Removing a distraction from video

dragonblade wrote on 10/22/2015, 5:46 PM

Last night, I was reviewing some GoPro footage of mine that I was considering including in a short film that I'm planning to submit to a film festival. There's this pan of a rather scenic landscape (really attractive location) but in the background is a blue aluminium water bottle. Although it's far away, it's really distracting and sticks out like a sore thumb. For still photographs, the logical thing to do would be to take the images into Photoshop and clone the distraction out. I don't suppose Sony Movie Studio has any such capabilities? If not, would there be any software (that could do such a thing or alternatively convert video frames into photo files) that I could download as a free trial?

Comments

D7K wrote on 10/23/2015, 12:30 AM

Perhaps the Bcc wire remover might work very easy for you ,(if the item is small enough, you can make it "go away" with this included Suite 13 plugin).

Chienworks wrote on 10/23/2015, 7:34 AM

Using the Cookie Cutter effect and placing two copies of the video on the timeline can do exactly the same thing as cloning. You can "punch a hole" through the video where the bottle is with Cookie Cutter and let the second copy show through that hole Offset the second copy either in space (shove it up, down, left, or right), or in time by having it play a few moments earlier or later. This will allows a portion of the image that does not contain the bottle to replace the spot where the bottle is.

Now, a few caveats ... if your pan is completely steady then this is super easy. However, if the pan changes speed or direction you'll have to use keyframes to keep the same alternative spot centered in your hole, or else the changing contents of that hole will be more distracting than the bottle.

Also, with the Cookie Cutter, you'll have to adjust the size, position, and feathering of the hole to make a pleasing blend with the surroundings.