Cheapest blue screen.

[Paul Bruening]

I've been volunteered to shoot a kids', movie making workshop as part of my town's film festival. They want to do blue screen but have no money. I told them to just buy a cheap, blue tarp from the local Walmart and stretch it from ropes. I know I'll have to control the lighting angles to avoid the sheen and ping off of the plastic. Are there any other things I should watch for? Has anyone used this cheap-a** method before?

[Scott Fritzshall]

Good luck. Tarp is not only highly specular, but also typically highly wrinkly, which means you'll probably have all sorts of inconsistencies in the brightness of it, not to mention the "pings." Get some blue fabric or blue paint instead.

[David Mullen ASC]

I'd go with a blue bedsheet before I'd go for a blue tarp, but either way, you need to stretch it tight on something.

[Chris Keth]

Why not paint something? You don't have to get the paint made for bluescreen. You could just find a good saturated blue and it would work fine.

[Kenn Christenson]

Try the poster paint from a local craft store - they are usually highly saturated, and as long as you can, basically, leave the backdrop alone, once it's painted - it should hold up fine.