After three hours of trying I discovered that it's way easier than trying to suspend the talent with wires. :-)

You can mount the camera crossways on the fluid head, then tilt the fluid head all the way to 90 degrees.

Or use a photographer's tripod and tilt the head as though you're shooting a vertical photo.

If you do the sideways thing how do you deal with the image once the person has walked close enough to be taller than the vertical height of the image you are compositing into?

In fact altogether, how do you deal with the sequence settings and the difference in the size of the images?

The subject would have to remain in the frame, so the movement and composition would have to be planned accordingly.

The settings should match the settings of the composite. Then the image would be rotated 90 degrees. Of course there would be rendering required.

Here's what i find confusing - Wouldn't you lose the advantage of the sideways shot (which would 1080 wide by 1920 high) by turning 90 degrees and rendering it into a standard 1920x1080 composition?

Is the idea to cut the matte in the sideways format then turn it, render and thus compress it when you composite it?

You get a cleaner key by starting off with a larger image. More pixels for the keying software to work with. This is done in a pre-comp in After Effects, and the pre-comp is then incorporated into the final comp.

Question about GreenScreen and using the EX1r or 5D camera
 

Hello everyone,

Quick question:
I am wondering if you used the Canon 5D camera and made the greenscreen more out of focus if that would help when you key things out? I have both the Sony EX1r and the Canon 5D and will need to do some greenscreen work soon. A friend has Adobe After Effects (and Ultra I think too) so that is what I have to do it with. The shots will be of a male actor waist up and also full body shot. The goal is to composite him in a digital world for part of a film I am creating.

Any suggestions or comments are appreciated!

Thank you.

Been doing that trick for a few years now. Works very well. Filling any cameras sensor with more info is always a good thing. Flip it and scale to whatever you need in post. Nice cause you can keyframe zooms and reframe in post.

Since I dont have a head that will do 90deg tilt, I bought a piece of L-shaped framing steel and drilled the appropriate hole for a QR plate system to mount to my tripod. Cost $3 plus $50 for the plates!

I have been using the Matrox cards for keying out green screens (RT100 + RTX2) these have worked OK for me, although they do leave a fair amount of dirty pixels on the green.

I have been experimenting with Adobes Ultra Keyer and this produces very clean keys. I have been using 720p 24 & 25fps with Cine1 gamma. I am just wiating for my new graphics card to arrive (nVidia GTX470) which will then take full advantage of the Mecury PLayback Engine. Will post some results as soon as I get it.

Kenn, thanks for thinking outside the box and sharing this idea. I had to wait for some free time to finally manufacture and test a camera plate for mounting my EX3 sideways. It works as you described to get the extra pixels on the subject. I can pull cleaner full body shots in almost half the distance. This innovation now allows me to take my Reflecmedia Chromatte screen into office environments for those times when full body shots are required. Cheers!

Saw this at NAB two years ago. It's perfect for mounting our EX3 sideways.
RINGO HEAD CAMERA MOUNT

Spider Support Ringo Head. Sells for $380 from Barbizon Lighting.