View Full Version : Green Screen on a budget


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Daniel Epstein
June 5th, 2008, 09:38 AM
In my opinion the wrinkles left on the Jpg are not as much of a concern as the overall lighting of the background. The background should be lit much flatter with as few shadows as possible. Your keyer may be able to deal with this as this is a chroma key not a luminance key but you want to make the background one color and the shadows could get your green out of range of the keyer.

Seth Bloombaum
June 5th, 2008, 10:59 AM
...There appears to be a few disagreements over whether you should white balance for the screen or for the subject...
There should be no disagreements. The skin tone of the subject rules, always. Chromakey software can deal with varying shades of green, but skin tones gotta' be right.

David Scattergood
June 5th, 2008, 02:25 PM
There should be no disagreements. The skin tone of the subject rules, always. Chromakey software can deal with varying shades of green, but skin tones gotta' be right.

Cheers...I must remember to reset the zebra (set at 60-70% for green screen first off...such a checklist that has to be drummed into you in this game eh :) )

Thanks seth. Must admit it makes total sense to WB the subject. Saying that, I've had to take a little of the colour down via FCP's 3 way CC - the subjects face was off a little (even after WB it was a little too 'warm').

In my opinion the wrinkles left on the Jpg are not as much of a concern as the overall lighting of the background. The background should be lit much flatter with as few shadows as possible. Your keyer may be able to deal with this as this is a chroma key not a luminance key but you want to make the background one color and the shadows could get your green out of range of the keyer.

Daniel - for the area I'm using on the green screen I was ok in this instance. The subject is sat down and is only moving his head and head ever so slightly. The bit I needed was uniform zebra - it's where it gets darker where I'd get unstuck if that space was used. I'll matte the darker area's off but I'm fairly pleased with FCP's chroma keying tools.
I think my problem was with the 2x twin flori lights in as much as they're either too close to the screen (perhaps explaining why the top and sides are shadowy); not bright enough (36w...could try higher watted tubes); the diffuser might do with coming off (and the aforementioned flags/sheilds placing around the units.

I've always shot outdoors (or well lit interiors) rather than studio with video...this is where the 'photon management' comes in...and it isn't altogether easy. However with help from you guys I'm slowly getting there!

Many thanks.