Programs being used:	Adobe PhotoShop 5.0
	Adobe Premiere 5.1

Why? It's the age-old question with Star Wars fan films, how on Earth do you make that damn Hologram effect? I was curious myself so I tried to see if I could do it, and low and behold, I did it!

What is even cooler is, I also managed to figure out a way to add that trippy looking signal interference. What I am going to do here requires that you have Adobe Premiere, and Adobe PhotoShop (I suppose that Adobe After Effects could be used if you don't have PhotoShop, but I don't know about that one, because I don't have AE). I also recommend that you do not use these steps on a slow computer. I only have a P166, and I barely got away with it.

Here we go!

1.) First what you do is film your object/person against a black screen. Try and use black velvet as your backdrop because it doesn't reflect your lighting - MAKE SURE YOUR OBJECT IS WELL LIT!

2.) Open up Adobe Premiere, and capture your footage. Put it all on the time line, and edit the footage as you wish.

3.) If you plan to have dialogue through this sequence, then export the AUDIO as a *.wav file, and keep it somewhere else. If you don't use dialogue in this sequence, then disregard this step.

4.) Export only a segment of your footage as a FILMSTRIP. I would say that you should export it into manageable blocks of 3 seconds each, this way your computer doesn't get swamped. If you have a scene that goes on for a while, I would export all your blocks in one session, one after the other; it might save you a lot of time.

5.) Close Premiere and open up Adobe PhotoShop.

6.) If you have a filter that can create scanlines like me, then you don't have to worry about this step, but if you don't, then what I can suggest is that you look on the net for a set of PhotoShop filters called "Xenofex", or you create a new image with a transparent background 10 pixels wide and 2 pixels tall (and zoom in on it to a decent size). Select your MARQUEE tool, and make the top half of the image (10 pixels wide x 1 pixel tall). Fill that with black.

7.) Select the whole image and go EDIT -> DEFINE PATTERN. Then close this image. Save it if you wish.

8.) Open you filmstrip in PhotoShop, and get rid of the colour. This is done by going IMAGE -> ADJUST -> DESATURATE. You should know have a greyscale series of images.

9.) To make the greyscale object blue (or whatever your colour of preference is), go IMAGE -> ADJUST -> COLOUR BALANCE, and then play around with it until you get the colours you want.

10.) Create a new layer, and call it SCANLINES (or whatever - its just for reference), and then fill it by going EDIT -> FILL, and then select PATTERN from the pull down menu under contents. This should have added the scanlines to your filmstrip.

11.) Flatten the image by going LAYER -> FLATTEN IMAGE. Then save it.

Repeat these steps until all of your shots have the scanlines in them.

To add the wicked signal interference what we have to do is create a new image, about the same size as your frames.

12.) Create the image with a black background. I used the same width as my frames (about 300 pixels), but made the height about 500 pixels.

13.) Get your line tool, and set it to whatever thickness you like - make several line of varied thickness, it looked like that in the films. Draw several white HORIZONTAL lines over your black image. Space them out over a fair distance, don't bunch them up, and don't do too many, but how many you do is completely up to you. SAVE when done.

14.) Close PhotoShop and open Premiere, and import your filmstrip and the image that you have just made with the thicker lines. Make the duration as you like, but I suggest 3 is enough.

15.) Click on your filmstrip with the right mouse button, and select VIDEO -> MOTION.

16.) You can play around here, adjusting the motion settings to what you feel comfortable with, but I have a settings file HERE, that I quite like. Go ahead and try it if you like. When you are done, save these settings and press OK.

17.) Copy this and paste it at the end of the previous one. Trim it down to the length of the shot, this way, the scanning lines loop over, and you will have enough coverage.

18.) Export this as another FILMSTRIP as the same size as your previous filmstrips - Call it INTERFERENCE.

19.) Close Premiere and open PhotoShop. Open you Interference filmstrip and press CTRL - A (select all). Copy it (CTRL - C), and then close the file. Open up your file with the image that you made earlier - the one with your object on a black background, tinted blue, with scanlines running through it. Remember it?

20.) Paste your Interference filmstrip over the top of it.

21.) This would have created a new layer, but you won't be able to see your object underneath, so you have to change its properties. In the LAYERS window, click on the new layer (if not selected already), and change the OPACITY to 50%, and the BLENDING OPTION to COLOUR DODGE.

22.) Flatten the image, SAVE IT! Close down PhotoShop, and open Premiere again. Import that, and put on the timeline, add sound if you want - Dialogue if you have it, export it as an *.avi or whatever format you wish. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Any comments, questions, job offers, love letters, and hate mail should be sent to the following E-Mail address.

dirkdiggler@onetel.net.uk

Good luck in your projects.

Yours truly,
Mark Hedge.