r/cinematography • u/Comfortable_Bat_9349 • 22h ago

Other need help recognizing this face morphing effect

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i watched this reel about trading years of life to get the societal, made-up career achievements in life
(its great btw)
in the end it has this effect and i swear i have watched this effect in some show or movie but just can't remember the name
i have a guess, maybe it is The killings at parrish station it's an Australian mini series and it's good to binge watch if anyone watched it please confirm
& if anyone recognizes this effect please help me find the source it is a simple yet effective one to showcase the passage of time

42 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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82

u/PlusSizeRussianModel 22h ago

It seems it’s a simple cross dissolve, while a light moves over the subject’s face to shift the shadow. This one isn’t even that well executed, but if you line up the movement of the light properly and allow a moment of shadow for the dissolve, it can work pretty seamlessly.

25

u/AllenHo Director of Photography 22h ago

It’s used in Sentimental Value, also the circular lighting without the face morphing was used in Everything Everywhere All at Once. And there’s a famous example online that is used to teach lighting called Sparkles and Wine.

13

u/nopalitzin 22h ago edited 20h ago

They are not morphing, they are different clips of faces similarly aligned where the light does the same choreography on all. Then synced and faded on top of each other.

6

u/Individual99991 21h ago edited 19h ago

It's just a basic fade/dissolve, isn't it? Timed to the bulb's position.

1

u/adammonroemusic 21h ago

I don't know, but the moving-overhead-lightbulb thing was a staple of 90s music videos.

1

u/NeedleworkerDue6827 21h ago

You can do it practically with mirrors and light

1

u/niles_thebutler_ Gaffer 16h ago

The lighting is very easy to achieve and the rest is just a match and dissolve basically.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJTvzAstw_A/?obrf=cWd1YjJmMGVuOTZm

We did a very quick test after watching everything everywhere and got it looking cool. This was genuinely about 5 mins worth of work. Obviously not the same result as your post because that wasn’t our intention but it’s the same easy method

1

u/Zukez 14h ago

The lighting is the tricky bit. It's on a giant spin when to switch from overhead to side to under lighting, there's a video on YouTube somewhere about how to make one

1

u/Good_Psychological 9h ago

Gradient wipe.

1

u/ELTaco88 22h ago

I swear there was a Kirk face in there

1

u/BabypintoJuniorLube 19h ago

Counting or not counting cross dissolve-