cinematography Sweet deal on greenscreen

georgiahoosier

georgiahoosier

This may be old news to everyone here, but I found a deal on some green screen material.
I was at my local Walgreen's and found these fleece blankets priced at 2 for $10
fleece.jpg


They measure about 4' x 5' and the flat color smooths out the light just great.

My son was here this past week and we banged out a test with it, he was tickled to death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ypP_5X_9w

It's only 10 seconds. When he comes back this summer we are going to really give the chroma key a workout.

Neil

"This is no ordinary Lobster man, I want people to know he has attended the finest underwater schools" -- Irwin Allen
 
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Thanks! I wish Spencer hadn't insisted on the Hunter Thompson hat, it takes away from the effect.

At least I convinced him not to say "We can't stop here, this is bat country"

He wants me to work out the effect of flying bats on his sunglasses, what am I, Terry Gilliam??

I know, Dad can do anything

Neil
 
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Nice find.

As for the bats, your best bet would be with Shake or After Effects, or something similar, BUT... could do it in the editor alone:

Get some footage of bats flying across a dark sky (or use some rubber bats and make it yourself)
Drop that into a layer over the footage of Spencer, and create a garbage matte to limit it to the size of the glasses. Then adjust the blending mode and opacity of the bat layer. Slide the garbage matte around as needed to stay on the glasses.

Ideally it should be just quick enough to get the idea it's there, and not present the entire time, the extra bonus to that is less frames to track the matte onto. ;)
 
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Thanks for the info Will. Garbage mats are something I'm just starting to play around with.
I'm working up a short horror story and one of the effects is a momentary flash of a human face over that of an angry little dog.

It's all experimental to me but that's what is making it fun.

Neil
 
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Terry Gilliam is the man. That's a cool tip... we've been using neon-green fabric from FabricLand... it cost us around $90 (CAN), but it's well worth it- unlike the one above, it's not fuzzy... it's more like a silky type deal, which is easier to get the light to be spread evenly on.

Best example I've got is in the Macbeth 3000 trailer- it's pretty easy to tell the shots where it's used.

Here's a pic (albeit bad lighting):

454805868_bdac9e21af_o.jpg


BUT, a cool program to use is Chromanator (now combined into EffectsLab) by the FXhome people... it's a great program for greenscreen, and is designed with.. like... algorithms to compensate for sucky lighting. Pre-key grading and all that.
I haven't got the new software (we're still using their old versions), but they have video examples on the site, and it's PRIME. Really good stuff for indie greenscreen.
 
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And don't forget our own oakstreet for his vector keyer, I've played with it a bit and it's wonderfully easy to operate and get good results...but it's mac only for you PC folks (I think). He'll correct me if I'm wrong.

Chrominator does look very good as well as Spat has mentioned. I'm figuring out the keyers that come with Shake right now (primmatte and keylight). I'm sure I'll be picking up some form of green material that I can hang at the back of my garage like a tight curtain...these may be part of my kit that I use to drape over stuff or hang to block stuff in the background. :)
 
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Thanks, Knightly. You are correct. I just added another control to my VKey2 plug-in that helps a bit with troublesome keys and lets you get even better results with best green-screen shots (the one's where you did most everything right ... those never happen to me, BTW).

Watch out for yellowish greens and blueish greens; try to stick to as pure a green as you can. Heck, download my demo VKey2 and see how close to 235 (optimum green) your greenscreen is. The more of a mixed color it is, the more conflicts you'll have. e.g. Yellow-green will match yellow more closely than pure green, so yellows in your subject might give you trouble.

Also, I always get better results by lighting my green-screen with green lights. I know some people don't light the screen at all, and some just use white light, but I've tested most configurations, and the green gels really help make the green stay green in the presence of the other lights, etc.

Always set and lock your white balance!
 
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