How can I recreate the same scene by changing only the character?

Question

Hi, I'm a beginner in After Effects (I know only the basics) and I need some help to find out how to make a specific video and what techniques and effects to use in that specific case.

The clip I want to use is the 4 seconds part of "The Batman" 2022 movie trailer that goes from minute 4:56 to 5:00. Here is the video

https://youtu.be/B-tYmIpLwt4

What I'd like to do is to learn what step to follow to erase Batman from the scene and replacing him with another subject or character moving in a similar way from another clip.

As a beginner and given my limited knowledge I would first erase batman with content aware fill, then I would rotoscope the subject from another clip amd place it above the Batman clip's layer. And then I would create new layers of the same batman clip I would place them above the rotoscoped subject from another clip and rotoscope the gun fires and gun light and smoke from the batman clip so that the rotoscoped subject from another clip would appear to be behind them. Another thing is that I would need to know How to recreate the flickering effect given by the black bar that appears in between the gun fires and quicly transits from the top to the bottom of the clip.

I know this might sound all silly but what I want to know if there are better and fasyer ways to recreate the video I want to recreate and what steps and techniques I should use (in order from the first to the last) for a better result.

Mylenium · Answer

Not meaning to be all that cynical, but honestly, good luck with that. While your ideas are sound on paper, there's a million issues I can see with that, beginning with the small annoying problem that unless you have access to the original Raw footage (typically shot at much more regular exposure with all details visible) you won't even know where stuff is and the roto and fill would jump around like crazy. That said, this is 100% a shot you would more easily reconstruct from photos and your own footage using 3D projection mapping and compositing techniques combined with actors shot against greenscreen. And based on what can be seen in the clip this is heavily doctored already, not just because it was shot with a different exposure and then some extreme color grading thrown on. The muzzle flashes are all artificial, the "lighting" has been supplemented with masks to make it more contrasty and very likely there's a ton of other "invisible" work like wire removals (where the goons get smashed into the walls and all that) to begin with. The "rolling" bar is actually an attempt at simulating how eyes adapt to quick changes in brightness and likely a semi-accidental effect caused by the other compositing trickery. Again, from a production viewpoint even trying to do this based on the trailer footage would be a nightmare. Could it be done? Perhaps, but this is literally something only the most desperate director would be doing if he has no other footage and needs to salvage a shot at great cost. Even experienced roto and VFX artists could sit on those 5 seconds for days. so if you can, find better footage to work with or create your own.

Mylenium

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