HDCam for Green Screen - ingest as Pro Res or Pro Res HQ?

Hello Experts -
Am moving into new territory here as am in the planning stages for a job that involves lots of Green Screened Talent. Will shoot on HDCam.
The plan is for me to ingest the material to a raid, do the offline, then move the raid and the FCP project to a Smoke on the Mac system for the online. This what I have not done before, as usually we would just recapture the footage for the online on the Smoke.
The end output is not for theatrical projection, it will be displayed (as far as I know) only on large HD screens.
Should I work at ProRes or ProRes HQ for the green screens?
As always, your expertise appreciated.

HDCAM is that compressed format that is 3:1:1 isn't it? Supposed to be all high and mighty, but then there's that.
I'd just do standard ProRes 422. Don't think HQ will get you much.
Shane

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Which material is better for Green Screen?

Which material is better for Green Screen? Polyester or Muslin??

woof
check this out...is same as my link above type material.. is not shiny..is matte...spongy...stretchy...nice. If you have worked an 18 hour day on job and don't wanna do the 10 hour turnaround for next call time...you can even "sleep on it ".
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/pan-am-retro-green-screen-world/
go grips ! ( or was that go vikings ? ! )
ps.. the 'comments' on that web site for pan am are from non pro's... silly ...
they are not comments that have a clue whats up in pro work...sorry..but is fact.
the DIT station ( live during shots ) could mix the background and live shots live...so you 'see' on monitor what you get at end of edit and keying.
trust me, this is very advanced.
dont worry about the small stuff.. just test and shoot and test and shoot and get what you need.. live ..no post work is good work.
dont know how else to say this.. guess you had to be there.
try to imagine live and keyed at same time...melt the pictures in link you see in your head...original with screen, end result with key...is fun

Live type files look grainy and do not fill the background when used for green screen backgrounds.

live type files look grainy and do not fill the background when used for green screen backgrounds. Ideas?

What I want to do is somehow make my entire iMovie project smaller by compressing it somehow but without losing any footage or audio or quality. At the moment the project is a 56GB iMovie project lasting approx 1hr. I have a mixture of miniDV footage, titles created in Live Type (they are better quality than anything available in iMovie) and audio.
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The file size for the LT titles is approx 180MB per clip, the movie requires about 20 or so of these clips, making a very large file size overall.
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Best codec for green screen in FCP or Motion

First--I tried to search for posts on this topic, but I swear I cannot figure out how to search -the discussion forums- on this site. Anyone want to tell me what I'm missing?
My main question is about codecs for keying green screen in FCP. I have always just worked with DV but it does not key very well. I am about to go into a project that involves editing 25-30 hours of studio footage down into about 5 hours of finished product, all of which is going to be shot against a green screen. We're using high-quality non-digital NTSC cameras for the shoot and encoding to hard drive, which gives us the option of using a different codec. Since we need to capture so much footage (various takes, camera angles, etc), I don't have the budget for the hard drive space required to capture it all uncompressed, but I'm looking for something better than DV.
I've seen some people are using DVCPRO 50 for green screen work, and I think I could get all the footage onto a single 1TB hard drive in that format.
Is DVCPRO 50 significantly better than DV for green screen? Is there another codec which would be better to use with FCP/Motion, but still keep my data under 10MB/sec?

Is the difference between 4:1:1 and 4:2:2 some part of what causes the blockiness in DV?
No...the DV compression is what causes the blockiness of DV. It is compressed 5:1, and how it is compressed is the cause of the compression. Mind you, if you shoot to DV tape, then capturing that as DVCPRO 50 will not get rid of the blockiness. that is there when you record to tape. It will convert the footage from 4:1:1 to a 4:2:2 color space for better color control when keying and color correcting. But much of the color information is already lost when you shoot to DV tape. Capturing as DV50 will certainly help, however...and be TONS better than keying as straight DV.
Shane

Is there any support for green screen

I have a few questions
-is there any support for green screen?
-seems like none of the effects can be adjusted like in FCP 7?
-the audio editing is very limited compared to FCP7?
seems sooooo much is missing!
Do you think there is a chance apple will offer a refund?

Sorry to be annoying, but all of these things have been discussed in other threads here!

