Based on your description, I'd say that it is indeed a keyed effect. You're saying that the speaker is "normal," and the background varries speed? My knowledge is limited, at best, but I would be inclinded to believe this is definitely a key.

You can definitely create a poor man's version of this effect by zooming in the camera as you simultaneously move the camera physically backwards. Or vice versa. Won't be as dramatic, but perhaps the addition of a velocity envelope could create a nice effect.

I have done that type of effect two different ways.

1. First one, I lock down an intersection cross walk shot - I had the Talent move very slowly, painfully slow. Then speed up the footage and the traffic moves fast & the other pedestrians move passed the talent very fast as well.

2. I locked down a shot of a parade going by, rolled about 15 min. Then had a little girl stand in the shot waving a flag. In post I then masked the little girl over the speeded up parade footage. Also did some vector paint out in After Effects. Of course you can time remap the footage slower and back to normal or fast. Over all it’s a lot of frame by frame work.

If you wanted the shot to move with the same effect above - you would want/need computer motion control to match both shots. <$$$

It seems to me like an interesting possibility to Strategic's second method would be to:
shoot your street sceen;
Grab a portable green screen (the type that unfold like a sun visor for a car) shoot your subject in front of your green screen and composite the two together. That way, your lighting will match perfectly - as well as white ballance, etc.

Hi Guys

What exactly do you mean by a "keyed" effect?
Some of the effects I have seen show a "talking head" standing in the street,
whilst the world around him moves at an incredible speed.
Similar to those shots you see of a flowers petals opening in seconds but in actual fact probably took many hours to do so.
I don't think the effect can be bluescreen, because sometimes the surrounding people may pass in front of the talking head.
The lighting and shadows seem to be correct as well.
I know it must be difficult to provide an answer to something that is only being described. I will try to find a link showing an example of what I mean.
Thanks for the info, any other ideas welcomed.

"Keyed" effect refers to chroma key. Yes, the shot you describe was done with the talent in front of a green screen (maybe blue), the background was shot separately, as was the talent passing in front, and the three or more were keyed together--layered. This is used more than most realize!

This is a complicated effect and it is done with keying. You can't do it Vegas alone you will need something like Photoshop and/or Premier then import into Vegas. You must shoot your background scene (what will be moving fast). OK, shooting your subject can be done two ways, with green screen or not. Green screen makes everything much easier. Now if you want people coming up to the subject or going in front or behind fast, they must be shot separately. Now for the long hard work, you can use tracking to quicken your background scene. Your subject will be keyed into that at normal speed. This is where Photoshop comes in. To make everything match you will need to tweak each and every frame. You know like add shadows, soften the lines, ext. This is with a green screen subject. If you don't use Green screen then you will trace and cut out your subject on each frame. If you have people coming up to the subject and going away you'll be using transitions, tailing effect and tracking which can also be done in Photoshop. Each of your saved QuickTime files can be imported into Vegas and then those that need it can be keyed. You also will need to check your size between your subject and background...symmetry is important. This is just quick a tutorial and there are holes which I am sure you can fill in. Good luck and frame shoot and print.