 Green
Screen Fantasy
Building
a Green Screen Wall for More Creative Shots
by Perry Jenkins
We don't just make products for people who produce video; we are people
who produce video. That's one of the reasons our graphics and audio
products are so useful. Every week, our in-house production team shoots
and edits promotional and training videos. We shoot on location and
in our studio, sometimes using special effects to put our talent into
a completely new scene, courtesy of our green wall. You've seen the
effect a million times before, from the map behind the meteorologist
to Superman flying over the Statue of Liberty. The green screen shoot
gives us creative freedom and we can implement ideas immediately,
without rearranging the set and the lighting for every new scene.
In this article I'll share a little bit about how our green screen
wall works.
THE ROOM
The first and most important element of a solid chromakey effect is
the green screen itself. One of our most-used studio spaces is actually
a smallish office. It wasn't originally designed as a studio, so it
has an inconvenient L-shape to it and is rather cramped. You can probably
relate to that.
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| Figure 1 |
THE WALL
The main goal with our wall was to be able to shoot full shots of
our subjects, head to toe. Uniformity is the secret, since the chromakey
effect works by eliminating a color or range of colors from the video
and making it transparent. The biggest problem you face with this
type of shot is the shadowy area where the wall meets the floor. In
order to get the best key, you need this to be seamless. You could
use a roll of green or blue paper mounted on c-stands and pulled out
to give you a seamless wall. Lighting paper can be tricky and, let's
face it: it's paper. Your talent walks on it a few times and it gets
filthy and begins to tear. It may work in a pinch or when you are
on location, but for long-term use, you're going to have put on your
handy man hat and do some constructing.
We built our own custom stage (Figure 1) in our cramped studio. At
nine feet cubed (9' x 9' x 9'), the wall can accommodate two actors
at a time in a standing interview-type situation. You can see that
the entire stage has a broad curve to it, which keeps the lighting
more even. The slope between the floor and the wall serves the same
purpose (Figure 2). We cut larger curved ribs out of plywood and fitted
these together with 2x4s. The frame was then covered with flexible
paneling. Then we slopped a bunch of plaster into the seams and carefully
sanded everything smooth.
WHAT
COLOR IS GREEN?
Many folks building their first green-screen are very concerned that
they get the right color green for their screen. There are companies
that sell explicitly mixed green screen paints. Actually, there is
no magic, industry standard green and just about any florescent green
paint will work. In our experience, it isn't hard to get the local
paint store to mix an essentially pure green. A matte finish is necessary
to avoid bright spots and minimize green splash on your subject.
THE LIGHTS
Once you've got a smooth wall, the next step is to light it. That
is the topic of next month's article.
Perry Jenkins is
Senior Video Producer and Director at Digital Juice.
See Our Wall in Action
Click the DJTV link to see some of the video we've produced. Check out the three or four demo videos ("Editor's Toolkit Demo") to see our green screen wall in action. Well, actually, you won't be able to see it, but that's the whole point, isn't it? |
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