Green Screen Tips

One of the most accepted rentals in Los Angeles right now is the green screenstudio. I have owned a green screen and white cyc studio for years and I have worked as a gaffer and cinematographer lighting and shooting on these types of cycloramas for even longer. Clients are always asking advice about shooting on a green screen and I'm always willing to do what I can to help them out and give them a quick and easy solution to whatever their dilemma is.

If you look at the red channel you can see the high contrast difference between the screen and the yellow markers, which will be beneficial for tracking. One of the reasons I recommend the yellow circular markers is because you can pick them up at Office Depot or Office Max for really cheap. Avery makes the round adhesive stickers in multiple colors which can come in handy if you are working with a screen other than green. These stickers are also very easy to carry around in your set bag. I recommend not just having markers along the back wall of your screen. It makes for a very flat look and could easily be remedied with the addition of a few markers at different distances away from the camera. It's a good 3D solution. Another option for tracking is to use newspaper. The newspaper makes a really great tracking pattern because of how intricate the print is on it. The green screen I own at Atomic Studios, is 25ft by 25 ft, eventually we intend on having an even larger hard green cyclorama. This size screen can be ideal for the newspaper to be user for tracking. For most shoots it is a good idea to keep the green screen studio Los Angeles a little out of focus. Your post team will thank you for keeping them in focus because it will make their jobs a lot easier. It really isn't a rule on set one way or the other. Some shoot require the markers in focus others will go smoother if you keep the background out of focus. It's really a technical call, but if the markers are definitely going to be needed for tracking, do your post team a favor and keep them as in focus as you can. People during production always over mark television and computer monitors, when they don't need to. It's pretty easy to replace a black screen in post. I don't know why more people don't just shoot with the unit turned off. If you shoot without the green or blue cover you are more likely to get realistic reflections in the television, which can be an asset to your production. A lot of times you can get tracks off of the corners of the screen or some details in television set. The one problem you may run across is what you are picking up in the reflection. Obviously, you don't want to see the camera or crew members and if the actors are reflecting too much in the screen then that can be distracting and you may want to just cover it and fake the reflections later. If you are just catching a generic reflection then keep the set uncovered and save your self some time in post. If you are considering leaving the television or computer uncovered then you should always check through the viewfinder of the camera to make sure that the reflection is nothing too specific or distracting. Sometimes it can be difficult to catch what is in the reflection just by looking at the monitor or camera screen. It never works as well as you hoped it would.

Renting a Green Screen studio Los Angeles can really benefit your production. At Atomic Studios we charge very little for pre-lighting the green screen and we supply you with additional lights, just in case. If you are interested in touring our facilities or have any questions about Green screen studio Los Angeles you can contact me at 323-851-3825 or visit our website www.atomicstudios.com. We are open 20 hours a day and are always willing to answer questions and give advice to filmmakers about green screen studio Los Angeles and other facets of production.