Best settings for Green Screen Video with Canon Mark iii

HI
What are the ideal camera settings for Green screen video.
Iso?
aperature?
Depth of field settings (best to have the green screen a bit out of focus?)
Any other camera settings would be helpful.
Thanks
Rowby

Hi Rowby!
Thanks so much for writing in about green screen shooting with the EOS 5D Mark III camera. Green screen shooting can come down to some crucial elements and how well you handle the camera and the lighting.
Arguably the most important thing is to have excellent lighting on the screen. Without this, the keys used to replace the green screen will not be accurate. So hopefully you have a good set of lights you will be using to actually light the physical screen.
With regards to ISO, shoot as low as possible. We suggest that you stick in the ISO 200-400 range where possible. With good, high key, proper lighting on the screen this shouldn't be an issue.
Aperture should actually be in the higher end of the range, you would want to stick to apertures around f/8 and above. Again, with adequate lighting this shouldn't be out of reach. This is so the green screen is more in focus, versus having it out of focus, which would not yield successful results.
Use an appropriate lens to the subject, for example if you are doing wide shots- use only the focal length needed for the shoot and no wider. For head shots, close ups- use a lens that will get you close.
Following these suggestions should give you some pretty good results. Remember, if this is your first attempt don't be discouraged, green screen shooting can be difficult to accomplish.
We wish you the best of luck in your endeavor!
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Best approach for green screen over multiple clips?

So I know this may fall under the category of after effects, but starting with a project in premiere with many clips and cuts, what would be the best way to apply green screen over all of these clips? I'd think that making all of these clips after effects compositions would be excessive and not the best approach. So is there a better way to go about doing this?

In these cases it's best that you test with one clip before going all in and having to change direction after much is done. You can get by with Ultra Key in PPro if the screens are done correctly and clean enough. Much will also depend on the expected result. That is, you may wind up doing lots of tweaking for shots that might not pay off if they're quick/action, etc. I usually go round house for AE involving complex shots that need to be really clean, but have opted for Ultra in PPro for quick clips with action. When I do use Ultra Key I use more than one instance of the key. So, test it both ways and use this as an opportunity to know the Pro's of both methods.

Post production process for green screen shoot documentary

Hello: Can someone confirm that this is the best way to continue:
Panasonic HDV footage shot on a green screen - Dvcpro stock
footage converted to Apple Pro Rez 720x480 from tape
the project is a 30 frame DV NTSC project 720x480
build the comps with green screen footage (Pro Rez) 720x480
This is a documentary that has many different source file sizes and codecs. Once I lock the cut, I am going to recompress all the archive and stock footage to Pro Rez 720x480, intercut the comps that I build and burn a DVD. Does this make sense?
Thanks for your help.
Craig

Panasonic HDV
No such thing. DVCPRO HD, or in your case...DV.
This sounds good on paper. I'd shoot and capture a test to see if it is viable, before you spend loads of cash shooting something that doesn't work right.
TEST TEST TEST...
Shane

Can I use two different greens for green screening and keep one without it being keyed out?

I am using a green screen which is your standard light green fabric.
I am also wearing a bottle green cape.
I want to key out the standard green which is no problem. However it also takes out the bottle green on my cape.
Is there a way on either Premiere Pro or After Effects to ensure the bottle green stays as it is without being automatically keyed out?
Many thanks.

shooternz wrote:
rotoscope
There's your answer, most likely. I can think of a few methods you might try, but they're going to be labor intensive, and likely involve some roto.
Most keyers have a threshold setting that determines what colors stay and which ones go. You could keep tweaking that setting in very small increments, and if you get lucky, it might discriminate between two green values.
You might be able to precomp in Ae and use the Change Color plug to shift one of them to a more contrasty green or different hue altogether and create a luma matte.
But, you failed green screen 101, and you gotta' go to detention.
robodog, you're being a bit harsh on Jimmy Simon. He said "Might be worth a reshoot...." I can't disagree. Depending on arahman's situation, a reshoot might be easier and quicker. You never know.

What's the best for green screen filter Color Key or Chroma key?

