Turning a small room into a small video studio. Tips on size requirements, please! at DVinfo.net

Gustavo Godinho · January 2nd, 2006, 10:31 AM

I was thinking about turning a small room I have into a humble greenscreen studio, only for medium and close shots, basically for advertising applications. (Well, I intend to use other backgrounds too, not always chroma-keying). What´s the right size for something like this? I mean, the smallest size a room can have to do it. Should I place some lights in the ceiling other than only on c-stands?

Richard Alvarez · January 2nd, 2006, 10:39 AM

The key to getting a clean chroma key effect off of a green/blue screen is EVEN lighting and seperation from background. Overhead soflights to light the screen, focused on the background to provide even, continuous lighting is essential. Lots of people prefer flourescents for this purpose.

Getting the subject far enough away from the screen, to prevent shadows from hitting the screen, or 'backsplash' of color bouncing off the screen and hitting your subject, is the next concern. If you have blue or green backsplash hitting your subject, you will have difficulting keying their edges.

Having said all that, you can see that the smaller the room, the more difficult it is to achieve these goals. Not impossible mind you, but difficult. I like to keep the distance between subject and screen, AT LEAST equal to the height of the subject. That is, if your subject is six feet tall (Assuming you are shooting full body) then at least six feet between the subject and the background. More is better. IF you are shooting a medium shot, say from the waist up, then four feet from the background.

ALL of these figures are just guidelines. It's possible to shoot closer, it just takes more carefully controlled lighting.

Gustavo Godinho · January 2nd, 2006, 10:56 AM

Thanks Richard. As I´ll not shoot full body, it´ll be a little easier. And as the room is small, I´ll spend a lot of time calculating the lights´ placements.

Anyone has a small room that turned into a studio?

January 2nd, 2006, 10:31 AM	#1
Gustavo Godinho Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Belém - Pa - Brazil Posts: 130	Turning a small room into a small video studio. Tips on size requirements, please! I was thinking about turning a small room I have into a humble greenscreen studio, only for medium and close shots, basically for advertising applications. (Well, I intend to use other backgrounds too, not always chroma-keying). What´s the right size for something like this? I mean, the smallest size a room can have to do it. Should I place some lights in the ceiling other than only on c-stands? __________________ lml

January 2nd, 2006, 10:56 AM	#3
Gustavo Godinho Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Belém - Pa - Brazil Posts: 130	Thanks Richard. As I´ll not shoot full body, it´ll be a little easier. And as the room is small, I´ll spend a lot of time calculating the lights´ placements. Anyone has a small room that turned into a studio? __________________ lml

January 2nd, 2006, 10:39 AM	#2
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	The key to getting a clean chroma key effect off of a green/blue screen is EVEN lighting and seperation from background. Overhead soflights to light the screen, focused on the background to provide even, continuous lighting is essential. Lots of people prefer flourescents for this purpose. Getting the subject far enough away from the screen, to prevent shadows from hitting the screen, or 'backsplash' of color bouncing off the screen and hitting your subject, is the next concern. If you have blue or green backsplash hitting your subject, you will have difficulting keying their edges. Having said all that, you can see that the smaller the room, the more difficult it is to achieve these goals. Not impossible mind you, but difficult. I like to keep the distance between subject and screen, AT LEAST equal to the height of the subject. That is, if your subject is six feet tall (Assuming you are shooting full body) then at least six feet between the subject and the background. More is better. IF you are shooting a medium shot, say from the waist up, then four feet from the background. ALL of these figures are just guidelines. It's possible to shoot closer, it just takes more carefully controlled lighting.