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Best way to pull a good green/blue screen with a DVX100-B camera?
Hey team,
I’m about to shoot alot of intensive green screen and I know how miserable life can be in post production if its not shot correctly. What are steps I can take to make sure my green screen is as fool proof as possible? What is hands down the best software (and affordable) the best way to pull the screen. Do I have go out and buy special lights to use everytiem i want to pull a screen? If so which ones? I used to see a special software package on these same boards that sold the green screen with the software and they advertised themselves as a reliable green screen option. I just want to do it right all the way around. Thanks.-Charles
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3 Replies
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Regarding lighting and shooting, please google for blue- and greenscreen, there’s tons of info about that.
And, yes, DV sucks for that purpose, but try DV Matte Pro from DV Garage, it should help for a decent price.
Regards,
Uli
Author of “DVDs gestalten und produzieren”, a book on professional DVD-authoring in German.
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First hand I can tell you this… don’t use a Mini DV cam (period) go HD if possible. But If you absolutely have to…
Lights ( a good soft but bright source that will evenly illuminate the whole screen) about 1 stop below your key. Keep your talent separated from the screen (distance) as much as you can while still keeping them in the frame with the greenscreen.
Software – After Effects 7.0 or Shake. Sounds like you don’t have much of a budget so these are the programs to use… and find a good composite artist.
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I thought you couldn’t/shouldn’t under any circumstances try to shoot greenscreen with DV also, until I checked around and read Chawla’s piece “Chroma Key Basics for DV Guerrillas”:
https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/chroma_key_part_1.html
After I read that article I shot a music video on green with an XL-1 and an XL-2 and it worked “great.” I had the luxury of about 20 feet between the green and the subjects which is important, and I think I had about 1 to 1 1/2 stops less level on the green, from the key level. Keep the level on the green as even as you can and even though most gaffer’s and DP’s insist upon putting soft rims on the subjects to counteract the green spill/reflections on the subjects, you can instead tease down the green behind the subjects.
The key job is NOT perfect, BUT, it’s close enough. AND, I used flat green paint from The Home Depot that I had mixed based on a piece of real Chromakey green paper I had.
I used Final Cut Pro 4.5 ONLY and it was WAY easier than I thought it was going to be. That was the very first keying I ever did and you can see the video here (then tell me it doesn’t work):
https://www.santucci-cinematographer.com/workmain.html
It’s the “Saturday Morning” video…
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