Lighting For Green Screen With Z1 at DVinfo.net

Jonathan Lee · August 9th, 2008, 08:17 PM

Hi,
I'm shooting a series of interviews next week, two of which the director wishes to shoot against green screen. As I've not lit for green screen before I'd be interested in any comments and advice anyone has as to the best approach for this. It will be in a hotel room and shot in HDV 50i. I'm using a 4 light kit, 2 softs for key and fill and 300w/500w for kicker and background.

Jonathan.

George Kroonder · August 10th, 2008, 02:26 AM

It is best to shoot progressive for chromakeying. You can deliver as 50i from 25p (25F for the Z1, I believe) easily.

You must light your backgroung evenly, at the very least around the subject. In a hotel room you probably have limited space, but to prevent spil try to keep some distance between the background and the subject.

If you shoot during the day, try to use the light from windows to help a bit. In general I use at least two soft sources for the BG lighting. Maybe you can use a bounce instead of the fill light and use that for the BG.

George/

George Kroonder · August 10th, 2008, 03:38 AM

For cramped spaces and easy setup you may also consider the Reflecmedia LiteRing/Chromatte combo. I've heard it is pretty good and very useful in confined spaces. You should be able to rent a kit as well.

Here's a review: http://www.dvuser.co.uk/images/magaz...es/issue-7.pdf

George/

Gareth Watkins · August 10th, 2008, 07:53 AM

Hi Jon,
I've done lots of Green screen with my Z1 and it works just fine...
I use two 800w Tota lights with umbrellas to light the background... and a Rifa 500w soft box, a V-lite for fill and a 250w Prolight as a kicker... By placing the tota's at 45° it lights the back drop evenly enough...

I don't know what you edit on but I've found a few things useful even if your eventual output is SD to DVD.

I find Adobe After Effects a huge help with this technique, especially the Keylight plug in.. This is far better than the key functions on say Premiere Pro etc...

I do all the keying in HDV... (the keying is far better than an SD key) then save out an uncompressed SD file which I import into Premiere for the final touches before outputting to DVD or whatever format...
Cheers
Gareth

Jonathan Lee · August 11th, 2008, 10:52 AM

Thanks guys for your help, very much appreciated,

Brett Beanan · August 12th, 2008, 08:40 AM

I did a bunch of shoots a few months ago and we used KinoFlo units with Green Lamps to do the background lighting. Our set-up was a 15' wide X 10' tall screen and we had a 4' KinoFlo on either side, next time I think I will use 6 to get a bit more pop but over all it worked out great. Also we used a pink back light (company color was pink) which put a slight pink edge on the talent and allowed us to pull a great key.

The other thing I learned that if you can you want to pull the video directly off the camera via the analog outputs for the highest quaility capture. When you go to tape you lose a bit of colorspace which just happens to be in the green spectrum which can make pulling the key just a bit more tricky... Then if you use firewire you lose even more colorspace...

Finally, make sure you shoot like 10 seconds of just the background with no talent... that way you can perfect your key then save those settings and then move on to your talent.

Somewhere I have a photo of the set-up I will see if I can find it...

John M. McCloskey · August 12th, 2008, 03:36 PM

Have used a magenta gel on a light behind the green screen raised above the back of the G.S. and aimed at the back of the talent making sure not to spill the magenta light on the G.S. It worked well in knocking any green spill off the talents outline and made a great sharp key. Just an idea for tight space green screening.

August 9th, 2008, 08:17 PM	#1
Jonathan Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: London UK Posts: 83	Lighting For Green Screen With Z1 Hi, I'm shooting a series of interviews next week, two of which the director wishes to shoot against green screen. As I've not lit for green screen before I'd be interested in any comments and advice anyone has as to the best approach for this. It will be in a hotel room and shot in HDV 50i. I'm using a 4 light kit, 2 softs for key and fill and 300w/500w for kicker and background. Jonathan.

August 10th, 2008, 03:38 AM	#3
George Kroonder Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Utrecht, NL \| Europe 3rd Rock from the Sun Posts: 612	For cramped spaces and easy setup you may also consider the Reflecmedia LiteRing/Chromatte combo. I've heard it is pretty good and very useful in confined spaces. You should be able to rent a kit as well. Here's a review: http://www.dvuser.co.uk/images/magaz...es/issue-7.pdf George/ Last edited by George Kroonder; August 10th, 2008 at 10:50 AM.

August 10th, 2008, 02:26 AM	#2
George Kroonder Major Player Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Utrecht, NL \| Europe 3rd Rock from the Sun Posts: 612	It is best to shoot progressive for chromakeying. You can deliver as 50i from 25p (25F for the Z1, I believe) easily. You must light your backgroung evenly, at the very least around the subject. In a hotel room you probably have limited space, but to prevent spil try to keep some distance between the background and the subject. If you shoot during the day, try to use the light from windows to help a bit. In general I use at least two soft sources for the BG lighting. Maybe you can use a bounce instead of the fill light and use that for the BG. George/

August 10th, 2008, 07:53 AM	#4
Gareth Watkins Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: France Posts: 578	Hi Jon, I've done lots of Green screen with my Z1 and it works just fine... I use two 800w Tota lights with umbrellas to light the background... and a Rifa 500w soft box, a V-lite for fill and a 250w Prolight as a kicker... By placing the tota's at 45° it lights the back drop evenly enough... I don't know what you edit on but I've found a few things useful even if your eventual output is SD to DVD. I find Adobe After Effects a huge help with this technique, especially the Keylight plug in.. This is far better than the key functions on say Premiere Pro etc... I do all the keying in HDV... (the keying is far better than an SD key) then save out an uncompressed SD file which I import into Premiere for the final touches before outputting to DVD or whatever format... Cheers Gareth

August 11th, 2008, 10:52 AM	#5
Jonathan Lee Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: London UK Posts: 83	Thanks guys for your help, very much appreciated,

August 12th, 2008, 08:40 AM	#6
Brett Beanan New Boot Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 11	I did a bunch of shoots a few months ago and we used KinoFlo units with Green Lamps to do the background lighting. Our set-up was a 15' wide X 10' tall screen and we had a 4' KinoFlo on either side, next time I think I will use 6 to get a bit more pop but over all it worked out great. Also we used a pink back light (company color was pink) which put a slight pink edge on the talent and allowed us to pull a great key. The other thing I learned that if you can you want to pull the video directly off the camera via the analog outputs for the highest quaility capture. When you go to tape you lose a bit of colorspace which just happens to be in the green spectrum which can make pulling the key just a bit more tricky... Then if you use firewire you lose even more colorspace... Finally, make sure you shoot like 10 seconds of just the background with no talent... that way you can perfect your key then save those settings and then move on to your talent. Somewhere I have a photo of the set-up I will see if I can find it...

August 12th, 2008, 03:36 PM	#7
John M. McCloskey Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: West Point, MS Posts: 313	Have used a magenta gel on a light behind the green screen raised above the back of the G.S. and aimed at the back of the talent making sure not to spill the magenta light on the G.S. It worked well in knocking any green spill off the talents outline and made a great sharp key. Just an idea for tight space green screening.