Greenscreen - not the same q's as before

[Guest Christopher Wedding]

Actually just one question for all the film guys here.

 

Shooting S16 probably 200T maybe 500T,

Mostly closeups and mediums. Not blowing

up, just transferring to HD. Pickups for a

film shot on 35mm 500T.

 

I've shot plenty of greenscreen, but all acquired

digitally. I've also shot a bunch of film, but

never a greenscreen with film.

 

That said, should I still consider opening up

around 2/3rds of a stop for a denser negative

or not when shooting green screen?

 

Cheers,

Chris

[John Holland]

No you dont need to do that any chance you can use a blue screen much better with film .

[Michael Nash]

There's no harm in overexposing slightly (1/3 stop or so) for a slightly denser neg. if you like. It may even help the grain structure of the 500 ASA film a little for a cleaner matte. But it's not that big a a difference, really. If it's closeups and mediums only, you should be able to get your lighting bright enough to use 200 ASA for the least grain in 16mm.

[John Brawley]

I've shot plenty of greenscreen, but all acquired

digitally. I've also shot a bunch of film, but

never a greenscreen with film.

 

That said, should I still consider opening up

around 2/3rds of a stop for a denser negative

or not when shooting green screen?

 

Cheers,

Chris

 

You most definitely should not overexpose the greenscreen. Colour saturation decreases as you increase exposure. You want saturation not less grain with less saturation. You should expose it on key or if anything slightly under. You may however wish to overexpose your foreground elements and this may help with separation and spill as well. So background on key and foreground +1 would be fine.

 

I have also found the Kino blue or greenscreen tubes work very well for increasing the relative saturation with regards to overall lighting level and being a softer source, they also tend to hide imperfections in the screen.

 

Also, if it's 16, you should try to get one of the steadier 16 cameras, such as the Aaton XTR's or the 416. Very important as 16mm is more susceptible to image instability.

 

jb