Bluescreen with RED

[dave_garcia]

Has anyone shot successfully with RED on a Bluescreen? I know that green is a better choice due to the weakness of the Blue channel but I'm scheduled to shoot on a stage that has $6000 of fresh blue chroma key paint on it. We could hang a green 20by, but I'd rather use more of the space.

We will have great Daylight lighting from 12K HMIs so there won't be any tungsten funny biz.

Can I do blue or is this a major no-no?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

It may depend more on the actors or objects in front of it and how you light it. I think it's possible to work with a bluescreen successfully, but it depends more on what you are bluescreening.

 

[Timo Teravainen]

Sure you can, I have shot a lots of bluescreen with RED, with tungsten lights and CTB 1/4 of 1/2 gel. I have usually used the REC 709 colorspace, the blues become more saturated that way.

Regards,
Timo

Cinematographer and colorist

 

[SDV]

Just done 10 intensive days with bluescreen. In my opinion: no problem at all.
Of course blue is less reflective than green. This is a plus of green, but also anoying due to the very large amount of spill. The same goes of course with blue when you hav reflecting surfaces.
If you have actors or objects containing green (i.e. clothes), go with blue, if you have actors or objects containing blue, go with green. To a certain amount can the post-production companies mask objects (i.e. actor's eyes which are blue or green), but don't make things too hard for them.

Advice: You can use chroma blue tubes in your kino flo's. Get a couple of those from your studio or rental with flags /blackwrap to block their shine forward. These will saturate your blue a lot more and will reduce shadows on the screen.
* of course, keep some distance from the screen with everything (2 meters / yards minimal).

I hope this helps.
All the best with your shoot,
SDV

 

[dave_garcia]

We wound up shooting green. The blue shirts on the talent pretty much sealed that deal.

2 18ks on a 50 foot rag taped to the repainted (home depot chroma key match) floor. 20 feet between talent and cyc.

The keys are a breeze. I'd really like to try digi green next time.