Duplicating an actor in a video??

Question

Hello, I've been trying to figure out the precise settings for being able to duplicate an actor in a video interacting with himself.  I've tried asking around and have been able to narrow it down to this process:
1. import videos from the exact same camera positions.
2. make an additional track, put a title in there
3. Now make a black and white field, this will select what is visible from each video. the best choice is a radient
4. then use the keying effect Track matte, on the upper video, you have to test where white and black in the title must be set it on lumiance and select the 3 video.
5. done
These were the instructions provided to me, but I don't quite follow them.  I have my videos imported into premiere, I've made the title track, and this is where I get lost.  I"m not sure what is meant by a "black and white field", and i've not quite grasped the concepts of the track matte yet either, but i'm still playing around with it.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Yes, light and also space can be issues.
While I have a really full lighting kit, I have pressed quartz utility lights into service. These are available from most hardware stores, are light, relatively inexpensive and highly portable. Now, I'd look for ones with lower-wattage bulbs, as you'll likely have to plug in a couple to the same circuits. Having some good extension cords to "split" your lights to other circuits can be very helpful.
Now, those utility lights have a similar, fairly "hard" reflector, often parabolic and silver. I'd look into a bit of diffusion on those. Unlike, say a Lowel Omni, where you can swap out the reflector, and also move the bulb closer to/farther away from it, those lights are fixed. I like a drafting medium, Herculean, available in rolls from drafting/engineering supply (and some art and office) stores. It's very color neutral, and can be mounted to say 1x1 wooden frames. Now, you'll likely want some sort of stand for these, but often you can use a large spring clamp (hardware store again) to affix these to say a chair.
Roscoe produces many heat-resistant forms of diffusion. My Lowel kit has special mounting brackets for sheets of Rosco Diffusion material.
Remember too, that the farther the diffusion material is from the light source, the softer the light will be - BUT the farther away, the larger the diffusion sheet will need to be, so that hard light does not spill around it - barndoors help here, but I have never seen any utility lights with barndoor.
Just some thoughts, and good luck,
Hunt
Message was edited by: the_wine_snob - Added more detail on diffusion