Blue Screen/ Colour Keying

Colour Keying and Blue Screening were such integral elements to my idea I knew that I wanted to test out how this would work. I first had a vague play with my swan character - seeing how I could move the character to make a small test piece that I could then use to practice colour keying. Importing the jpegs as a sequence (which is going to be crucial in making this so between each scene I intend to upload and remove the images - in order to ensure a semblance of segmentation and order) was easy enough to generate an animation using after effects. 12 frames per second is the standard animation rate - which could potentially increase depending on how many photographs I take if I end up with enough for more then I will increase the frame rate since it will make it a smoother appearance although my stop motion research indicates that 18 will probably be more than enough. Setting the frame rate to 12 after the sequence was imported was a simple task - just a left click to the footage in the project section, click on main and then adjusting the numbers was all it took. After which I then made sure to set the composition settings to the same frame rate.

Colour keying the blue out was a lot simpler than I thought it was going to be - I found a simple enough tutorial on youtube - and by using the Keylit 1.2 colour keying effect I was able to get rid of the blue.

I explored duplicating the layer and drawing round the shape which supposedly helped the Keylit effect to focus on the area around the subject since thats the more complex area.

I also played around with the matt black and white view in the settings which allowed me to see additional blue spots - increasing the grain - helped to get rid of the remainder.

I then placed a brown background behind my swan and was pleased to find no trace of blue. Now that I have explored this I have a better idea of how my animation is all going to come together -and I have an idea of some of the issues that I am going to have.


Issues to consider:

The background paper moves - Solution tape of weigh it down
The line on which my characters will walk- Needs to be defined - Solution- Place a ruler (and secure it) out of frame so the characters will walk across a straight line.
The position of the lights and camera- Since the lights will need to be moved in the evening so I can reach areas in my bedroom - I need to know where the lights and tripods will be placed. Solution - colour tape to mark out the leg positions.

Key Question that needs answering
Do I attempt to blue screen all the animals together or do I do them separately and then put them together in after effects???