Green screen and camera angles

[Mo Kamal]

I just finished building a green screen for a little bit of personal use but more importantly hopefully to rent out.

 

We have a 28 by 26 foot screen (L shape), form floor to ceiling it is a little less than 10 feet, we have cycs in the corners, and the ceiling is also painted green

 

Yesterday I brought in someone to lay out the lighting as we need fixed lights to light the screen. The guy wants me to forget about the ceiling as part of the screen, because that is were he needs to hang the lights (kino like fluorescents).

 

Now this is my two part question:

 

How often will people renting the place need to use camera angles that would need the ceiling as part of the screen? (the space may be rented out for commercials, Since I do not have much experience in this area, it is very difficult to say what type of shots would be needed)

 

I really hoped that I could have the greatest room possible for camera angles, or do you guys think that lighting the screen from above is worth more than having that bit of extra room for more camera angles?

[Steve McBride]

Whenever I did shoots on our green screen when I was with an advertising agency, we'd never do any looking up shots so you should be fine without the ceiling. Most will be just straight on, if worst comes to worst, you just block out the lights from there with a green blanket or board and light from the back instead of top.

[Walter Graff]

The answer is pretty much never. You only need a floor and wall painted. In fact I would paint the ceiling white, not green. It may simply make for too much green (as in reflections, etc), and sometimes I want a bit of punch so I like to aim a fixture into the ceiling and white would be the best color if I wanted to do that.

 

If you are selling yourself as a green screen stage then the green wall and floor will be fine. But if you are selling yourself as a studio that can also do green screen then you want to paint the walls and floors white, not green. Two reasons, one the studio looks smaller with green than white so might not look as attractive a place for folks looking for a studio. Secondly, most folks want a studio space and want white to work from and not green as a general color.

If someone wants to shoot green screen in this case, you charge them for painting green and also for repainting the studio to white.

[Mo Kamal]

Thank you guys for the responses, this is what I have been told but I just needed to confirm.

 

Though I am wondering why:

 

most folks want a studio space and want white to work from and not green as a general color.

 

Why would they want white? do you mean white that would bey keyed out, or white as the actual color for the background which will remain in the shots after post ?

[Chris Keth]

A ton of stuff is shot on white, from music videos to commercials to a lot of still photography work.

 

Chances are the wall will be painted multiple times anyway. No cyc wall stays one color, it gets painted to suit the task at hand.

[Walter Graff]

Here's what I mean:

 

Are you looking to rent this out as a green screen space or an insert stage? If a green screen studio, great, you can have some clients. But if you rent it out as an insert stage that also can be used as green screen, you can have a bigger draw as raw space is always needed. If that is the case, paint it white to show as white looks better than green when showing the space. You always advertise that the cyc can be any color people need and that you sepcialize in green/blue screen. It simply offers more options for potnetial cleints and does not lock you into an green screen only stage, unless that is what you want it to be.

[Mo Kamal]

Here's what I mean:

 

Are you looking to rent this out as a green screen space or an insert stage? If a green screen studio, great, you can have some clients. But if you rent it out as an insert stage that also can be used as green screen, you can have a bigger draw as raw space is always needed. If that is the case, paint it white to show as white looks better than green when showing the space. You always advertise that the cyc can be any color people need and that you sepcialize in green/blue screen. It simply offers more options for potnetial cleints and does not lock you into an green screen only stage, unless that is what you want it to be.

 

 

Actually, I was planning on just green screen for keying, but because of your post now I'm really thinking twice.

 

I don't think I can go wrong with more options, So I will probably end up doing as you suggested.

 

Thanks for the info :)

Edited September 17, 2008 by Mo Kamal