What is the difference, and what is the best choice for a person standing in front of a green screen.
Color Key or Choma key?
Which offers the most solutions for dealing with variations in the green background, such as occasional wrinkles/seams in the fabric.
Thanks
Rowby

I did mean Adobe Ultra or previously Serious Magic Ultra. I have no personal experience with Primatte, but have heard very positive reports. For relatively simple work with a good green/blue screen, which is properly lighted and not too much wrinkles, Ultra is easy, fast and effective, but it pays to have a look at the tutorials on how to setup a proper key. When you have rather bad lighting on the screen, Keylight is better and adds more flexibility, but is harder to master than Ultra. It also lacks the MSL (Master Set Libraries) capabilities of Ultra, but if you have never used Ultra before, you may be hard pressed to find any of the MSL's from the Serious Magic era around. Adobe has apparently stopped selling those, apart from the basic one which is included with Ultra. Maybe Karl Soule or Mark Mapes, previous Serious Magicians, can shed some light on the future of Ultra in the Adobe portfolio.

Workflow for Green Screen Multicam, Color Correction. (CC 2014)

Hi
What is the best workflow to do a music video shot with 7 cameras (each with 4 takes) on a green screen which would also include green screen stills.
All shot with Consumer Grade cameras at 1920/1080 at the highest resolution (I think 30 fps)
The way I am going about is not efficient.
My tasks are:
Key each 20 minute clip (to get about 2 usable minutes)
Rotate my DSLR video (shot in landscape so I could take stills as well)
Color correct all clips
Create a new cleaned up movie for each clip including: Proper format. Keyed with new background, Color Corrected, Re-encoded as a new movie, Re-imported as 7 new movies, begin to edit.
I was watching some movies about pasting attributes which look helpful and also about nesting sequences which looks like it could save time.
What is the best workflow steps to do all this? Am I going about it the right way by creating new movie clips which are keyed with a new background, color corrected, and reencoded including all the garbage footage? Then create a new multicam project to edit the cleaned up footage?
HELP!

Temporary solution for this was "export xml" after all. I had to disable all graphics and textlayers and delete colorcorrections, and flatten multicam, so i had to redo all grading ja graphics stuff in older premiere after importin FCP xml. But got the work done in time. Won't use cc 2014 in near future unless someone figures out what is wrong with green frames. (well actually now im exporting from older AME, will she if the green frames pops out there too, wouldn't be too much surprised....)

Ideal lighting for Green Screen In un-ideal small room

What is the ideal lighting to be used for a small room that really was not intended for shooting video but I need to usee it beacuse it is all we have, I do not know the exact measurements off the top of my head but its probably 4-5 feet from the subject to the green screen (I know that is bad) and another 4-5 feet from the subject to the camera.

Follow the same rules for any other key but just beware that spill is likely to be a problem.
Add lights and gels on the subject only if that light and color would be part of the scene your placing them into. Can we assume this is just for a talking head with graphic background and not a case were your trying to place this person into a real life scene? If so, think of the colors of the background you'll create and use those color to light the edge of you subject. If they're going into a real scene then look at the light in that scene and light the subject that way.
Basics:
Light the subject as you want them. Make sure you subject lights don't hit the screen.
Light the chroma screen (green) to 50 IRE. Make sure the screen lights don't hit your subject.
Keep the subject as far as you from the screen to avoid spill.
Obviously with the size constraints you have your going to have trade offs but keep in mind any light you put on the subject is light that will be there after you key them.
o| TOnyTOny |o
btw, one of the best "cheats" you can do is the make a graphic background the contains lots of green.

PP2.0 suitable for green screen keying?

Hey guys/gals,
I have PP2.0/CS2 and AE CS2, but don't have much experience with After Effects. I'm planning a shoot involving green screen (chroma color green screen) and am doing some research. I understand PP2.0 is good with keying, but should I go the extra mile and learn how to use After Effects efficiently for this project? I have tracking and static shots planned, so I'm under the assumption it's gonna be AE all the way. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

Kugar, as Harm says, PP keying is mediocre at best. If your lighting is perfect and you've gone to great lengths to avoid fringing on your subject then maybe the PP key would be OK. I recently did some in-PP keying and it was OK, but then my output medium was a small web-delivered flash file.
I'm a big fan of Primatte, but there is a learning curve. Don't even think of attempting it without their companion PDF that comes with the software. And the render times.... yaaaaawwwnnnnn. But for less-than-perfect source footage, it does come up with the goods.
Harm, I was under the impression that Ultra had been dropped from CS4?? Can you still purchase it from somewhere??
Matthew
*edit* The Adobe website says you can purchase the software Stand Alone, but I couldn't find it in the Adobe store??

