Kiera James1
Second Voice
Los Angeles, California, United States
The term Green Screen LA is fast becoming a very popular buzz phrase in the Los Angeles / Hollywood area. Full of confusion as to the true definition of what the difference between a Green Screen LA and just plain Green Screen really is. It has recently become very clear to me what exactly what Green Screen LA actually means.
Very close subject to Green Screen background ratios can often adversely effect on the lighting of the subject and at the same time affect the ease of green bounce spill suppression. Lets say hypothetically, you have to be at a F1.6 on a HVX-200 just to get a proper exposure on the green screen la background (around 70 ire, but I wont argue that in this article) It will be very easy to over expose your subject. Every green screen la owner will have two quick solutions to over exposing your talent other that adjusting the iris. Now remember that you can’t stop down because you will under expose the green screen LA. The first quick solution that the green screen la owner might suggest would be to scrim down the light or use a lower intensity light fixture (if you just happen to have one). That sounds logical right? Well not so fast… What if you are going for a film noir or very high contrast look? Not going to happen unless you rig some serious negative fill on the fill side of the subject or talent. This is all well and good unless the subject / talent or camera moves. Small oversights like this are what make subjects have that cut and pasted look in the final product. Not going for a film noir or very high contrast look? Cool, well you do want an eye light right? So your talent at least looks alive? Here is the next of many problems that can and will result from a close subject to Green Screen background ratio. A noticeable eye light now heavily affect the over all look and feel of the light in addition to the contrast ratio primarily because of the eye light to key light ratio is now way too close. another very important reason not to get the subject to Green Screen background ratio too close is to keep the green spill to a minimum. In many green screen LA type of studios there is no attention at all paid to green spill suppression. Huge huge huge mistake. Yes you can pull some green out of the subject / talent in post. Just don’t forget that what ever color you pull out you also pull in the opposite.
Shooting wide open or “WFO” (W is for wide and O is for open, you can finish the equation) is common way of achieving a shallow depth of field and I of course do it all the time when there is not enough light to shoot at an F 2.8. When it comes to shooting green screens it far more effective to back the camera up and shoot at the longer end of the lens to achieve the shallow depth of field look. In my opinion 50 feet from the green screen back wall is no where close to enough to space to have the much needed freedom to shoot on the long end of the lens. Here at atomic Studios we have almost 200 feet from the green screen back wall giving you, in most cases the ability to easily shoot head to toe at the long end of the lens
Atomic Studios green screen rentals are always for 24 hours and we are often on hand to help out and answer any questions you may have about our green screen located in LA
Click the home button on the left for more info…
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