Well...one doesn't usually use a hammer to make noodles. The right tool for the right job I suppose. It's nice to have Chroma Key in the toolkit - especially when I want Bob to fly through space and land on Pluto. 'Twould be expensive otherwise. Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

The easiest look is also the most modern:

Shoot the interview against a background of black velvet, ideally Tuff-Lock (a vinyl-backed velvet-like velour).

This material is designed to be seen by the camera as a deep black.

Unlike greenscreen, it doesn't require any lighting, and you get the modern look (often seen on PBS especially) by lighting the interview subject with a single soft light source (softbank, silk frame, or a reflective white board) from the side.

I add the minimum amount of fill that allows the camera to show some detail in the shadows, but that's just a matter of style.


(Note that Duvetyne is not suitable for on-camera view (neither was it designed to be), it is too shiny.)

(And a few TV stations are now using EL, electroluminescent lighting, to cover a wall behind their newscaster or weathercaster. Looks like a giant night light and uses about as much electricity, perfect active green screen that doesn't heat up the studio. About $4K for all the bits right now, soon to be much less I suspect.)

Bjorn, You said:

"Shoot the interview against a background of black velvet, ideally Tuff-Lock (a vinyl-backed velvet-like velour). This material is designed to be seen by the camera as a deep black."

Would this allow me to overlay a video/still background in say a corner then pan/scan into it for effect? How do you use a black BG?

Yes, you just put the new video/still on a separate layer on top of your interview, using Vegas' pan/crop.

Al Min,

Good you brought this up and thanks to the responses for I do still want to get a green screen -- but this reminded me to take the proverbial step back and re-consider things in "Do-I-really-really-need-green-screen-in-this-scene?" mode.

As far as the adding a smaller non-green screen clip to an interview etc. on a track above, there is actually a term for that (they use it in news programs to the left or right of the news anchor) but it's slipping my mind right now.

That said, if one takes the mentioned PBS shows, i.e. Charlie Rose style black backgrounds, they usually just cut away to a clip or whatever then come back to the interview/talking heads scene.

So it's again another "To-do-or-not-to-do?" thing. It's all a matter of style and how it flows best. I'm one of those people who has to continuously trim back -- I tend to over-produce, get too complicated, be it in video making or music-arrangement.

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Schweetheart) is a useful and frustration-reduction universal principle :)

There's a seriously bad tendancy in this business to do things because they can be done. I've been down that road myself both with vision and sound.
A good saying from people I know that have actually worked in television for decades is "It Is What It Is". Two boring to look at and listen to people sitting down talking will always be boring no matter what is done to them in post. You could CK in a couple fornicating and sure you'll keep the viewers eyes glued to the screen but you can bet your last nickel you've totally lost the real content of your program.
This is where a different skill is needed, managing the subject. Mostly people are not boring in real life, they just get intimidated by lights and cameras. Getting their minds off all the 'stuff' around them so they slip into their true nature can be what saves the day.
I watched a painful tape as I was transferring it. A gent who in his natural environment can talk for hours and be very interesting, decades of experience doing it for televison. All he had to do was read two sentences but after 30 minutes he could not get it right. Finally someone with a clue walks onto set and says "just get him to say the lines instead of trying to read them". Next take he nailed it.

Bob.

What kind of a question is that?

You do green screen because there is no other way to do certain things. You don't do a green screen shoot and then wonder why. You decide what you want to do, then use green screen if that's the only way to achieve what you want, otherwise you don't use it.

The only exception I can think of is if you wanted to keep some flexibility in case you changed your mind later and wanted to use a different background.

It's a perfectly good question from a learning amateur. I've only done it once, and I wondered what the advantage was. It seemed to me to be a huge drain on processor power extending rendering times for short clips enormously - 14 minutes = over 7 hours for instance. While I like the power and the freedom for opening up more possibilities, I just don't know if the completed work is any better for CK.

Quote:
"You decide what you want to do, then use green screen if that's the only way to achieve what you want, otherwise you don't use it."

How do you know what you want? Can you give me some situations please where CK was
the better choice.

Situation 1 - No Chroma Key - The background is limited to what was actually in the background.

Situation 2 - Chroma Key - The background can be anything your imagination can come up with.

