what do YOU use for a green screen?

flippin wrote on 12/3/2004, 5:17 PM

Red96TA,

I went to a fabric supply shop and bought cobalt blue fabric to make blue-screen backgrounds; however, I typically have a lot of time to set it up and smooth out the wrinkles because I mostly do stop-motion animations with it.

Depending on how ambitious your green-screened video clips are going to be, you might consider a large portable piece of fabric for setting up those shots. Caveat: It's not trivial to remove large wrinkle-shadow flaws in post, so lighting should be good.

Best regards,

Lee

goshep wrote on 12/3/2004, 5:38 PM

I purchased 27 yards of royal(ish) blue broadcloth on sale for $1.39/yard. Sister-in-law sewed it all together and created a 10x15 backed "screen". For hobby use it works pretty darn good but as was mentioned it will need a good steaming to de-wrinkle and well placed lights to minimize shadows.

The labor was free and I'll let you do the math on the material.

Some day when the budget permits and there is a legitimate need for it, I'll spring for a real screen or build a set and use the real paint. Until then, this is an affordable means of getting my feet wet.

Spot|DSE wrote on 12/3/2004, 7:20 PM

With secondary color correction, you don't NEED a good factory built screen, they're just convenient. However....you'll be fine with most any fabric that doesn't reflect light, or rather is very flat in pitch. You can also use most any color of flat paint, but chromakey green is a great color to key with.

craftech wrote on 12/3/2004, 8:46 PM

Although I haven't done it myself I would go to Home Depot or someplace that sells vinyl flooring sheets and buy the cheapest ugliest one you can find, flip it over and use Kilz primer on the bottom then paint it with a chromakey color. Use 2x4s on the top and bottom as stretchers and hangers.
Not very portable though.

John

Coursedesign wrote on 12/3/2004, 9:20 PM

If you don't mind spending $100-150, you can get the good stuff. Foam backed material as used by many studios when they don't use a painted cyc.

See for example http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=79005&item=3857154263&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

This doesn't wrinkle easily at all and has very low glare (specular highlights that can take extra work to remove).

JackW wrote on 12/3/2004, 10:05 PM

We've used photographer's backing paper, a heavy matt finished paper that comes in very wide rolls and a large assortment of colors. With care you can lay it on the floor, then continue it right up the wall to the ceiling so there's no hard edge where floor meets wall. It isn't durable but for a down and dirty solution for a single shoot of a talking head or product demo it works fine. We've even used it for two actor dramatic scenes. You can get it at any full service photo store.

A large blue tarp from the hardware store is another down and dirty solution. It's far from ideal, but can work in a pinch. Hard to keep the wrinkles out, though.

Jack

goshep wrote on 12/3/2004, 10:27 PM

The tarp also reflects ALOT of light. Definitely the quickest and cheapest of the choices though.

Chanimal wrote on 12/3/2004, 10:51 PM

I purchased a large flat fiberboard panel at Home Depot (6 x 8 ' I think was the dimension) for about $5.00.

I then painted it with bright flat green paint (several coats). It is pretty light and I store it sideways along a wall in the garage. Takes a minute to pull out and can also be rolled on the bottom to create a seamless key.

I then light it evenly and it works great. You can see an example of a fun music video I created entirely over greenscreen at:

http://www.vegasusers.com/vidshare/

It's currently on the 2nd page (26-50) dated 10/11/04 and called Chanimal-Candy.

Prior to this I used a green sheet and taped it to our 62" TV (tight to pull out the wrinkles). Here is a sample of this greenscreen setup:

http://www.chanimal.com/videomaker/GreenScreen.JPG

This particular setup produced a perfect key for the particular video I shot during this day (i.e., I selected one color and the entire background disappeared (like when I have a transparent imaged imported from Photoshop).