Building a green screen 'wall'

[Nathan Quattrini]

How large of an area should one need for a green screen to work without bouncing green back on the talent? Is there a minimum distance you need to be away from it? I know you need to light them separate, but it always seems the green reflects on them. So how far should they be from the screen, and the camera from them? I`m curious because I want to know how wide of a green 'wall' i`ll need to paint at work to try it out. Thanks

[Matthew Gore]

We just finished one on my office. I would say you would want at least
15 feet. 12 foot minimum. Then I would try and keep the subjects at least
8 foot off the wall. to keep spill down, but more importantly you don't want to
cast any shadows on the green. Another little trick is to put some straw colored gel on your back lite. This will help cancel some of the green spill
and it will make you key pop a little better around the head and shoulders.

Good luck
Matt Gore

[Mark LaVelle]

the size of your screen depends on how wide of a shot that you want. The important thing is that you control the shadows. Keep the subject far enough away that there are not any shadows on the green. I like to lite it (the wall/screen)with 2 kino-flos. They have a dimmer and the color temp stays consistant. If you have a scope, light the screen to about 60-70 percent. then throw up a key, fill (or bounce something)and a backlight. I use a magenta gell on the backlight. It "cuts like butter"! Good luck

[Giroud Francois]

you can cut green spill with an orange filter on light from the sides.

[David W. Jones]

Originally Posted by Giroud Francois

you can cut green spill with an orange filter on light from the sides.

With a "Green" screen, a better choice than Orange would be to use a Minus Green Filter, which is more of a Magenta color.