Suggestions for shooting with computer screens

Tim Joy

Tim Joy

Veteran
I have a project coming up that will be set in an office environment with practical computer monitors setup all over, and the characters interact with them.

Any suggestions on how to shoot computer screens?

What about the overhead florescent lights causing waves?


I'm thinking it will be mostly handheld or steadycam shots, so green screening the monitors would be very difficult.

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm shooting with the D90.

Thanks,
Tim
 
if you have after effects cs4 you could use mocha, im not sure if you can use it with older versions of after effects but you probably can. the easiest thing to do would be to put small X's of some bright tape and then have it track the corners.

here's a tutorial if you've never used it

Pablo.
 
Well, that would help to track the screens and do it in post, but I'm trying to avoid that so:
1. I don't have to buy and learn a new plugin.
2. I won't be up at the 11th hour doing VFX again.


I guess I'm asking the near impossible question. There's no practical way to shoot monitor screens?
 
Without being able to set shutter speed, I suspect it's going to be a huge problem. The display settings on each computer screen will determine the banding/flicker that you'll have to deal with. If you can set the displays to the same screen size (the same frequency), you might be able to fix them all at once in the same fashion folks are fixing light flicker...resetting the AEL on the D90 until you get lucky and match the frequency.

In the bad old NTSC 30fps days, we reduced flicker by setting displays to VGA 640x480 which brought the vertical timing to 60Hz. Anything else flickered.

HTH
 
So they're crt's? If so yes you have to set them to the same frequency, the same as the overheads too. LCD screens and high frequency ballasts are your friends.
 
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