Star Wars kid 2.0? What software was used?

[brainiac5]

Probably everyone has seen the Star Wars kid video of the teen with a broomstick playing light saber. The footage was edited to look like he was using an "actual" light saber. What kind of software can a novice use to reproduce that effect?

[James S]

The easiest way would be this

use VirtualDub and save the video as an image sequence, save the audio of the video seperately, edit each image in windows paint by drawing over the stick. Open the first image of the image sequence in VirtualDub and this will open all the edited images, then import the audio and just save the video.

The problem with editing videos frame by frame is when they are very small movements you have to watch where you place the light saber effect.Make sure its pretty much as lined up as the rest of the images otherwise it can look jerky, on the other hand since you will be moving the stick alot it wouldnt be noticable.

The harder way would be using adobe premiere but more effective, it just takes some getting used to.

:] those are just my ideas.

EDIT: Editing in Paint can be done for numerous things, one example i would use is putting glasses on one of my Arnold Schwarzenegger videos, that was harder because finding where to place the glasses with each movement of the head caused jerkiness.. but because with the light saber effect you have a stick to base your movements on, it should be smooth. Editing images this way in paint may not sound professional but its an easy way to start, and you can make it look pretty darn good even if it is a simple draw over.

[ItchyPillow]

If lightsabers are all you're looking for, try downloading LSMaker (free lightsaber rotoscoping software). I haven't used it myself (i use after effects for lightsabers), but my friends say that it functions the same as most lightsaber rotoscope methods.