Chroma Key

[PriestofDasani]

Anyone here know about Chroma Keying. I am trying to find an easy (okay cheap) way to do this and things keep looking bad. David, what do you use? Does anyone know where you can get inexpensive Chroma Keying paint or cloth. (I know you can get it from Rosco, but it costs an arm and a leg)

More? I want this for a video a few friends and myself are trying to make codenamed Geeks Gone Wild. (we were going to name it this but for some reason it has been suggested that we not )

[BigBird]

Ah, the beautiful chroma key...  When used correctly, can have a startling effect. And when used incorrectly, can have a startling effect.

Unfortunately, I have never been able to pull a chroma key or green screen off very successfully before. The closest I ever came was using the church's green screen wall, which I'm not sure was an official paint. I use Final Cut Pro by the way (AfterEffects probably produces better results). The key here(excuse th pun, for I am punatiously punny) is to light the screen, whatever the color, evenly. The more there are different shades of the color, the more it won't work good. Also, a good idea is to keep the actors as far away from the screen as possible(always annoying to myself) to avoid shadows and the screen reflecting off of the actors.

I have never shopped around for paint or cloth. How much is it at Rosco? And where is Rosco?   =D

Final tip: if you can do it without the screen, do it without the screen. What two items are you wishing to composite?

[NateClarke]

Two other things I would add.

First, I would emphasize increasing the distance between the screen and the actors as much possible.  This for two reasons.
1.  Shadows mean that your screen will be at least two shades of green = keying is even harder.
2.  You don't get any green reflection on the actors.  Your green screen work will be a dead giveaway when you can see a green on the sleeve of the actor.

Second, if you have After Effects (which will make this much easier) blur the alpha channel.  This will soften the edge between the actor and the background and make it all more believable.

You probably will want to mess with backlighting as well.  A good backlighting job will make your life even easier.

Hope some of these help a bit.

 

[Josh]

...and welcome to the board, Nate.  =)  

[PriestofDasani]

For lighting I plan on using the thermonuclear fusion source placed 93 million miles away. (It is supposed to be easy.)

Rosco has paint, cloth and even tape in all three colors. (red, green, blue) None of it is cheap, but it is supposed to be good. You can go here for a list of Chroma Products from Rosco.

I also found an inexpensive program from fxhome, but it is not avaliable yet. (it is called Chromanator) They have some other cool programs that those interested in video and on a tight budget might want to consider. (the programs run on both Macs and PCs)
 

[NateClarke]

Before I had access to some good equipment, my friends and I went to Wal Mart and got some bright St. Patrick's green cloth and rigged up a screen.  The key was to get the screen tight so that no shadows would appear.  With Adobe Premiere there is an option to key out blue or green (which should be the official "green" color) but you can also key out by using an eye dropper and selecting the specific color you want keyed (thus you don't need an exact green color.)
What editting program are you using?  Do you have after effects or access to it?

remember - no shadows, they will kill you key

[Vlad!]

I'm no good at cinematography, but when using your graphics program you can try setting tolerances higher so a larger range of green is made transparent. I don't know how many programs let you do this, and if you're filming outside you probably don't want transparent grass ]_[

The sun uses nuclear fission to produce energy and light.

And if your program allows you to blur the edges of the non-transparent area you won't get as much crappy borders like I had to remove on the smileys

[PriestofDasani]

The sun uses nuclear fission to produce energy and light.

sorry if i wasn't correct, i just copied it from one of those sites, it is intended as humor.

the CAPITALS

[Vlad!]

I thought it was funny, but I still had to correct you. It's my nature, especially with you ;]