EFX Handling the shadows

I have got this shot that i am trying in a new video. Its basically that i left a cam in the same angle and allowed the band to set up 1 by 1.
I spaced them so that i could crop them out and have them fade in while they set up. very old school effect.

The think is that i have cut offs in the shadows. I dont want to eliminate the shadow but i need to cut it out somehow.

Could use motion but i am wondering if it can be done in FCP.

Here is the shot. Notice the keyboardist's shadow.




""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

This is why you shoot in a studio with lighting you can control. Or get big giant silks on huge C-stands to diffuse the light.


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I know but they didn't have the budget.

But i did want the shadows cause i "thought" that i could keep them separate enough for masks. I went ahead and done it in motion. I wish something simple like that could be done efficiently in fcp.

I really would like to roto the performers out for effects but again, they don't have the budget.

Quote
shane
Or get big giant silks on huge C-stands to diffuse the light.

I didn't know what they were called til just now. (c-stands)

I will be going to color in the morning so i will send you a screening before i preview it to the band.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

It looks like you also might have a problem with the lead singer's mic cable intruding into your (screen) left crop...

From what I can see, rotoscope (in the sense of precise, keyframed masking) is not going to be necessary here; you just need to draw a feathered bezier or b-spline to mask out your trouble spots.

If you take the keyboard player's shadow as an example, I'd image if you feathered that out it wouldn't be too noticeable as being cropped. At least you have the advantage of a single-point light source so if you shorten the shadows it just looks like this was shot closer to midday

If I can humbly venture an opinion, if the rotoscoping were needed to fix a shooting issue caused by me (or someone in my employ) I'd be inclined to swallow that cost.

If you're wanting to fix this in FCP (as opposed to AFX or Motion) because you're concerned about its effect on your Color workflow, I'd suggest:

Sending the 3 angles separately to Color (lay them end to end in your prep sequence)
Grade them the same (copy the grade to each) and them render them out (maybe with handles just in case)
Then you can do the comp after the grade (AFX or Motion).

Hope this helps.

P.S. And I know this is advice after the fact but you could have changed the angle of the shadows by rotating the performers and moving the camera.