Green screen or backdrop

[Sam Nicholls]

Hey Steve,
The first film I ever made used a makeshift greenscreen, all we did was buy some MDF from a local supplier and then painted it with a few coats of the brightest green we could find at the paint mixing desk (Why someone would want to paint a room in their house such a colour I’ll never know, but it was lucky for us).

Just light it evenly, eliminate shadows and the Sony Chroma Key FX should remove “the green” fine. You can then just find or shoot your own newsroom-esque scene to drop onto the track underneath the newsdesk.

Good luck with it,
Sam Nicholls, Studio8 Media

Sam Nicholls, Studio8 Media

[Steve Edwards]

Only problem, this is all being done live. So there is no Vegas involved, just the elementary shools video equipment and grade school computer, piped through their classroom monitors, live.

[Sam Nicholls]

Ah, my mistake.
I don’t have any experience with live technology, the only thing I could find from a quick scout around the net was a Videonics Mixer but I’m not sure if that’s budgetable.

Sam Nicholls, Studio8 Media

[Mike Kujbida]

Steve, is the camera being fed through a video switcher of some kind?
If yes, do you know the make & model?
If no, then encourage her to take a look at Adobe’s Visual Communicator (formerly from Serious Magic) as one of it’s features is live output capability.

[Steve Edwards]

I just called her, and she thinks that it does go through some kind of mixer. She said she will look for a brand and model number before she comes home. I will write back the info when she gets home. I checked out that software, and maybe I’m not getting it right, but it seems to sound like you record your presentation then play it, instead of live on the spot.

[Mike Kujbida]

Steve, the information may help with recommendations.
The software does indeed do live productions.
At the bottom of the page I linkled to, it says:

Deliver live video productions
With live output capability, you can self-produce video broadcasts, conferences, distance learning courses, campus-wide newscasts, and more.

Click the “Features and Benefits” link below this for more details on it.

BTW, Adobe’s regular price on it is $400 but the educational price is around $150 (or less).
It’s definitely something for her to think about.

[Steve Edwards]

Hey Mike, Sorry it took so long to get back. I found out from my wife, that they use what they call a broadcast cart each morning. She said that the camera is just hooked up to the school network, and nothing goes through a computer. So, don’t really know how this would work (getting her hooked up to use Visual Communicator), and what equipment that she would need. Any help would be appreciated.

[Mike Kujbida]

Steve, without knowing a lot more about the equipment involved (eg. what’s a “broadcast cart” and how is it hooked to the school network?), it’s very difficult to offer any suggestions.
The best solution may be to use Sam’s earlier suggestion about a painted backdrop but instead of using it for chroma key, have the students paint their own newsroom – or anything else relevant, for that matter.
Maybe even paint five of them, one for each day of the week.
Sorry I can’t offer any other suggestions 🙁

[Steve Edwards]

Thanks, I downloaded the trial version of Visual Communicator, and going over to the school today to actually see what they have.
Thanks again Mike
Have a blessed day
Steve

[Mike Kujbida]

Good luck with it Steve.
Please let us know what you find out.
I don’t how the support forum for Visual Communicator is since Adobe took it over but, back in the Serious Magic days, there were a lot of very helpful folks on it.