How big (or how many) of a chromakey screen will I need? at DVinfo.net

Drew Meinecke · January 29th, 2005, 05:06 PM

How big (or how many) of a chromakey screen will I need to film in an outside location of about fourty people marching with the camera far enough away that on the computer I can edit them and make them an army of 800? Will I need chromakey screens covering the entire background or just where the actors are?

Richard Alvarez · January 29th, 2005, 05:08 PM

What are you shooting with, what are you keying with.

Giroud Francois · January 29th, 2005, 05:30 PM

depends the scene.
usually , you can imagine that if you only get 2 or 3 rows of people, you just need the shoulders and head of the last row having blue/green behind them ,you can glue it on their back :-)
When you get 3 rows of legs, usually you will not see trough and no keying is necessary at this level. The more compact your crowd is and the easier it will be.
usually it is more efficient and easier to add virtual people behind the first row than joining little group side by side. (but sometime you need to).
make a drawing of the final screen (you work directly on printed copy of shoot taken on location).
You can just outline the the limits of the zone that will be filled with real people and get an idea of where blue/green screen will be. do not hesitate to draw lines on the floor to help the people remember the limits.
another way is to cheat with spacing, so you do not need any blue screen. If you got an army of people going down the hill, you just need to shoot one row. then you can superimpose the same row , just leaving enough delay to make sure they do not overlap.
This works for a line of horses or cars going all at same speed.

Drew Meinecke · January 29th, 2005, 06:38 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Richard Alvarez : What are you shooting with, what are you keying with. -->>>

Not quite sure what camcorder I'll be using, probably the Panasonic GS120, and I'll be editing with the Adobe Video Collection software (Is that what I use to key, I don't know anything about this)

Steven Gotz · January 29th, 2005, 11:18 PM

After Effects Pro has a decent keyer that comes on the CD and must be installed as an extra program. Keylight does a very nice job.

Keying in Premiere Pro isn't that great without third party plugins.

January 29th, 2005, 05:06 PM	#1
Drew Meinecke Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 53	How big (or how many) of a chromakey screen will I need? How big (or how many) of a chromakey screen will I need to film in an outside location of about fourty people marching with the camera far enough away that on the computer I can edit them and make them an army of 800? Will I need chromakey screens covering the entire background or just where the actors are?

January 29th, 2005, 05:08 PM	#2
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	What are you shooting with, what are you keying with.

January 29th, 2005, 05:30 PM	#3
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	depends the scene. usually , you can imagine that if you only get 2 or 3 rows of people, you just need the shoulders and head of the last row having blue/green behind them ,you can glue it on their back :-) When you get 3 rows of legs, usually you will not see trough and no keying is necessary at this level. The more compact your crowd is and the easier it will be. usually it is more efficient and easier to add virtual people behind the first row than joining little group side by side. (but sometime you need to). make a drawing of the final screen (you work directly on printed copy of shoot taken on location). You can just outline the the limits of the zone that will be filled with real people and get an idea of where blue/green screen will be. do not hesitate to draw lines on the floor to help the people remember the limits. another way is to cheat with spacing, so you do not need any blue screen. If you got an army of people going down the hill, you just need to shoot one row. then you can superimpose the same row , just leaving enough delay to make sure they do not overlap. This works for a line of horses or cars going all at same speed.

January 29th, 2005, 06:38 PM	#4
Drew Meinecke Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 53	<<<-- Originally posted by Richard Alvarez : What are you shooting with, what are you keying with. -->>> Not quite sure what camcorder I'll be using, probably the Panasonic GS120, and I'll be editing with the Adobe Video Collection software (Is that what I use to key, I don't know anything about this)

January 29th, 2005, 11:18 PM	#5
Steven Gotz Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Clermont, FL Posts: 1,520	After Effects Pro has a decent keyer that comes on the CD and must be installed as an extra program. Keylight does a very nice job. Keying in Premiere Pro isn't that great without third party plugins.