How To Have One Actor Play Multiple Characters

[@matheusmariani3108]

For a while I had planned a series of skits where a guy has the power to create clones of himself and uses it to do chores, but they start getting either invested in the original one's life or they are upset with their chores. Now, with proper editing and mentoring of yours, dreams can come true!

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Oh fun idea! Yes do it!

[@joelmwara7690]

Who also is here in 2024 learning this?? It hasn't been easy for me to understand how it's done, but now I am satisfied with it.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

@@joelmwara7690 the beauty of movie magic. 😊 Thanks for watching!

[@dionkelly8420]

What about a video where all the characters are played by one person, but the characters all interact and move around? In "NUTTY PROFESSOR 2" during the family dinner scene, there's a long tracking shot where Mama Klump (Eddie Murphy) walks to the table past Ernie Klump Sr and Sherman Klump (also Eddie Murphy), then lowers her plate for Papa Klump (also Eddie Murphy) to take several beef ribs off the plate, then she sits down and they all start their meal.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Great question! For something like that they probably either used some green screen or they had a motorized camera that could do the same programmed shot multiple times and thus would shoot it each time for each character. The principles with eyeliner and comping would still be the same though.

[@dionkelly8420]

@@Film_It_Yourself Does it take a while to get used to talking to tennis balls on poles, or basically acting with other people who really aren't there, especially for beginners or people who haven't done it before? Singer Janet Jackson said in "NUTTY PROFESSOR 2" during scenes with 3 or 4 characters played by Eddie Murphy, she spent a lot of time acting and responding to either a tennis ball or an "X" on a flag. And also ruined a lot of good takes while on set because she couldn't stop laughing so hard.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

I’m sure it would take a while for an inexperienced actor (don’t forget Janet Jackson isn’t really an actor) but I’ve found most actors are totally fine with it. After all actors have big imaginations and a lot of acting exercises require them to basically pretend. Plus now a days they are very used to green screen environments.

[@classicalretroback]

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity of how the hell multiple characters are pulled off.😍🎯💪🏽👏🏽

[@Film_It_Yourself]

No problem! Thank you so much for watching!

[@ninjadude17]

I was looking for a video to explain how they pulled off the multiple character trick in Back to the Future part 2. This helped and even shows the techniques they used to pull it off.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Happy to help! Great film example of it too!

[@dionkelly8420]

Now you know how EDDIE MURPHY does it. Except he can also talk in several different voices. Lots of people still don't know it was him also playing the elderly Jewish guy in COMING TO AMERICA. He also played a mock RICHARD SIMMONS in THE NUTTY PROFESSOR.

[@wolfgangkiernan1497]

Check out Martin or United States Of Tara

[@ade_inspire]

This is the video i have been looking for . Thanks

[@Film_It_Yourself]

No prob! Happy to help!

[@naickapierre-louis5282]

I WAS CRYING WHEN IT WORKED

[@patrickgamble9014]

Hi I like this idea - I wrote a comedy Horror short that went good in some contests which centers on three identical sisters who differ in hair style, dress but all have supernatural abilities. Success of such a short largely relies on how good a single actor can pull off multiple roles so it rests largely on talent but while the screen division works for couch and conference room scenes for most scenes you need a body double to take all those over the shoulder or where whilst walking down a hall together or in a car you catch the others arm etc. Mark Ruffalo did a great job playing two brothers in "I Know This Much Is True", where one brother was a lot heavier and used body doubles effectively. There are probably a couple of scenes where there is the screen separation but the bulk require portions of the body double shown to give the audience the impression the characters are different people. Tatiana Gabriele Maslany plays multiple characters in Orphan Black - so its always good to check out movies and shows that have been successful and have had one actor playing multiple parts to see how they tackled it.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Totally! And great point about the actor having to be able to pull it off! It's definitely a major challenge for them.

[@esthersignal6302]

Sir do you write comedy skits content?

[@mehakydv6546]

Thank you so much for this usefull tip.👍✌️

[@Film_It_Yourself]

No prob! Thank you for watching!

[@Got2LoveWillow]

Great tips! How do you record a voiceover between two characters but have one character sound like they're in the same room?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! I’d recommend consulting a sound person for this and using the same mic you used when recording in the physical room. You’d then probably need a great sound engineer who could match them.

[@Got2LoveWillow]

@@Film_It_Yourself Thank you I appreciate your help :)

[@MotorSwapDan]

Awesome video thank you

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Thanks for watching!

[@steinbrenner5337]

Well, I told I will be play only one character, maybe it is hard to practising someone to play character from my idea. So I get caught this attention to this video than can play more than 1 character. Feels like I can make movie what I want. 🎥🎬❤❤

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Oh awesome!! Good luck with your film!

[@Dimitris_Gazis_PIANO]

What about the conversation the right timing ?

[@DKs_youniverse]

Wowwwwww what an amazing tip!! Thank for this video mam. God bless you always.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

No prob! Thanks for watching!

[@joelminyila7956]

The nutty prof was 😂❤

[@Quaion_17]

I did this before for the first time

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Oh! How did it go?

[@DanielWalser]

Hi, I like your video a lot and it helps making my own projects. But I have one question. How you know, when you react to your double character. How you know when to answer? Thanks for your reply.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi Daniel! Great question. So you’ll want to have someone else there to read the other lines for your actor. It’s best if that person has acting experience so the actor being filmed can have something to react to. Hope that helps!

[@tunkunrunk]

wow ! exactly what I need . I have one actor only , and don't want to hire others . But I'm using Proshow Gold from photodex , can I do it with that video editing software ?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! Yep you totally can! You can learn how here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrIeHh7ntSLfMk

[@oyetoufik]

Can you give me with practical way to close up and two character how to it? its shooting on camera to close or editing zoom?

[@lucasball4715]

How do you make each character have distinct voices? The same person, but the voice is so different people assume it is two different people.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi Lucas! Great question. There’s two ways you could do it. You could either cast an actor that has the ability to do different voices (for example voice actors are very skilled at this) or you could film the scenes and then after the fact record another actor’s voice that syncs up to the original actor’s performance. This is called ADR or Automated dialogue replacement. To do this, have the second actor watch playback of the finished scene and record them to match and dub the scene.

[@venesoespaniorpromilamoolivja]

thanks it rearly worked for my acting compony

[@Film_It_Yourself]

So glad it helped! 😊

[@sharifeady6834]

Nice!!! Do you have a video of you actually editing the shots in post?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! Thanks for watching. I don’t exactly have that but I go over the basic editing steps here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrIeHh7ntSLfMk

[@Film_It_Yourself]

I also have this video going over my complete editing workflow: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5iklqWefdV_fMU

[@sharifeady6834]

@@Film_It_Yourself Thank you kindly!!

[@Film_It_Yourself]

No prob!

[@TheDailyMemesShow]

This is gold. I appreciate your input so much that its value is akin to me being a flower which is feeling that refreshing mist coming out of your true love for your craft that leads me to maintain my unique fragrance, my attractive shape and color 😊 Thanks for your help!❤ P.S. Rejoice! If it pays off, in the end, I'll let them know (i.e.: "show, don't tell" method 😉), then abundance galore... I know you don't understand what I'm talking about now, but you will get it later, I promise ❤🎉✨🙏💪😎🗝️

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Glad I could help!

[@mumblaff]

This is so helpful and fun thank you! I am doing something with 3 characters but they all are wearing masks so I'm wondering if the eyeline tennis balls are necessary?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Great question! If you can still see their eyes then yes. If you can’t you can probably get away without it, just make sure they are still all facing the right direction.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Also if they are wearing masks that cover their face you could probably get away with having other actors play them and dubbing over them.

[@mumblaff]

@@Film_It_Yourself Can't see the eyes so copy that!

[@mumblaff]

@@Film_It_Yourself Great point!! thank you so much!

[@GeminiK4]

congratulations on your sundae win keep going your awesome

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Thank you so much!! 😊

[@dionkelly8420]

You should do a movie playing 5 or 10 characters. Not enough women do any movies playing multiple characters. Why is that? So far LILY TOMLIN and LINDSAY LOHAN are the only well known women who did it.

[@tweetybird1480]

How do we do something like what you had a the very beginning of your video, where you popped in? Would you make a video on that? Thank you.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hello there! Thanks for watching. I already have. 😊 You can watch it here: Filmmaking Q&A - How To Multiply Yourself In A Video kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIrIeHh7ntSLfMk

[@tweetybird1480]

@@Film_It_Yourself thank you. I'll check it out now.

[@NishKeNavras]

amazing video but i might require bit more help then this , my idea is not of round table its kind different and i believe your're the right person to ask for help

[@NishKeNavras]

if you may please provide a mail id i can share brief there.

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! You can find my email address on the about tab. Thanks!

[@adamreutgen4575]

Jim Carey is playing dr robotnik and Gerald robotnik in sonic 3

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Oh yeah! Great example! He’s so good. 😊

[@priyajhaveri2671]

Which editor can be used for this ??

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! Great question. Most video editing programs can do the simple person of this. I used Premiere Pro. However when you have characters crossing in front of other characters then you’ll need to do some rotoscoping in programs like After Effects. Hope that helps!

[@joelminyila7956]

Pls wat app do u use to edit ur videos

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hello there! Thanks for watching! I use Adobe Premiere Pro.

[@rejavaparva5363]

What about for instance in norbit whetn two characters touch each other? How could eddie play that?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Ah great question! I haven’t seen that film but I’m guessing they used a body double (someone who looked very similar build and face wise) and then also used CGI to put the other actor’s face on the body double. Or they did a lot of rotoscoping.

[@rejavaparva5363]

@@Film_It_Yourself thank you very much for a reply

[@Film_It_Yourself]

No prob!

[@tubasaur]

4:53 - why does her hat turn into a side ponytail?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! They are two different characters. I could see how in this it might be confusing but in the actual film it’s not. 😊

[@kylestoutzBCF]

How do they do it with a moving image tho🥲😭

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! Do you mean like camera movement?

[@survivalguidetolifepodcast]

This is so cool!!!!

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Thank you!

[@real1stxc19]

How would this work for being in a car?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

If you did a two shot through a windshield you could do the same idea of splitting the screen down the middle. Then for over the shoulders inside the car you could get a shoulder double.

[@G_tide]

What app to use please

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hi there! I used Premiere and After Effects for this.

[@G_tide]

@@Film_It_Yourself thank you

[@krishnabalan5675]

What the name for one person multiple role

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Like what’s it called? I’m not sure there’s an official name for it.

[@aikonography]

How to do this on tiktok haha

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Hello there and great question! I found this handy article that explains how to do it: filmora.wondershare.com/video-editing-tips/best-free-clone-yourself-apps.html

[@smileywizzay559]

I neeed a lot of help from you 😔

[@Film_It_Yourself]

I’m here for you! 😊

[@smileywizzay559]

@@Film_It_Yourself yes need to start working with you properly 🔥🔥

[@EnglishwithMotivation]

9

[@dionkelly8420]

Does this video make you wish you really had 5 twin sisters? Or could be sextuplets?

[@Film_It_Yourself]

Haha right? Actually the footage in this video is from a short film I did where that actress plays seven different characters all talking to each other. 😊 It was quite a feat to shoot! And yes! It’s so amazing what Eddie Murphy can do!

[@dionkelly8420]

@@Film_It_Yourself I was beginning to think this art form was dying being that so many big name talented actors rarely ever make movies playing multiple characters other than Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Tyler Perry, Lily Tomlin, and Lindsay Lohan. Jennifer Lopez was said to have played 8 characters in the music video to her song GET RIGHT, but she never did that in her movies yet. Jamie Foxx never did that in his movies, and Martin Lawrence hasn't done it enough in his movies.

[@officialcallistostudios1gh]

🥰🥰🥰🥰