Neutral Background

DaVinci Resolve

Neutral Background

Posted by Andrew Smith on August 22, 2011 at 8:28 pm

Hello

I included a picture of my first attempt at creating a neutral background over a glossy brick wall. I have a calibrated plasma which sits right in front unfortunately, but I used this setup recently for a client’s indie feature. I am thinking the botero collapse background unit in this picture looks way too wonky and that a larger paper background with stand might just make more sense and look more professional? I have 6500K lighting behind the plasma but not hung properly just yet like they do on ecinema’s website studio pics. I would be spending a few hundred it looks like but to set up and take down each time I have a client over might be a bit of a pain as well.

I am also concerned about the reflection on the ceiling from the Fluorescent 6500K light…does that look problematic to you guys?

I would love to also get advice on other lighting in the room to make it adjustable for non-film work (Web, TV, etc). Right now its dark enough for film work for sure but I wonder if its TOO dark in the room overall – possibly some more D65 lighting in a back corner of the room coming from the floor facing up towards the back wall?? Not sure how to make that look good in a client living room space on a budget, these fluorescent fixtures are not exactly nice floor lamps or designed to look good alone on the floor or a wall.

I sit to the right of the plasma about 10 feet away also against that brick wall at a workstation with my own calibrated monitor and computer monitors for gui.

Any help or pics would be great.

thank you

MacPro 4,1 OSX 10.6.8 / FCS3 / CS5
2.26 ghz 8-core / 24GB RAM
Nvidia GT 120/285 combo

Andrew Smith replied 14 years, 8 months ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

Toby Tomkins
August 22, 2011 at 10:35 pm

Why not paint the wall grey? Get Dulux ‘6000N’ mixed at your local hardware store. That is 18% grey, the same as a grey card. Don’t use off the shelf grey paint as it usually has a little blue in it (from the white they use). Lighting levels depends on your monitoring (specifically the amount of light coming out of the monitor). There’s calculations out there for conversions. 18% grey lit ‘dimly’ with 6500K light works for most scenarios in my experience. Dimmable 6500K LED’s would be nice.

Good luck.
Omar Godinez
August 23, 2011 at 12:46 am

Maybe you can paint your wall with Sherwin Williams SW7071 grey paint. https://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_it_yourself/paint_colors/ideas/color/SW7071/. It’s very close to 18% grey.

Also, consider purchasing the CinemaQuest Ideal-Lume Pro for wall illumination. https://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ideal_lumesb.htm

Omar Godinez
Dallas, Tx.

Resolve Suite:
MacPro5,1 2.93GHz 12-Cores
12GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD-5770 1GB
Film Systems 5-Slot 80Gbps Expansion Chassis w/2 Modified GTX-470s & 16TB RAID5 Storage
FSI LM-2461W
BMD Ultrascopes
Tangent Devices Wave Panel
50″ Panasonic 12 Series Pro Plasma HD-SDI
Cinemaquest Ideal-Lume Pro
Sherwin-Williams SW7071 18% Grey
APC Back-UPS
Andrew Smith
August 23, 2011 at 1:24 am

Well my whole point is that I CANNOT paint this beautiful brick wall grey at all which is why I have tried these other methods…

MacPro 4,1 OSX 10.6.8 / FCS3 / CS5
2.26 ghz 8-core / 24GB RAM
Nvidia GT 120/285 combo
Ben Starkey
August 23, 2011 at 1:50 am

I think I’d consider purchasing a piece of drywall or fiberglass the size you want for back surround, mounting it to the brick wall, and then painting that to neutral grey.

Ben Starkey
Colorist
Andrew Smith
August 23, 2011 at 2:47 am

hmm trying to imagine that and how I could quickly put it up for client sessions and otherwise put away easily for when its just a living room for normal tv / film viewing etc.

thank you for the replies thus far, much appreciated!
Paul Provost
August 23, 2011 at 4:41 am

4′ x 6′ foam core from art supply store
2 or 3 of them should do it
very light and cheap – easy to hang
non reflective surface – available in a close enough grey for your needs

https://www.postandbeam.tv
grade and finish @ post + beam
https://www.facebook.com/pages/post-beam/137967176232067
Andrew Smith
August 23, 2011 at 5:33 pm

Hey Paul not a bad idea. Would I then just paint it 18% gray, also thinking about how to mount in a way that would allow for it to look clean t and unmount when not grading??

I will try to go to have a look today at an art supply store for a solution.

thank you

MacPro 4,1 OSX 10.6.8 / FCS3 / CS5
2.26 ghz 8-core / 24GB RAM
Nvidia GT 120/285 combo

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