Green screen question

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
I need to shoot on a green screen for an effect and only need the location for about 30 minutes - the film footage is only about 45 second

I just received the cost of using a green screen in a studio in New Zealand and it is ouch!!!!! - $1200!

I was wondering - why can't I just shoot on a green paper since I don't need any talents in front of it?

Feed back
 
Get some REAL Greenscreen fabric from Ebay (between 50 and 100 bucks), check out some online greenscreen tutorials and your done.

If you have After Effects or something like that it´s no problem.

Frank
 
Hi,

If you have a local paint store with some paint samples check this small tutorial on making a greenscreen. It's dated, but still workable and pretty easy to do and quite inexpensive.

Good luck!
 
http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=109612

Great info on green screen paint.

I second the notion of good fabric though - www.eefx.com carries IMO the best stuff available - it's foam-backed, very non-reflective and wrinkles disappear very quickly after you've set it up - biggest PLUS... You can pack it up and take it with you - sometimes very hard with a painted background.

Really quick (30 minutes) is quicker than you probably want, considering what you may have to shoot and lighting it properly for a good key.

Paper works fine - look for a bright green apple or something to that degree. I've also used green apple flannel from WalMart here in the states - worked really well too.

cheno
 
Hi,

Fabric is a great portable option.

Lighting is key - pun not intended...

The color space is important. I've found that HDV is better than DV, but I might be kidding myself. DVCPro is a breeze.

Good luck!
 
any serious film maker will simply paint their lounge wall green :)

I recently bought a collapsible greenscreen hoop about 1.2 metres wide, with changeable colours (green, blue, silver and gold) from a camera store - as I mostly do animation with small puppets, that suits me fine.

Interesting point, Mike - I'd heard the opposite, as HDV is supposedly more compressed...
 
clang said:
Interesting point, Mike - I'd heard the opposite, as HDV is supposedly more compressed...
Click to expand...

It is more compressed (5:1 for DV, 32:1 for HDV), but instead of 4:1:1, it's also in 4:2:0 color space.

There would be other things at work, too. Namely how the key was made - what software was used. Some software 'promotes' the content to 4:2:2 (Edius) or 4:4:4 (Matrox hardware) on the timeline to give a boost to the effect. There are different techniques and methodologies that NLEs use that make a difference in how they handle content.

When someone gives advice to how something is done, they need to frame their words in that context.

I think I've noticed, when all things are considered and being equal, that my HDV footage's chroma key has looked a 'little' better. But I'm also willing to admit that I've been doing it a bit longer, too. So, It's possible I'm a bit better at lighting and a bit more patient with lighting. :engel017:

I know the DVCPro is better.
 
yeah, I suspect good lighting and practice using greenscreen software tools has far more impact than SD vs. HDV - certainly my greenscreening has improved tremendously over the last couple of years
 
clang said:
yeah, I suspect good lighting and practice using greenscreen software tools has far more impact than SD vs. HDV - certainly my greenscreening has improved tremendously over the last couple of years
Click to expand...

but hdv helps in that process.
My first greenscreen shot was shot with a cheap handycam (pain in the ass, lots of rotoscoping), second one, hv20 and better lights result better key (at least didn't have to do much roto). You can see both of them in my sig.

I think that the best is to buy a greenscreen fabric and try it at home before the shot, practising really helps.
 
Mike is right - HDV is more compressed in colour-space terms and doesn't have the same colour depth as DVCpro (the HD is 4:2:2).
Count yourselves lucky - i'm in the middle of rotoscoping over 500 frames of footage, it's a nightmare! That said, the footage was shot on a high-end Sony with Panny lenses so the image is rather pin sharp. If it had been shot on greenscreen it would have taken about an hour!

On the subject of greenscreen, lighting is indeed the main event here, you need to make sure you have an even spread of light on the green so you can key it out easier, otherwise you will have to work harder to pull the image out. A caveat - even if the lighting wasn't great, and i knew i wanted to pull an image out, i'd have the greenscreen in, and then roto the rest.
 
b.soysal said:
If you plan to use fabric, you should choose something matte. Shiny ones ruin keying.
Click to expand...

same goes for paint. get the flattest paint you can.

eggshell, satin or semi-gloss will bounce way too much green back onto your talent causing keying issues.
 
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