RED & Blue Screen

[Pat R. Notaro III]

Shooting a Subway commercial and the client has chosen blue screen.

I have shot numerous spots on RED1 using green screen but not blue. Hoping someone could send me a link to a clip of something shot on blue pre-keying so I can get an idea of noise issues etc.

Suggestions and tips are welcomed.

Thank You!

Best,
PNO

 

[Eric Haase]

there were some great examples posted by someone (i think they were on fxphd or somewhere). They shot the same subject on blue and green screen, under daylight balanced and tungsten balanced sources. They found the worst results were from dark, tungsten lit blue screen. The conclusion about blue screen was that if you have to shoot it, use daylight sources (HMI or a blue filter with tungsten) and light it a bit brighter than you might for film. This was back on Build 16 or 17 but I still think you're better off with either HMI's or at least half blue filter. I tend to put my green or blue screens at 40-45 IRE to avoid noise (viewing REC709 Build 20 or 21).

Maybe someone here has the link to those examples?

 

[jimhare]

Build 20 also made a massive improvement to blue screen, to the point where many say tungsten and daylight both work fine.

Just make sure you light it properly and do good testing on set.

Did you tell the client that green is preferred for technical reasons? Seems strange they would want to dictate the color of the screen.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Going to say the same thing as jimhare. Light it well, daylight balance lighting on the blue screen (you can get away with tungsten on green in many situations). I understand the blue. Wouldn't want to be shooting lettuce and green veggies against a green screen.

Shoot tests while lighting the screen. Shoot black cards / noise plates too so you have noise samples to work with and noise reference for compositing / keying.

 

[Luca Immesi]

We did a blue screen shooting with build 21, mixed lights, the most part daylight and a tungsten bank from the ceiling. Very good keying.
This is the link to the flickr backstage made with iphone
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esperimentocinema/sets/72157622597270930/

 

[Pat R. Notaro III]

Thank you for all the input.

Great to be part of a community that really cares!

Best,
Pat

 

[jimhare]

This community is the best! Wouldn't want to be a camera owner without this group.

Red tech support is fantastic, but it wouldn't be fair to ask them about lighting and all the cool stuff we learn from each other here.

 

[Rich Schaefer]

I did a blue screen shoot build 20 that keyed with no problem! We lit the Blue screen with the Kino-Flo "super blues". The talent was lit with tungsten. The camera was balanced at 3200.