Forum

Notifications

Clear all

A question about Green Screen

Production

Last Post by rjschwarz 15 years ago

5 Posts

3 Users

0 Reactions

728 Views

RSS

Bababooey

(@bababooey)

Posts: 65

Estimable Member

Topic starter

I need to shoot a scene of two people sitting in a truck, talking. Rather than worry about sunlight, shadows, weather and other factors in the background, could I just film the scene using a green background and then later on add in a pre-recorded filming of a local street?

Posted : 07/12/2009 10:13 pm

bjdzyak

(@bjdzyak)

Posts: 587

Honorable Member

quote:

Originally posted by Bababooey

I need to shoot a scene of two people sitting in a truck, talking. Rather than worry about sunlight, shadows, weather and other factors in the background, could I just film the scene using a green background and then later on add in a pre-recorded filming of a local street?

Yes, but, unless you're going to shoot the scene with a "break away" truck (with removable sections to facilitate camera and light placement), there isn't much to be gained.

The amount of work and equipment and post-production compositing will be equal to or greater than what it would take to shoot a scene like this practically on location.

Unless you're thinking of shooting in a very noisy location, controlling the sunlight then lighting your talent shouldn't be too difficult. You might even luck out and get an overcast sky, in which case, you just have to use powered lights. If it's sunny, you likely need to put a large silk (diffusion) frame over the cab of the truck to knock the sunlight down and then you could conceivably use shiny boards to punch the key light into the set, softening that with some kind of diffusion frame.

In this circumstance, you're a bit limited in camera angles which also means that punching light into the cab will be difficult as well. Some kind of soft KINO taped up to the dash (out of shot) could help as a consistent fill. Glare and reflections could also be an issue, so putting a large "curtain" (Duvateen) up in front of the truck can help as well as using a Polarizer on the lens.

To shoot the sequence with greenscreen means putting the truck inside a stage and (presumably) lighting up a large greenscreen curtain or a painting a cyc chroma green. Then, of course, you need additional lighting for the talent and truck itself. But you have reasonably complete control over the environment but you still need to watch for glare on the glass, only this time, the green reflections could cause issues when you go to comp in the backgrounds.

And, the plates you go to shoot need to match ALL of the angles you shoot reasonably well, so you should keep careful track of every angle, the height of the camera, the inclination (tilt), lens used, distance to subject, the focus, stop, and where the key lights are placed on the set so that the plates are shot with the sun in the right position on the backgrounds.

So, for what it's worth, if you can shoot the scene on location, I think you'll save yourself a whole lot of time and trouble. Shooting greenscreen on stage may give you a bit more control, but you're not saving anything on the equipment or work involved.

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com