Green Screening

G

gpeavler

Heyoooo everybody. I am an film maker who is planning to shoot a short film over the summer. Because I am in short supply of stuntmen(I have none) I will be setting up some composite shots for the film. I am planning on using a green screen for this.

For example in one shot my actor is to be placed in the center of a road, with busy traffic moving in front of an behind him.

For all of you much more experienced people than myself, how would one go about putting together a composite like this. I could film my actor scared out of his mind, and then film the moving traffic. I know that I can then add the traffic in as a background using chroma key. But how would one go about merging the actor into the middle ground, allowing the traffic to appear behind and in front of him? I am a bit stumped on how to do this.

I am also aware that good lighting can make or break your composites. I cannot afford studio lights, but does anyone know of alternative methods to setting up three point lighting and even background lighting?

I will be using sony vegas pro as my editing software and using a 100% cotton green screen. Thanks in advance everyone.
 
Rotoscoping. That's how you do it. There are a lot of tutorials around the web about rotoscoping.

You'll need some compositing software to do a proper job of it. There are a lot of choices for that, After Effects being one of the main ones for home users, but there's also Nuke, Fusion, Shake, Combustion (if it's still around), Smoke, Toxik (if it's still around)... Blender has some compositing functionality built in.

Aside from Blender (which is free), HitFilm is probably the most cost effective option available.

As for the general techniques, there's a wealth of information on compositing on Andrew Kramer's site: videocopilot.net, probably some of the best tutorials that can be found (for free) online. While specific to After Effects, most of the techniques carry over to any other software, just the method of implementing them varies from one software package to the next.
 
Actually that was one more question I had. I cannot afford fancy studio lights. Does anyone know of a tutorial that shows you how to make your own lights for budget purposes?
 
These are quite inexpensive and a good start, but not an all-situation solution: linkage

Keep in mind that you're lighting two separate elements, at least, when greenscreening. Make sure each element gets what it needs; not always properly done by splitting light resources.

There's nothing wrong with the tried & true DIY Home Depot route, either.

So......

I cannot afford studio lights

find decently prices soft boxes and soft lights?
Click to expand...

What's your budget, dude? :hmm:

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