Painted walls / studio alternative
 

Hi all,

I'm doing some planning for an upcoming shoot, and I'm wanting to shoot against several full-wall, colored backgrounds. You can see what I'm talking about in this video:

tUnE-yArDs - Water Fountain (Official Video) - YouTube


They have multiple backgrounds colors throughout the video (you'll see at least 3 different colored backgrounds in the first 25 seconds).

I'm wondering - how do I achieve this? It looks like they actually just painted the back wall of a sound stage a few different times. Is there any easier and more cost-effective way of getting a similar look on screen?

Thanks in advance,
Luke

Re: Painted walls / studio alternative
 

Looks more like a seamless cyc with color wash (via lighting). You're best bet is to have flat white walls and a seamless curve towards the bottom (where the wall meets the floor). You can then use colored gels or DMX controlled RGB lights to 'wash' the cyc with color. Not cheap, but much faster than paint.

You'll find a few YT tutorials on the subject, like this one:

Re: Painted walls / studio alternative
 

That looks really interesting. Thanks! My client just sent me a link this other video with a similar example - the big difference is it's definitely a Cyc as you can see the talent's feet (there's a good full-body example at 9 seconds):


Would that work just using colored light? Am I correct in assuming that the one in the video is painted/colored (otherwise the colored light would be on the talent)?

Thanks again!

Re: Painted walls / studio alternative
 

The subject would be lit separately from the cyc. With enough space, you shouldn't have a problem with colored cyc lights. You might want to study up on flags though.

Re: Painted walls / studio alternative
 

From the BTS video it looks like it's just a pink/magenta Cyc.

Re: Painted walls / studio alternative
 

You need to get the terminology a bit more precise. US users have taken an old theatre term and kind of 'bent' it a bit for video. A cyclorama is a flat or sometimes concave cloth - usually cotton, but occasionally plasticised - that finishes at the floor. Video and photographers extended the downward portion into a gentle curve heading towards the camera/audience, to become what was often known as an infinity cloth, because no hard edge meant you could not see where horizontal turned into vertical. Cyc now seems to mean both things which can confuse Google!

Lighting a cyc is actually quite tricky, because when you light from above, the top of the cloth is obviously brighter - on a long drop, MUCH brighter. In theatre we have had special light sources for ages that have asymmetric reflectors, concentrating the downwards travelling light at the expense of sideways travelling light. These can give even brighter right down to the floor. Without these, any sic lighting needs to come at a more gentle angle, needing more separation between sic and the talent to get rid of shadows and allow some blending.

The second sample is definitely a painted infinity wall/floor, because when they lift their feet, it's pink, not a different colour in the shadow. Over the years I've lost count of the number of times I've painted the damn things. Green one day, Blue the next, then back to white, then yellow etc etc. It's what extends the hire charges, having a drying day! It also means down time every now and then having a stripping back day or two - and that's the worst bit. It also means you have a white cyc lighting permanent rig, just repainting to suit.

It's easy to use LEDs to change colour on a cloth, but it only works on the floor where people are not standing. If you want head to foot infinity - it's paint!