Greenscreen work

F

FilmBoy77

Veteran
if i wanted to do some simple believeable green screen work is it best to use FCP or just invest in Shake?

also, what type of are is best to use the actual green screen? a garage?

i'm completely green on this subject if anybody has any links that could help that'd be cool.

:thumbup:
 
With plug ins like dvmatte FCP can be OK...

I've used AE and the plugin "Keylight" and got some decent results. Google and you can find tons of links... but if you have lights already, I woudl suggest dropping $50 for a 10x10 green screen on eBay, and testing it for yourself.

Obvisouly the larger the studio/work area you have the better results you will have since you need space for depth and light positioning.

Add a rim light (edge of shoulder/head light from behind) to help separate your subject form your key. Keep you subject as far away as possible from the key to avoid light spill. Shoot in the highest resolution and color space you can for the best key.

If you decide to use AE and Keylight, check this out: http://www.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/junk_mattes/index.html
 
I've pulled many keys with just DV Garage's matte blast. Bottom line is perfect lighting. If the lighting sucks there's no keyer in the world that will do a decent job.

Noah
 
you'll be fine using FCP's keyer with proper lighting. What you'll b fighting in a garage is echo in your audio. Hang plenty of blankets to deaden it.
If you have AE, as suggested, keylight is great.
 
thanks guys, i'm on the fence between Shake and AE. Being that i already have FCP studio would it be better to just get Shake? If I get AE will i need the additional plugin/program called Automatic Duck?
 
Both Shake and AE come with Keylight built in so you wouldn't need anything additional. Shake is actually a bit cheaper. Bottom line is which one you prefer to use.

Noah
 
oh okay i though keylight was a seperate program.

when using greenscreen is there a good place where i can buy stock footage that takes the place of the greenscreen?

if i wanted to have a character appear to have telekentic powers by moving simple objects around in his living room how would i go about doing that?

i just looked at somebody's reel in the HVX section where he had a scene where it appeared as a car was being tossed in the air and about to hit somebody. didnt look high budget but looked beliveable. how can you achieve something like that?
 
Serious Magic has some pretty cool backgrounds called Master Sets, they're pricey, but may be what you're looking for. See this youtube video where we drop in a fake newsroom. http://youtube.com/watch?v=O4zU2LU_g5s

DV Matte over at DVgarage.com works pretty well, hopefully they update it soon to be real time and take better advantage of the GPU.
 
It depends on how you're shooting. I'm shooting my green screen stuff in DVCPRO50 on the HVX, and it's really easy to pull clean believable keys in FCP with that. However if you're shooting in DV you'll tear your hair out trying to get a clean key and some of the alternatives mentioned here would be worth checking out.

I use FCP's chroma keyer with my HVX, using cheap plastic green screen material bought at tubetape.com for $15 each (5x10 feet) and virtual backgrounds from virtualsetworks.com ... here's a sample:

http://www.nevercoldcall.com/realestate
 
You can use Motion to pull a fast and decent chromakey aswel.
You won't need Shake unless you do difficult stuff like glass and poofy hair. Altough the level of control combining the Primatte and Keylight keyers in Shake is amazing...
 
I've done believable keys using a portable greenscreen from b&h and posted on avid dv. as long as you light your background to about 80 IRE and make sure it's smoothly lit...no shadows, no hot spots, you should be good to go. Make sure you don't bounce your green onto your subject.

once you've got your footage simply apply a chroma key and use the color picker to select the green from your shot. Make sure this is on track 2 and then lay your background on track 1.

good luck!
 
One tip I've seen that I'm going to try is to use a low-power backlight (like 50w or so) with a magenta gel ... magenta is the opposite color to chroma-key green and this technique is supposed to completely eliminate spill.

On backgrounds, virtualsetworks.com has a ton, or just Google "virtual sets" and you'll find more than you'll ever need :-)
 
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