greenscreen/turning background solid black

W

watson

Well-known member
hey got a question. Has anyone ever shot in front of a green screen and then keyed out the green and just left a black background? I'm getting ready to shot a music video next week in which the goal is to have the singer against a complete black background. I need to shot some other shots in front of a green screen for the video so i was wondering if i could shot the singer then key out the background. Any forseen problems? Any suggestions on camera settings? Any input would be hlepful. thanks a ton

andrew
 
It may not be pretty...

It may not be pretty...

You'll probably want to shoot a lot of those black background scenes against an actual black background whenever possible, then intercut the greenscreen stuff when necessary. The fringing that you'll see around your subject will literally scream against the black background you add in post. Grey or some mid-value color would probably be better, but I understand you're going for a look and feel.

Such are the limitations of green screen and MiniDV.

Make sure the green screen is as evenly lit and smoothly constructed as possible. The more uniform the green screen, then less edge-pixel information you'll have to throw away in order to extract your subject. The color space is so limited...

Here's a page I found on the topic:
http://www.film-and-video.com/broadcastvideoexamples-greenscreen.html

On the other hand, maybe go the other way and make it look as fake as possible - could be funny and perhaps more engaging.

Good luck!
 
wjm is right. Shoot as much stuff in front of actual black as possible. I've done it both ways, and shooting in front of black, at least on dv, is a lot better. On the other hand, if you have to use the greenscreen, I would recommend you use the Keylight plugin in AE to do your keying. The "black clip" tool in that plugin will save you a lot of pain.
 
Use a black background. Get your talent as far away from the BG as possible and flag your lights so that they are just on you talent. Crush the blacks in post and it'll make the black look like a void.
 
fixitinpost said:
On the other hand, if you have to use the greenscreen, I would recommend you use the Keylight plugin in AE to do your keying. The "black clip" tool in that plugin will save you a lot of pain.
Click to expand...

Only if you don't have a keyer specifically made for DV like DV Matte Pro, which is a true 3 pass keyer.
 
True. I had forgotten about DV Matte. It's a very good program.

When keying, I also throw a loose mask around whatever I'm keying out so that I don't have to wory about tweaking the whole frame, when the data I want to keep is only in one part of it.
 
If you do a garbage matte for a quick intermediate, be sure you use absolute black during final rotoscoping.

e
 
Since the green can be removed , I thought we can see what is behind it so if
the dress is .................. wow!
 
hey guys, thanks for you comments and jokes, i decieded to NOT shot in front of a greenscreen expect for the shots where it is needed. I just brought a lot of black frabic to create a black background. I think this will work best. Now another question. Since i'm trying to get the background a solid black do you think it is a good idea to turn up the master ped in the camera or just handle it in post? If i have time, i may try to do a test tonight. thanks again.

andrew
 
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