Some examples would be a sci-fi movie or show where you want to use actors and CG backgrounds, or inserting real people into games. You have no choice but to use CK.

Now I can do green screen, why would I want to?
cause you are a weatherman, or a cheezy magazine show , or a scifi dude.

I have never seen as much grenscreen /white background stuff as in the last 18 months,, a money issue very (relatively) cheap to do a national spot with one locacation and one actor ,,,thankfully seeing some new spots now without it.

I was recently at the Biltmore Estate and took the tour of the place ,and at the end of the tour of this castle you and yours could buy a picture of you in front of the magnificent castle.. er rather a greenscreen ... very strange

>"...My question remains - why do we use green screen?"

in a word: Cost.
Same consideration as CG vs sets or miniatures etc... With the right software a smaller broadcast or web video studio doesn't need to invest in actually building a studio, but it looks like they did viewing the stream live. Roving reporters don't actually have to *Rove*. ;-)

I had this wonderful picture in my mind of the subject seated to the left and pictures of his life would fade up, fade away, take over the screen etc, etc. The interview actually turned out to be a husband and wife seated on a brown couch that came up to their shoulders leaving very little room in the end for much change in the bg. I'm now wondering whether I should have taken my own chairs and set them up giving more space for a CK background. Or even green folding directors type chairs so that they could be keyed out. While the posibilites are there, I'm seeing more and more complications creeping in and more time taken up with setting the scene than actually shooting.

A good example of what goes wrong when the shoot isn't planned.
You don't need CK to do this, what you need is planning.
Simply showing the photos is ineffective, the connection between what's being said and the photo could be very tenuous. Better to get the talent to introduce the photo and then simply show the photo full screen. Printing out the photos, putting them into an album and having the talent go through the album on camera should be very effective, it gets their mind off the camera and gives a natural performance.

Bob.

Just wanted to know if you have used this Tuff-Lock before. We are planning on doning some special video and using a couple of large screen TV's to add to the project.

Have seen a number of sets which are all black except for a couple of items.

If you can advise about this item before we puschase any, we would be greatful.

Thanks,
Jeff

Im also quite interested in this.
Unfortunately FilmTools want USD 47 for a roll and USD 250 to ship it down under. B&H seems to have a very similar velour for the same price at a much more reasonable shipping charge.
Of minor concern the Tuff-Lock is vinyl backed and is not flame retardant. Not a worry for me as no indandescent lamps but could be a concern for some.
One thing I can vouch for is the typical cloth used on stage is not good at sucking up photons, I'm therefore interested in something better.

Bob.

How do you know what you want? Can you give me some situations please where CK was

I said,



Bottom line, no way to create an artistic background in place, or they need to be someplace else. Lastly when you need to do a unifying background with folks in very different environments.

As for the Tuff-Lock material... It is good way to quickly stick infinity black on a surface on camera. The vinyl back makes it easy to apply and opaque without having to be heavy and thick . I use real velour instead, but it is very expensive. I just happened to get my hands on some retiring stage drapes. Otherwise I could not have afforded to carry it. Velour is inherently flame retardant. It is the vinyl backing that causes the problem.

Situation where CK (not green screen) solved a major problem. Needed about 40 corporate logos for an elaborate credit roll. Client did not have art work, but did have letterhead and business cards from all 40 companies that had underwritten the event.

We used CK to eliminate the backgrounds of the cards and letterhead -- mostly white -- so that we could super the logos over a complex moving background. Only in a couple of instances, where white played an important role in the corporate design, creating a white-on-white situation, were we unable to get good clean keys.

Solved a major problem at virtually no cost.

Jack

"The easiest look is also the most modern:"

or really old.

Prior to broadcast television going color around 1965 the only keying was level based using black backgrounds. This continued into the early 70's for titling. I remember one of the local TV stations used a restaurant menu board with the little white letters that fit into the black slots and a b/w camera. With a little careful lighting and keying level it was quite passable.

That finally ended with the introduction of the Vidifont character generator in 1971.

Larry

Larry, I did that quite regularly at my first job as a tech in a community college TV studio (1974) until we got our first CG (can't remember the make though).
We also used black Letraset on white paper as we had access to a much wider variety of fonts this way.

Mike