How to CLONE yourself with a moving camera! | Video editing VFX tutorial

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Steve Ramsden here from DIY Moviemaking and this week I’m going to show you how to create a clone effect with a moving camera, even if you’re working with a low budget! and in case you were wondering, no green screen was used, just masking and roto brush!

So a clone effect where the camera doesn’t move is the most basic version of this effect possible. Buster Keaton was doing this 100 years ago and it’s very easy for you to do as well. Just put your phone or camera on a tripod, appear in one side of the frame acting one role, move to the other side and act the other role, and then line up the two shots on top of eachother in your edit program and crop off the side of one of the shots. You usually get better results with a softened or feathered edge, and as long as you don’t move around much nobody notices the join.

But the real clever development was when people worked out how to do this effect using motion control, and this is the sort of shot you can see in films like Back To The Future 2 and 3 and The Man in the Iron Mask, where you would still have one actor playing two parts, but the camera would be programmed to do exactly the same movement every time (ILM used the VistaGlide in BTTF). Different parts of the shots could then be cut out to make the joins difficult to spot, and suddenly, the fact that the camera is moving stops your brain from looking for that join and you believe the end result much more.

Now if you’re thinking you need an expensive motion control system to try this effect yourself, you don’t, and I’m going to show you my fun way of attempting this effect on a serious budget.

I’ve worked out a way of getting a pretty good result using noting but a fairly cheap camera slider which is just a rail that you push your phone or camera along manually. If you set one end of the slider a little lower, the camera will roll down a slight gradient and you can basically use gravity to get the same movement again and again. All you have to do is to get a friend to let go of the camera when you want the move to begin.

Now although we can get the camera to slide on its own, it won’t be able to pan or tilt, and so we will need to add any other camera movements artificially when we edit. So for this reason, frame the shot a bit wider than what you will need, and ideally film in a higher resolution as well. I shot in 4K as I was going to make the finished shot in HD.

So in this video I’m going to show you two versions of this DIY motion control clone effect - firstly a basic version where the figures stay still and don’t overlap, and secondly a more difficult version where they move around and they do overlap. I’m building these shots in Adobe After Effects and as usual I’m just going to give a quick overview of my editing, but if you want to learn every single process I am using from scratch in full detail, you can of course check out my After Effects Essentials course, and the link to learn more about that is above.

▼ Timestamps ▼
00:00 Intro
01:32 DIY motion control
02:23 Two versions
02:53 Basic version
04:44 Difficult version
12:07 Finished result

[Karanbastola]

He is not only good at editing but also at acting😁😁

[wruypjm]

This is absolutely amazing! You got great attention to details and I also love that you try to incorporate some sort of story to your visual effects, great work!

[TonyVic]

Definitely, the best cloning video I've seen. Especially with the movement in front of the clone image.

[AnimationGoneWrong]

Steve, another outstanding how-to! Thanks for making these. It goes to show it doesn't take a huge budget or fancy camera equipment to pull off some really fantastic VFX. All the best for 2022!

[ISRAADVISUALS]

That gravity trick was soo smart of you..i would never think of that

[masanarisasaki]

First time to comment. You really break it down in a clear and easy to follow flow and in a very short time!!! I usually don’t use after effects but your video made me want to give it a shot. Thank you for all the hard work you put into this.

[mr.antzstudios]

you are the only youtube channel who make cinema quality effects in small period of time.

[WilliamAmyot]

Man, Every episode from you is fantastic. Worth the wait, every time.

[supermansteve]

This is absolutely outstanding. So time consuming but absolutely incredible.

[RamanKT]

If I was in the industry I'd definjtely choose u to work with, you seem proffessional and fun to work with, keep it up you're amazing!

[daviddoch]

a great teacher, teaches to understanding, my goto

[clonkex]

That shoulder shadow was great! I actually think the second shadow would have looked much more realistic if it didn't move linearly. When the walking character moved in front of the lamp, his shadow should have swished across the standing character faster than the walking character was walking.

[TheMusicRecordingNetwork]

Nothing I can say to make my comment stand But you are the best explainer and this shot is the #1 best thing I have seen on YouTube period. I do a lot of doubles and everyone know its split screen. So I really need to master this.

[kod]

Great content, I don’t use Adobe anymore, but I appreciate your work and ideas. Thank You!

[RandyBass]

Great stuff as always!!! Love the gravity trick for the camera. Really.
One thing though, is the shadow of standing man on the back left wall. It's gone. So when the gunman walks between the light and standing man, the shadow shows up where there should already be a shadow (from standing man).
12:22
You can see the shadow disappear as you change the opacity.
7:03
I only mention it because it stood out to me, but as I said, LOVE the whole idea and love the low budget approach even more!!!
Thanks Steve!!

[HikingWithCooper]

You’re right, the shadows sold it. I find that “undesirable” things like shadows or debris really takes off that cgi cleanliness. I’ve done similar fx using a cheap motorized slider that also pans but it’s cool to see even cheaper ways to do things. Also, I’ve used ae for about 5 minutes total but your explanation makes it feel pretty approachable. A lot of the processes translate really well from Resolve.

[thandekasibango]

You are a great teacher Sir, now i can start making movies from a low budget

[thelthrythquezada]

its you from like 3 years ago for me. @ 12:42 I remember that clip

[LilDevyl]

Found you through Recommendation. Adding you to my List to help improve my editing!

[adrianostudios]

You should do a muzzle flash tutorial and great work