Aaron Virdi Our Specialist Editor Explains How To Do The Clone Effect

The program i used for the cloning technique was Adobe After Effects. The reason i did not used Final Cut Pro was because i was familiar with the available tools and effects. I found After effects more user friendly and it gave me a wider range of tools to work with. Below is the steps.

First i took two shots of me walking to the camera in two different positions (left and right). It was imperative that the camera did not move as the effect would be ruined otherwise. The movement seen in the chase sequence is a effect used.

I then loaded up After Effects and imported both videos. I then clicked the first clip and used the mask tool to choose the range of the character. The yellow square on the picture shows the mask tool and the character range. The mask tool allows the two character to be fused into one video. The still camera allows this to happen as the background is the same for both shots. I timed the two shots to make it look like the clones jumped at the same time.

I then feathered the mask out to make sure it was not visible in the clip, without feathering it would be obvious that the clips were split because there would be a line through the middle of the shot.


Lastly, i exported the clip into avi format and edited in with the other clips using Final Cut Pro and Movie Maker.