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How cheap is it to greenscreen this?

D

DIY

Hi folks, I'm contemplating scene in another dimension that I would like to greenscreen in a dark urban landscape composed of just city lights/torches (pretty much a static Photoshop pic).

The actors will be standing on a plain square "platform."

How expensive/difficult would it be to do this? I'm looking ultralow budget and haven't done any chromakey stuff at all.
 
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DIY said:
How expensive/difficult would it be to do this? I'm looking ultralow budget and haven't done any chromakey stuff at all.
Click to expand...
First, you're going to need to acquire a chromakey capable NLE and learn where its production limitations are.
Then it's simply a matter of finding a space for your actors to act in, then hang up a background cloth/fabric/material large enough for the scene you envision and light everything properly.

Variables are the amount of space you need or have + material you use for the chroma key (you do know it doesn't "HAVE" to be green, right?) + lighting.

You may already have everything you need = $0
You may only need to buy the software= $??
You may only need to buy two yards of fabric + hanging materials = $50
You may only need to buy ten yards of fabric + hanging materials = $150
You may need to buy everything = $300-500.

There's no way for us to tell what you do have and what you need.

If you haven't already, google "how to shoot a greenscreen chomakey right."
Start doing more homework.
 
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You may need to buy everything = $300-500.
Click to expand...

Depending on the scene, this number could be much lower than the actual amount of $$$ needed.

There are other elements to consider, and a lot of them depend on the vision of the director. It can range from a little (a simple static green screen shot... hell, sometimes you don't even need the green screen, you can rotoscope if you don't mind pushing more work on to your post prod people) all the way up to a full blown action sequence where you need a built up set, stunt crew and set extensions.

Part of the cost will also depend on your access to people who can do this. You may find yourself needing a compositor, sfx coordinator, animator, gaffer, Foley, sound design, color grader and others all to pull off this one shot.

Ultra low budget + special effects + no knowledge on how to do it is rarely a recipe for success or is also rarely cheap.

A lot of green stuff is relatively easy to do and cheap, though, you still need to know what you're doing. Test, test, test. Lighting, grading, performance, quality of the green screen, even sourcing the background will all play a part.
 
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VFX plate photography is all about technique. The more you know, the cheaper & easier it can be. But a poorly shot plate can turn a simple comp into a nightmare.

Make sure you are using a camera/lens which can capture your carefully-lit screen. It would be a shame to nail the green screen, and then throw it all away with a low quality capture.

Since you are inexperienced with visual effects, it's important that you do some Googling, reading, & testing until you know what works and what doesn't.

I was once asked to help a friend-of-a-friend with her short. She apparently was a coordinator at a large visual effects house, and was very confident in her abilities. While I screened the film, she went on about how these comps should be easy because she worked at "XXXXXXX VFX studio". As I watched the film (30 min) I could see that she skipped most of the best practices for GS photography, believing that it can be fixed in post. Unfortunately, in her case the green would only serve as a guide for a future Rotoscoper.

When I passed on her project she was outraged, and said that I'd never get into the industry without volunteering on projects like hers. :lol:

- Thomas
 
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Thanks for all the information, I do appreciate it. Seems doable so I'll try some inexpensive ideas around it.

I have a backup plan just in case, the characters could be placed in a "Pit of Despair" type area with just blackness or black walls all around.
 
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Try the ideas.
It could be that the cheap solution look cheap as well... but spending a lot while not knowing what you are doing will make it look cheap as well :P
 
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The green screen itself is not as important as what kind of camera or editing system you have.
A "green screen" doesn't even have to be green...it can be blue, or purple, or yellow, or whatever you want. You tell your editing system which color to key out. Therefore, you could even place your performers in front of a solid-colored wall and key-out the wall color. (Paint your
garage wall with some cheap paint???) Try it.
 
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There are many ways to generate an articulated matte (rotoscoping, difference, luminance, chroma).
Each kind can be approached with a number of techniques, some better than others.

Unfortunately, getting a "clean pull" from a bad screen can prove impossible for even experienced compositors. So, when faced with a "how to" question, I strongly suggest that beginners diligently follow best practices, otherwise they might have wasted a shoot (experimental test shoots are different than plates intended for a production).

No offense Ray, but suggesting that DIY paint a wall with an arbitrary color (as opposed to using a green-spike specifically intended for chroma work) isn't good advice, it's a formula for trouble. **Granted, I've shot all kinds of plates using questionable backgrounds, but I've been working in VFX for over 20 years, and these extractions done by experienced compositors.

The Gist:
Do your homework, and then try your best to follow the best practices as laid out by your research. You'll likely struggle to achieve a production quality result, but it's far better than trying to clean up a bad plate in post.

- Thomas
 
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