TV monitor in the shot

[John Carroll]

Anyone have experience shooting on a set that includes a TV screen(s)?
More specifically, how to balance the color on set with the colors that the monitor displays.
Are there special monitors/TV that are easier to deal with? I see it all the time on News/Sports channels so I know it can be done...
Not worried about flicker, just natural looking color coming from the monitor to match the set environment.
Any advice greatly appreciated!

[Oren Arieli]

You can use daylight balanced lighting, as most monitors are kept around 6500K. If you only have tungsten lights, you might be able to set the monitor to a warmer color temp through the system menu. Last resort would be to cut CTO (orange) filters to size and place it over the monitor, but the glare could cause you more problems than color temp.Lot's of variables here, especially since you're probably not dealing with the same monitor twice. Best to have a diverse bag of tricks.

[Chris Barcellos]

I did a shot like that for a film once, and just added what ever I wanted on the monitor in post. I actual ran a tape with a green screen on the monitor, so it was a small green screen on set that we just filled with the TV Image that had not been shot yet. Something to consider if it might be in your best interest.

[Charles Papert]

Generally the video that is running through a monitor is color corrected to accommodate the desired color temperature. While monitors hover around 5600 or colder, if you are shooting tungsten the footage will need a significant correction and few if any monitors can be set warm enough (computer monitors may be possible). The most efficient way to do this is to have a real-time box like the Blackmagic HDLinkPro, or play the footage via a laptop running FCP or similar with the correction applied and rendered . The procedure I follow is to aim your camera at the monitor and zoom in to fill the frame, and put up bars or a representative white or gray source on the monitor , then adjust the color balance until the scopes deliver as close to correct an image as possible. The look will be quite orange to eye, as expected, but it will photograph properly.

On the live stage set for "Key & Peele" we have two large plasma screens that display the show's logo. I use the FCP method and once we have the image dialed in to where it looks right, we capture the output via Nanoflash so the correction is baked in.

While that sounds like a bit of work, it's easier than applying gel to the screen as Oren noted, or do a post burn-in (which is necessary if you don't have the footage on hand and/or you need to be able to slip the timing relative to the action around the monitor).

[Charles Papert]

One thing to add: both LCD's and plasmas will exhibit color shifts depending on your angle to the screen. OLED monitors will avoid this phenomenon.