Rear Projection

J

jax_rox

Well-known member
So I'm in the early stages of pre-production on a new short. The Director wants to build a set and then use rear projection, or alternatively a large flat as a background to the set.
I'm pretty confident that this will work, but I've never worked with rear projection before and I'm interested to see if anyone on here has experience with the format and can shed some light on the best ways of working with it, and also the pros/cons of using rear projection over a flat. I assume one would need to use an HD projector, and obviously match shutter speeds etc.
 
Why is the director keen on rear projection? Do you guys actually have a rear projection screen? What are the shots which will require it?

Most people these days use greenscreen instead, which has the advantage of allowing fiddling in post-production. Both methods unavoidably have a pile of lighting issues, and aren't recommended for newcomers. (Even back when Hollywood was using it as a high-tech special effect, the results frequently looked rather fake.) At the very least you'll need to do some serious testing before shooting for real.
 
I suggested green screen, and would prefer green screen as it is meant to be a 'nightmare land' and I feel green screen would allow better manipulation in post. I also have a lot more experience shooting green screen, whereas my rear projection experience is 0. I believe the Director wants to go for an 'old-school' feel which is why he is keen on the rear projection. I feel like this raises a lot of issues, and we're obviously going to need to test extensively but I'd like to at least attempt the rear projection method to see whether the results are something the Director is happy with.
 
I like doing it on set, just make sure your projector is bright enough, the plates are shot well before hand, and the color temperture is balanced. Many projectors have crazy CC and CT issues.

I'm not against Green-Screen, but I avoid it as much as possible. :)
 
Most of the classic old films that used rear projection, either more or less successfully, were also shot in the B&W era, pre-1960 or so. The fakeness of the effect was much more immediately apparent when trying to match colors as well as tonality. That should probably tell you something about how it is likely to look.

- Greg
 
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