green screen tips
One of the most accepted rentals in Los Angeles right now is the green screenstudio. I have owned a green screen and white cyc studio for years and I have worked as a gaffer and cinematographer lighting and shooting on these types of cycloramas for even longer. Clients are always asking advice about shooting on a green screen and I’m always willing to do what I can to assist them out and give them a quick and easy solution to whatever their dilemma is. Hopefully, these will help you spend less time messing with lights and markers.
The reason behind this is that you can separate the different components for tracking and keying. If you look at the red channel you can see the high contrast difference between the screen and the yellow markers, which will be beneficial for tracking. If you view the green channel you will see that the yellow markers can easily be keyed out and you wont have to work so hard removing each marker by hand. Avery makes the round adhesive stickers in multiple colors which can come in handy if you are working with a screen other than green. These stickers are also very easy to carry around in your set bag. I recommend not just having markers along the back wall of your screen. It makes for a very flat look and could easily be remedied with the addition of a few markers at different distances away from the camera. It’s a good 3D solution. Another option for tracking is to use newspaper. The green screen I own at Atomic Studios, is 25ft by 25 ft, eventually we intend on having an even larger hard green cyclorama. You just lay all the newspaper down away from the non-repeating and keying area. For most shoots it is a good idea to keep the green screen studio Los Angeles a little out of focus. However, when you use tracking markers it can be a really good idea to keep them in focus. Your post team will thank you for keeping them in focus because it will make their jobs a lot easier. It really isn’t a rule on set one way or the other. Some shoot require the markers in focus others will go smoother if you keep the background out of focus. People during production always over mark television and computer monitors, when they don’t need to. It’s pretty easy to replace a black screen in post. I don’t know why more people don’t just shoot with the unit turned off. A lot of times you can get tracks off of the corners of the screen or some details in television set. The one problem you may run across is what you are picking up in the reflection. Obviously, you don’t want to see the camera or crew members and if the actors are reflecting too much in the screen then that can be distracting and you may want to just cover it and fake the reflections later. If you are just catching a generic reflection then keep the set uncovered and save your self some time in post. If you are considering leaving the television or computer uncovered then you should always check through the viewfinder of the camera to make sure that the reflection is nothing too specific or distracting. Sometimes it can be difficult to catch what is in the reflection just by looking at the monitor or camera screen. One thing that absolutely never ends up how you planned is to feed a color to the unit thinking that it will easily be keyed out later. It never works as well as you hoped it would.
Renting a Green Screen studio Los Angeles can really benefit your production. Most studios offer great deals and can even give you a price quote on a pre-lit green screen. At Atomic Studios we charge very little for pre-lighting the green screen and we supply you with additional lights, just in case. If you are interested in touring our facilities or have any questions about Green screen studio Los Angeles you can contact me at 323-851-3825 or visit our website www.atomicstudios.com. We are open 20 hours a day and are always willing to answer questions and give advice to filmmakers about green screen studio Los Angeles and other facets of production.
About the Author:
Liza Martin
Second Voice
Los Angeles, California, United States
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Green Screen Tips
Video Tips &Tricks ep01: How to make a green screen light variable