Painting a studio for green screen work

Hi. I use Adobe Master Suite CS6 (mostly with Keylight in After Effects for my green screen work), and I'm just about to finish building a home studio (20' x 13' x 9' high) - I know it would have been better to have a higher ceiling, but just couldn't swing it.
Anyway, I'm going to be filming a weekly show against a greenscreen on the far end, probably with Panasonic GH4 with gives access to 4:2:2 colorspace. For that (which is my main use), there will usually be 2 people seated at a desk roughly halfway along the length of the room - leaving 8 feet or so past them to the green screen which will be lit separately.
Occasionally I may want to video tape people walking around while talking. And may also tape live music from time to time. Ideally, both of those activities would incorporate a green-screen floor to allow for creative post-work.
I've had the studio sound proofed and will be building acoustic panels, and I'm trying to figure out my best options for
1) painting the walls
2) painting the ceiling
3) the floor is currently a smooth cement slab - not sure if I should leave it alone and just seal it; or if I should paint it green, at least in the back half of the room where talent would be filmed; or put some kind of covering down
I've heard different advice about painting everything black (because it won't reflect stray light, thus gives you good control - downside is all black could make for a dreary work environment
Have considered green on the whole back of the studio - walls, ceiling and floor - would leave green screen options from all angles, but could increase spill of green onto talent and make hard to fix in post
Or white ceilings - since only 9' high, I might need to bounce light off the ceiling while other studios would simply hang lights from above.
Also trying to figure out if I should just use cement slab, put carpet, or linoleum
Thanks for any advice.

The Rosco paint will cover anything in one coat, that' why it is expensive.
There are some very simple rules for lighting sets like the one you describe. Key the short side of the face, 45º angles, fill ratios. If you are new at lighting I'd look at some examples. They are all over the web. Here's something that you probably didn't think of. You don't need a lighting instrument to have a light source. You can use a reflector. With low ceilings I often stick reflectors on the ceiling and bounce lights off them. You can simulate any type of light by bouncing if you have the right kind of reflector. Smooth and shiny will act like a focused fresnel and matte (like a white show card) will simulate a soft box if you point a wide beam at it. In very cramped spaces, to get a pleasing overhead light with the right kind of fill I have often pointed a narrow beam light at a shiny reflector taped to the ceiling instead of trying to rig a light in the ceiling.
If you have room I'd probably light the set with soft boxes or diffused light first and then add just enough fill go fix dark spots in the green screen. Lighting the foreground first, especially in a small studio, will give you just about the right exposure on the back wall because of the inverse square law. There is a real strong temptation to put way too much light on the green screen. For best results the GS must have a lower luminance value than a caucasian face.
Also, remember that only the green screen behind your moving actors needs to be nicely lit. You can garbage matte everything else out and save yourself a ton of work in the studio. I just shot a pilot. There was no green screen involved but it was all on location in small rooms. For the most part I lit most scenes with 2 lights and 4 or 5 reflectors and 4 or 5 flags. If you know what you are doing it's very easy to light small spaces with a few instruments, flags and reflectors. For the setup you described maybe 2 lights on stands in front of the desk and 2 lights high in the back as backlights, a couple of big reflectors on each side of the set to smooth out the green screen and a few flags to control spill and I'd be done.

Live capturing directly into timeline for Green Screen

Basically i am doing a live event where i am using a green screen and people can choose different backgrounds which i will chroma key in but i want to know if it's possible on premier to capture directly into a timeline so i can essential have a chroma keyed output of what it will look like in the program window? I have been able to do this before when using Final Cut but at the moment it looks like I'm going to have to capture it first and then and then just add the clip to the timeline.
Any advice or help would be great, thank you

Got this to work! *Here's how:*
Connect the XHA1 camera to the Macbook Pro via Firewire (Fire 400 out of camera, into Firewire 800 on laptop -- using an adapter since the new Macbooks only have an 800 port).
Turn on camera and open Final Cut Pro 7.
*Final Cut Pro settings (under Audio/Video Settings):*
Sequence Preset - HDV - 1080i60
Capture Preset: HDV
Device Control Preset: HDV Firewire
Click Log & Capture.
Start recording onto tape in the camera.
Start Capture Now.
You're now recording to both tape and the laptop simultaneously. If you stop the camera recording, the laptop will continue to capture without a glitch.
BUT -- if you start the camera recording again (tape) while you're still capturing to computer, your captured file on the computer will have a glitch.
So glad this works ...

HDCam for Green Screen - ingest as Pro Res or Pro Res HQ?

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