----BEST GREENSCREEN FORMATS/HELP------

R

reelmike

Active member
Hey crew!  Hopefully some of you experts may be able to help.  I have a client who is looking to shoot and composite the open of a travel tv series on a green screen.  

I am directing this series and I am a little leary of doing the green-screen open.  Can any of you please give me ideas on what format would be most recommended?  MiniDV, of course is 4:1:1 meaning getting a clean key could be very difficult.  I know good lighting is the key. What format should we consider?

I would appreciate any comments or input from those who have greenscreen experience.  

Also, has anybody worked with Digital Fusion for compositing?  Any feedback?
 
Re: ----BEST GREENSCREEN FORMATS/HELP------

All other things being equal, the higher the color sampling, the better the key you'll be able to get.

35mm film, scanned to 4k digital files, will provide by far and away the best source for keying from. That, or HDCAM SR, with its 4:4:4 sampling option.

Next to that, VariCam or Digital Betacam or SDX900 footage, using 4:2:2 color sampling.

After that, probably HDCAM, with its 3:1:1 color sampling.

After that, maybe BetaSP, but it depends on what you digitize it as -- if you transfer it to DV and edit in DV, you'll lose all the benefit of having shot BetaSP in the first place (i.e., the BetaSP bandwidth, which approximates 3:1:1, would get transferred to DV at 4:1:1 and lose the higher color sampling).

Whichever you use, you cannot edit it in DV format or you'll lose the color sampling benefits you'd gained by shooting on the better format in the first place.
 
Re: ----BEST GREENSCREEN FORMATS/HELP------

We do a ton of green/bluescreen work. We either shoot BetaSP or 16mm film transfered to BetaSP.
 
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