Help me set up a green screen!

[Mark Light]

I bought a cloth green screen- supposedly a "professional" one, however it seems a bit thin to me. But anyways, it's fairly large- not sure of the dimensions, maybe 10 feet by 8 feet. It's hanging from stands - and pinned so that it's tight. There arent many wrinkles. I'm lighting it using very cheap methods I'm aware of that. I bought a few of those floursecent work lamps-- three that are on stands , and two that sit on the floor. Of course I removed the steel cages from them to keep them from creating shadows. My first attempt at light positioning had two stand lights lighting the green screen, then a two floor lights near the green screen but facing the subject to create backlight- or so i though, but im not sure if it really did much. and then one stand in from of the camera aiming at the subject - which created a slight shadow on the green screen. My biggest problem was that I got a lot of green spill on my subject, but im not really sure why. My second problem is that I'm really not sure on where I should place the lights for best positioning. and I dont know how to help the green spill problem. Thanks for any suggestions. I can always take pics of my setup if it helps, or post some clips of my captured footage.

[Oleg Kalyan]

I've found this helpful, enjoy!
http://www.film-and-video.com/broadc...eenscreen.html

[John Rofrano]

If you’re getting a lot of spill then your subject is too close the green screen. They should be at least 5 feet away at a minimum. Also make sure you light the subject separate from the screen. Check out these two tutorials by Keith Kolbo:

Chromakey Techniques for Budget Productions
Gain a better understanding of Chromakey / Greenscreen / Bluescreen

These should help you get good results.

~jr

[Lior Molcho]

Hey
i havent looked at the tuturials in the earlier posts, ive done about 40 days of greenscreen photography so here's my ultra simple set up:
4-6 red heads (for the screen only)
Full "effect" green Gel's the one's Dj's use, which are extremely dense
Studios Space of about 6*6 meters

u start off by making sure the fabric is well fastened and streched.
if u need to see the performer's legs than u need a green floor.
I hope the material u are using is matte and not reflective , glossy or plastic coverd(iv'e seen horrible "pro" screens in my day)

Place the reds on the sides of the screen about 2 meters from it, so they get a good spread on the screen (make sure they are on Flood and not Spot setting)
so what u need to do is basically get an even spread with the red heads on the screen , covering them with the green Gels.
if u can also light from abouve the screen its great but using them on tripods on the sides of the screen works great also.
once u get a even spread and no visible "hot spots" from the lights' youre good to go.
a good idea would be to use a polariser also, to get rid of highlights from the key lights u will use to light people on the screen.
just make sure they dont step into the green light, and when u dont need to see the floor, throw some black fabric on it to reduce spill on the actors.

Good Luck
Lior.

[John Yamamoto]

hi
get 2or 3 kickers with magenta gel to make a high light on left right and top tomake edges with highlights
i personally don;t like but this is easiet way to kill the spill if u can't go distance from the green screen.
carefully plan on lights and minimise the green screen area may help

JY

[David Tamés]

Take a look at this thread too....

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=68098