How to shoot ipod style silhouettes of dancers (full body), without a greenscreen ?

P

PTank

New member
Hello

I'm trying to recreate this sort of thing:

http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/detail.aspx?sid=650

But - if I can avoid hiring greenscreen studio space, I will. (It seems like overkill, since all I want is silhouettes).

But it needs to be full body. And the trickiest thing I'd imagine will be feet shadows.

Has anyone got ideas of how this can be best achieved without a greenscreen cyc?

Thanks!
 
^ I agree with Kyle.
I guess it could also be done on a white cyc, and lit well enought (also nobody can wear white) you can maybe pull a luma key, removing the white, and then just crush everything that remains into a "silouette"... But green screen is a better key pull than luma.
 
Thanks for the good advice guys.

I can get a white cyc pretty cheap. So leaning towards this.

Perhaps I can crunch the levels, and use 'screen' overlay mode in AE - rather than a luma key. Perhaps combined with a low tolerance luma key to act as a sort of safety matte (internal to the silhouette).
What do you think?

I've still got to get my head around lighting the floor to kill shadows. (Which I think might be just as much of an issue if I shot greenscreen.)
Edit: Actually, perhaps I can shoot floor level lights from the side and behind the subject right at the subjects feet. So when they lift their feet, the lighting shines through - thereby killing the shadows.
 
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"I can get a white cyc pretty cheap. So leaning towards this."

I wish I could. The one GOOD full cyc in my town (floor, ceiling, and if you go wide enough to need it the two side walls) rents for $450 per half day. You can rent a floor only one that may or may not need fresh paint for the shoot for $150 per half day.
 
The plan is to do a luma key. Shooting into a well lit white cyc, with additional low lights from behind talent shooting through the feet to fill shadows whenever feet are a few inches from the ground. No direct lighting on talent.

A Canon EOS 60D seems to be the most cost effective hiring option. Can anyone comment on the suitability of this camera? Does the resolution hold up? Anything else I should be concerned about?

(I need to shoot 30fps, 1080P, with a fast shutter speed due to break-dancing being quick motions)
 
PTank said:
The plan is to do a luma key. Shooting into a well lit white cyc, with additional low lights from behind talent shooting through the feet to fill shadows whenever feet are a few inches from the ground. No direct lighting on talent.

A Canon EOS 60D seems to be the most cost effective hiring option. Can anyone comment on the suitability of this camera? Does the resolution hold up? Anything else I should be concerned about?

(I need to shoot 30fps, 1080P, with a fast shutter speed due to break-dancing being quick motions)
Click to expand...

H264, not always great for keying. You'd probably have to run a few tests beforehand. Stability is never a problem.
 
I wouldn't normally key from H264. But this is to obtain a silhouette. I don't need detail from the subject. Only decent edges...

??
 
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