Very good point...I forgot about the green light coming up through the floor to the people. And your point about long shots being difficult to key is well taken. Unless you're using at least a DV50 format, it's not going to be great. We do fairly wide shots, usually one or two people on camera, and I can get from just below the knees up and still get a good key; but the longer the shot the more difficult the key.

Green screen compositing: What tools on PC?
 

Hi,

What do I need to start compositing with a green screen? Where can I buy the green screen material in New York City?

Notes:
I have VV3, Studio 7, Photoshop and an assortment of MiniDV cameras.

Thank you.
Michael Wisniewski

Here is a link to a tutorial on green screen lighting. The author makes reference to material he used in the tutorial. I hope it helps. Software questions on programs for PC can be posted in the PC editing forum.

Vegas 3 does good keying and you can make adjustments to fine tune it ... you must shoot a good green screen .. use the BEST camera you have - 3 chip is better then 1 chip ... if you didn't shoot a good green screen then you can use photoshop BUT it is tidious work (frame by frame )

Chroma Screen help
 

Hey all,

I've been presented with an offer to possibly film/edit/produce a pilot tv show, given its nature, we're not really planning upon using a set studio location, so i'm looking to purchase a portable chroma screen for a reasonable price

Does anyone know of a source/dealer from which to purchase a complete kit (screen and stands) from? So far, i haven't seen much out there, save for some generic low-cost photo stores on ebay, and i'm looking for something of quality manufacture.

i know...i know...you do get what you pay for....
~Mike

Mike- Try www.backdropoutlet.com , or call them at 1-800-466-1755. Not exactly cheap, but I have seen worse.

Greetings

I have found a very resonalble priced portable system at Elite Video. They are pretty well known in this community. Check out there web-site at http://www.elitevideo.com

A friend of mine has this portable system which is blue on one side and green on the other. Reel handy idea. I have there cromakey background which is 20 by 13. I plan to make my own portable kit because I was to cheep to get the one they have even though I think it is a good price.


Marcus

Thank you both! Especially the tutorial, that was great. Just what I was looking for.

also look at dvgarage's site. They have several tutorials about greenscreen and also have a plugin for AE that does a great job for keying.

Rob:D


PS- is there a reason why I dont have all the options to post links and pictures? where did it go.

Tech Green
 

Can I take a sheet of chroma green that I overpaid for and takeit to a hardware store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) and have them color match it? Would this work as well as the $65 a gallon for chroma green?

Maybe I need to clarify, if I color match the Chroma green for keying, would this be possible or is there a certain way the "TV" paints are composed that prevents color matching?

You should be able to do that - if you add the key in an NLE, the colour itself does not matter much, as long as it is evenly lit and will be easy to pick out.

Green and Blue are the traditional colours to use because of the component signal (RGB), where before computer technology took over, you would just remover either the g or b cable and insert the composite background. Red is obviously not a good colour to use since it is too close to some skin tones.

There are threads you can search for about chromas and how to light them properly.

Hope this helps.

Will this stuff work for a green screen?
 

I would probably tape it up on a wall in my garage or basement. I need a cheap solution, I was wondering if this was the right color. It says sage, but tech green.



http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh2.sph/...ID=F5A91D00850

If you have no budget but plenty of time, you can find a solution that won't brake you. The best reason to use green or blue is that most compositing software is designed to see it and extract it easily and will also provide you with tools to do some spill supression, etc. There is always a brute-force solution, though.
If you are on a shoe-string budget you can use anything as long as there is enough contrast between foreground and background (luma or chroma) and you have decent compositing software. If you can afford to buy something like a green screen, go for it, but if your budget is tiny try shooting some tests and see if it is really necessary. Hope this helps and good luck!


~Brad

Thanks for the advice Brad. I went ahead and tested my old blue posterboard bluescreen that I used with a Hi-8 camera before. The results were subpar, so I bought some green paint and hit it with 1000W worklights. It looked pretty good for a $20 solution. I think that the paper would have been too much of a hassle to keep wrinkle-free. I'm planning on getting some kind of smooth paneling, maybe particle board, and painting myself a bigger screen.