Lighting a greenscreen stage

[boke]

I know how to light a simple greenscreen setup for a talking head spot, separate the talent as far from the screen as possible, first light the greenscreen with even soft light , using your cameras zebra function to measure evenness, then light your talent (however you choose, making sure that there are no shadows on the greenscreen), key light, then soft and if you want to add a little seperation you can add a back light with or without a gel.

My question is how do you light a stage? Well what I mean is that I'm going to be getting some shots of an actor in front of a greenscreen and we need to get his whole body and he's going to walk a little (not to much movement but enough to make a 3-4 step intro and exit, and maybe 3-4 steps to left and right. Are there any differences in lighting a stage (for a full body shot) as compared to a normal backdrop( for a upper body shot)?

All replies are much appreciated

 

[KKeller]

no real difference, just hang some bigger, soft lights to light the screen. Everything else works the same.

 

[greenheron]

There are big differences that effect both budget and technical issues.

1. The only way to make a stage work is to have cyc wall (no horizon line) and paint the studio cyc wall and floor.
2. When you see the floor now you have to worry about shadows that are difficult to control with movement.

Solutions:
1. Paint the cyc wall
2. Use a large overhead bounce to reduce the shadows. Keep the rest of the lights soft or controlled off the floor. You will need a lot more lighting instruments.

The rest is pretty much the same in principal. At least this is the way I approach green screen for commercials or features.

 

[grinner]

you'll fins a roll of linilium with ultimatte paint on the flat side to be your friend.
You can hang it with c-stands, it fits in the van and it's much more cost-effective thana real cyclorama.
I've been doing this for years and tend to get better results than many get in built sound stages with floating grids.