well.
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if you're going for realism, the angle of the windshield glass reflects what's above, so why project the road above the car?
Realistically we'd see street lamps or tall buildings overhead, or clouds.
Maybe it's one of those things to use our artistic license for bending the natural physics, and the audience won't care if it tells the story better.
But I did notice. and I thing street lamps passing OVERHEAD communicates the nighttime city drive just as well.
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EthosAtheos
Live projection or something like it will replace green screens as the screens and camera movement coordination get better. Look at the Mandalorian, it is shot in a room that is a very advanced live projection. More people will use this technique as time goes on. I think it is funny that a video from 2019 calls this a budget option.
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Live projection or something like it will replace green screens as the screens and camera movement coordination get better. Look at the Mandalorian, it is shot in a room that is a very advanced live projection. More people will use this technique as time goes on. I think it is funny that a video from 2019 calls this a budget option.
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Galin
Greenscreen can be such a mess. Great point about the reflections casting green onto the subject. Really wishing I had seen this video 18 months ago because I am in the green screen weeds over here. The only thing is the contrast on the cheap projector is not great but maybe on a $200-$400 projector it would look better?
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Greenscreen can be such a mess. Great point about the reflections casting green onto the subject. Really wishing I had seen this video 18 months ago because I am in the green screen weeds over here. The only thing is the contrast on the cheap projector is not great but maybe on a $200-$400 projector it would look better?
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Michael
What draws me to projection rather than keying is just the fact that a little bit of camera movement can be done on set, rather than having to go through the effort of tracking your image in post. Just recently got a nearly 20 year old SVGA projector to play around with the technique.
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What draws me to projection rather than keying is just the fact that a little bit of camera movement can be done on set, rather than having to go through the effort of tracking your image in post. Just recently got a nearly 20 year old SVGA projector to play around with the technique.
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Anti
The only thing you guys messed up Was the direction of movement the reflection in den windscreen showed. You should have played it backwards so it looks like the car is driving forward. Great video anyways: )
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The only thing you guys messed up Was the direction of movement the reflection in den windscreen showed. You should have played it backwards so it looks like the car is driving forward. Great video anyways: )
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Jordan
Not trying to be a dick but you needed thousands of dollars worth of equipment for this and it still looked like shit. It looked sitcom-ISH nothing that could ever be taken seriously in a movie.
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Not trying to be a dick but you needed thousands of dollars worth of equipment for this and it still looked like shit. It looked sitcom-ISH nothing that could ever be taken seriously in a movie.
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BLVKRVFT
This $80 projector trick.
. buys a $150 projector.
pulls out $6k worth of lights and stands and sets them up in a WHOLE ASS studio.
imma take yalls sticker off my box keep playin
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This $80 projector trick.
. buys a $150 projector.
pulls out $6k worth of lights and stands and sets them up in a WHOLE ASS studio.
imma take yalls sticker off my box keep playin
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Pastor
Hey guy, thank you for your great job.
When you said playing the video of the overhead proyector on reverse, do meant make it look backwards on the screen or play the the video on reverse?
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Hey guy, thank you for your great job.
When you said playing the video of the overhead proyector on reverse, do meant make it look backwards on the screen or play the the video on reverse?
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AutoFOCUSED
$80 projector trick but just the lights cost like $3 grand and the Epson projector was like $500-800. Diffusion panels cost a ton. Studio even more. lol. Click bait. Get outta here.
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$80 projector trick but just the lights cost like $3 grand and the Epson projector was like $500-800. Diffusion panels cost a ton. Studio even more. lol. Click bait. Get outta here.
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Astral'o
A cheap projector did this, in addition to 5 Aputure 120D lights, flags, bounce boards, a huge backdrop, a big studio and about 5-6 people. A very cheap and indy solution indeed
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A cheap projector did this, in addition to 5 Aputure 120D lights, flags, bounce boards, a huge backdrop, a big studio and about 5-6 people. A very cheap and indy solution indeed
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Mac
great vid man. lots of gems in this. would you think lying on the floor and using feet to push bumper be easier with more control? probably could go for longer drives also, lol.
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great vid man. lots of gems in this. would you think lying on the floor and using feet to push bumper be easier with more control? probably could go for longer drives also, lol.
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Jay
Nice video but pointing out that the projector is cheap is pointless considering how many crew members and how much expensive equipment was used to make it look this good
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Nice video but pointing out that the projector is cheap is pointless considering how many crew members and how much expensive equipment was used to make it look this good
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Cool
But why not just use a green screen and a fake car. What I am saying is take a set car with no windows and a green screen. Even if it looks bad, it won't look any worst.
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But why not just use a green screen and a fake car. What I am saying is take a set car with no windows and a green screen. Even if it looks bad, it won't look any worst.
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AronBagel
And then, one year later, ILM takes the poor man's process and turns it into the Rich Man's Process with the new virtual set projection used on the Mandalorian.
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And then, one year later, ILM takes the poor man's process and turns it into the Rich Man's Process with the new virtual set projection used on the Mandalorian.
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Art.
Dude, Kubrick used that city street projection in such a way in order to represent the context of the scene, that is, the emotional state of the character.
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Dude, Kubrick used that city street projection in such a way in order to represent the context of the scene, that is, the emotional state of the character.
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Cineasta
Rent a car. 40 Dollars. Pay a Uber 20 dollars + 20 of Gasoline. Then, Film the rented car from Uber and you have a more reslistic cene for 80.
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Rent a car. 40 Dollars. Pay a Uber 20 dollars + 20 of Gasoline. Then, Film the rented car from Uber and you have a more reslistic cene for 80.
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Richard
Still looks fake because there was no adjustments to the projection's blacks; I think the contrast is what makes or breaks the realism.
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Still looks fake because there was no adjustments to the projection's blacks; I think the contrast is what makes or breaks the realism.
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