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I am watching Chronicle (2012) and this question just popped into my mind. What techniques are used for filming flying human scenes? Do they always use chroma keying or are there other techniques?

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The primary technique used for flying stunts are wire harnesses and then wire removal. The actors wear a harness which is connected to wires that suspend the actor in mid-air. If the scene is filmed in front of a green screen (chroma keying), then the wires can be removed automatically in most cases, before the background is added. If no chroma keying is used, as in the scene below, then an editor must remove the wires from each frame manually.

example scene

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Chromakeying isn't enough by itself. In a shot with a moving background, removal of the wires needs to have the background restored. Rotoscoping could be used in some cases, but it is cheaper to film against a green screen and composite a moving background – wallyk Jun 9 at 19:43

protected by TylerShads♦ May 9 '12 at 18:55

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