Shooting in green-screen

I was on a job last week where we were tasked with setting up a green-screen configuration to capture multiple “Video Data Sheet” – incidentally, a great way to generate lots of video assets at a low per-unit cost.

What I want you to see is how much space is required for the set up, and how much gear is involved – be sure to allow plenty of time for setup and take-down (this needed three hours to set up, two to “strike” and load out).

Shooting in green-screen is not hugely complex or difficult, but it does have to be done precisely right – if not, plan on hour after hour of extra editing trying to fix a poor quality chroma key (the “key” is the critical zone where the speaker is composited onto the background). And, in the end, likely failing anyway.

But done carefully, the result can be an almost seamless composite of speaker and background. Here’s a sample of the final product where the “key” is so clean and crisp the individual hairs on the top of the speaker’s head stand out:

Consider Video When Planning Your Live Event

Just returned from the Bay Area where I captured a live “Town Hall” presentation by a client’s top management.

The meeting took place in a huge, concrete-floored building with a giant white screen at the front, and minimal artificial lighting – probably the worst conditions imaginable for videotaping speakers. Fortunately, the client had the foresight to request that I bring a battery of powerful lights with me, which helped enormously.

What should that mean to you?

If you have a live presentation coming up soon that includes videotaping the speakers (a great idea, as there may be many times the number of viewers who watch online than are present in person), plan for the lighting requirements of video. Regardless of the size or configuration of the room, you should have a couple of lamps, more or less balanced to the lighting already in the room (artificial or daylight), each placed at about a 45 degree angle to the speaker. At the very least, your speaker should be brighter than the background.

PROTIP: lots of speakers pace as they speak, so make sure your lights are placed where he or she will always be in the spotlight.

Multimedia Club Promo

This is a promotional video my son, Andy, made for his Multimedia Club at the High School he attends. Great Job, Andy. What may not be obvious, is Andy played both of the main acting parts in this movie, as well as directing and editing it.

Watch Out For The Schpoikus

It’s kind of a nonsense word for a very serious thing. Plus background on two of the most common face lighting approaches: