Insert a clip in a shaky clip

[Haugen]

I'm making a short film for a friend of mine, and I want to record a clip (on a tripod) which I later want to insert in a another clip (camera hand held), inside a phone which a person is holding. Does this make sense? 

I know I have had this problem a few years ago, and luckily the clips was done hand held, so it was rather easy. I'm trying to find this post without luck, and I can't find any tutorials on Youtube. I guess there is, but I can't seem to find any. 

I need to watch tutorials to see if I can pull it off, if not I have to film something else. Can anyone help me find a tutorial?

[davidarbor]

The technique you're looking for is called Reverse Stabilization. Here's a short tutorial showing how it's done: https://youtu.be/8sRR1PDjLn4?si=E8VKTCWQhJg87jwd

[Rick Gerard]

The workflow depends entirely on the shot. Warp Stabilize/Reverse stabilization works for some shots where there is not much camera movement. A workflow I call Stabilized Power Pin using Mocha AE works for more complex shots. Here's a tutorial on that workflow:

Camera tracking works for shots where there is a lot of fixed geometry in the shot, and the camera is not panning. The other Tracking Options (easily accessible in the Motion Tracking Workspace, are also useful for other kinds of shots. 

The most efficient workflow depends entirely on your shot. From your shot description, inserting a shot on a phone someone is holding, Mocha AE is probably the most efficient workflow. You may not need to do the entire Stabilized Power Pin workflow, but you will need to use Mocha to Perspective Track the phone, set up a surface for the phone screen, create any mattes you need to isolate things like fingers on the screen, and then run the composite.

You can find a very good, professionally produced set of tutorials for Mocha AE on the Boris Effects website right here. Boris FX Training

That's where I would start. The Warp Stabilize/Reverse Stabilization shared by davidarbor is very good for many things, but tracking a phone isn't one of them.

[Haugen]

Very good! Thank you both. Both the phone and me filming will be handheld, so somewhat shaky will occur. But, I will do my best to keep it as still as possible. 

So your work flow in Mocha AE will work when there is movement in both the phone and camera? Like double movement since camera is not on a tripod. 

[Rick Gerard]

I use Mocha for about 90% of my tracking and compositing shots. Mocha AE is one of the best and most versatile trackers out there. I used it to remove tattoos from the neck of an actor walking through a scene with changing lighting. I've used it to replace a logo on a BMX bike rider's shirt in a race. I've used it to add reflections of an explosion on an actor's glasses and add lighting effects to his face, even casting shadows from his nose. Mocha Pro is even more powerful. It can generate distortion meshes (the new graphic on the BMX riders shirt) and it will copy lighting changes on warping surfaces. 

I've even simulated camera tracking using Mocha AE when the Camera Tracker fails. 

Next on my list is the Camera Tracker, then AE's standard Tracker. Last on the list is the Warp Stabilizer in all of its variations. 

Some shots are easier if you use a combination of two or more techniques. The most efficient workflow depends on the shot. There is almost never one way to create an effect, but some workflows are incredibly tedious and time-consuming, while others are almost magical.

[Haugen]

I was able to track, stabilize and put my shot (of a bus) in the phone (or in my case a box). My idea is to zoom in to the bus the person is holding, and have a rather seamless transition to the actuall shot of the bus. When I exported this composed clip, I loose the original resolution of the clip of the bus. So when zooming in on the bus clip I gradually loose resolution - which I don't want. I'm not sure if I'm able to explain what I mean, but hopefully you do. I guess it is how I export the final product?  

[Rick Gerard]

It sounds like you need a pre-comp of the insert with collapse transformations turned on. 

Share the entire UI of the main comp and any nested comps showing the modes and switches columns and the modified properties (press uu) of the problem layer by dragging it to the reply field instead of using the "Drag & drop here..." field to upload it. If the insert, the layer that is losing resolution, also include that comp's entire UI. We can probably help out. 

[Haugen]

I don't follow, Rick, so not sure what to share here. What is UI? But for this project I'm done, and I solved in another way. But I will have other projects coming up, and I will do the same. 

Basically, I need the insert clip (which I insert in the phone) to maintain resolution, so that I can zoom in on the phone where the inserted clip is. I will do a test with my phone and living room, and upload what you want here. But first I need to know what you need 🙂