How to Digitally Remove an Object From Your Shot

So you've shot your movie. You have the wrap party, recover the next day and then open your footage in your editing platform of choice...then your heart sinks. There's something wrong with your scene that amazingly NONE of the crew on set noticed. Either it's something in the shot that SHOULDN'T be there (a misplaced prop, one of the crew members' water bottles, somebody's reflection in a window) or it's something missing that SHOULD be there (a sign that appeared in one shot but not another, a disappearing prop). These are called "goofs" and cinema is laden with them. Seriously, you'd be surprised just how many of them pop up even in multi-million dollar movies and how obvious they seem once pointed out. Don't believe me? Here's a short list of 10 big ones you probably never noticed.

But once they're baked into your shot, what do you do to fix them? Options are either to reshoot, edit around it or get a magician to make the mistake go POOF! Luckily, some mistakes are easier to fix than others.

Here is one example for you to see: A PSA for Bike Safety that shows a cyclist running through a stop sign. The producer contacted me and asked how difficult it would be to remove the stop sign so the shot would be usable. This video is the answer.

This PSA was produced by the folks at Synndicus.