This was a series of spots we did for 2C Media out of Miami. Chris Sloan and his crew came up with the concept, editing and writing. They supplied an EDL for us to online in HD. The project consisted of 2 main composites.

If you've ever watched Everybody Loves Raymond, you have probably seen the episode where Marie backs her car right through Ray's front door. For the promo we were to remove the car and replace it with different versions of the MyNetwork logo (9 in all). The shots were exported out of FCP and converted into filmstrip files. This allowed for precise mattes to be generated for the removal of the vehicle. Now there are may ways of doing this removal, and I chose to go the Photoshop route because it was easier for me to crunch through the mattes. I'm not a fan of After Effects (AE) roto tools & Imagineer Systems Mocha was not available to me at the time. Either way this is a great time to mention, as with everything, depending on who you ask you'll get 10 different answers on how to do something. Higher end tools are available to make this job easier but it all comes down to time and resources..and frankly what you feel comfortable using.

Debris was shot in our insert stage (Thanks Terrance) while the client worked on rough 3d logos for the composite. We were on a 2 week schedule, so a lot of placeholders (proxies) were used to continue the build until final elements were signed off on. I built the basic motion for the logos using a proxie attached to a null object. This allowed for quick swap outs and position changes for logos that differed in size. Lighting and texture mapping were done on the proxie and the settings were later applied to the logos supplied by the client.

With the car now removed we were left with a hole to fill. I scoured the raw footage from the episode to collect enough reference materials to paint in the missing areas (Only painting what was going to be visible). Each shot was tracked in AE and the motion was applied to base. Above you can see the composite base and logo placed in for lighting reference. Right below that is the footage with the roto mattes applied. Stack em together and we're in business.

A lot of dust was kicked up when the car crashed in on the original shot. Particular was used to generate additional dust & smoke to help conceal some of the matte edges. While not perfect it did help blend the plates together a little better. Below you'll find a composite breakdown movie.

I do want to point out, there was an additional composite scene that was a last minute discovery. I say "discovery" because Everybody Loves Raymond was shot with 16x9 in mind, but the chase we were supplied was the original 4x3 transfer. As is the case with many projects, we'll work from an offline edit until master materials are located from the clients archives (CBS Distribution) In the CU reaction shot there was a door in frame (just out of 4:3) that needed to be removed. The shot was tracked and the area was filled with reference. I was happy with the results.

|Promax Gold Winner in Promotion & Marketing
Everybody Loves Raymond "Crash"

Credits:
David LaFountaine - Executive Producer - CBS Television Distribution
Chris Carson - Executive Producer - CBS Television Distribution
Darren Morgan - Executive Producer - CBS Television Distribution
Chris Sloan - Producer - 2C Media
Spencer Condon - Producer, Editor - 2C Media
Nel Santiago - Compositing, Online - Hothaus Creative

Tags: Everybody Loves Raymond | CBS Television Distribution | C4D | After Effects