Green screen Cyc Lighting Options?

[Ryan J Saunders]

Hello all,


I'm looking for the advice of some pro's with greenscreen build and/or studio experience.

I am building a small/medium sized greenscreen cyc studio (about 25' w x 40' long x 14' high) and want to know about a few things. The ceiling height is 11-12ft, with some parts about 18' high. most of the permanent cyc lights will be placed at around 10-10.5' from the ground and ideally faily close to the wall. I'm looking to do this on a budget (around $6000-10000 for lights) as I dont want to throw a tonne of money into but I definitely want to do it right, and properly as it is very important. So a few $'s more if neccessary is fine.

I want to light the screen evenly from above. I'm thinking of going with something like these guys below

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/387793-REG/DeSisti_4650_210_Cyc_De_Lux_2x55W.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/387804-REG/DeSisti_4660_220_Cyc_De_Lux_4x55W.html

Will these give me nice even lighting, if spaced apart at the right distance and about 10-11' high? Is there a better option than these guys? I have been told that these lights are better because they have asymmetric reflectors so they give a more even light from top to bottom. I know a tungsten bulb version may be cheaper, but I am a bit worried about heat and power cost running long days consistently. I know some people are using kino's such as parabeams or image lights, but would they be able to hit the cyc at the curve well to keep it fairly even?

Any help from someone with experience in this area would be very greatly appreciated. Also, if you have any better recommendation I'm all ears.

Thanks and have a great day.

 

[Joseph Winchester]

I've had great results with the Cinelight Spacelights for lighting a cyc wall. Check them out here: http://www.cinelight.com/tungsten-lights/soft-flood-lights/?zenid=ff2f2eb76e8546f8fb6aee9bd23c726b

I've also used Kino 4x4 banks with their green bulbs installed with great results too.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I believe this book will give you specific instructions on how to light green screen backdrops for optimum VFX results:

The VES Handbook of Visual Effects: Industry Standard VFX Practices and Procedures
by Jeff Okun
published by Focal Press [ISBN #0240812425]

Lighting at the top often has the disadvantage of uneven lighting due to dropoff at the bottom, but I believe the book goes into detail on how to avoid this problem.

 

[chad vachter]

hi there, i have custom built kino flo 8 foot four bank fixtures with kino ballasts and kino tubes, that i used for my cyc wall in the studio i built. it has since closed , as i had my rent raised 2000.00 a month , s
o i would be interested in selling them .
it was 40 long 16 high with a 25 long by 16 high return wall "corner"
they work excellent , and that way your cyc wall is evenly lit on one light switch
talk to me more if interested

 

[chad vachter]

also the kino flo catalog has dfiagrams for lighting green/blue screen