Ken Lowe

Thanks to everyone for your comments so far and all that you have said has been taken on board. Michael, just to make it clear, the floor and timber panel hiding the ground row are in fact painted with matt green chromakey paint which is not quite the same shade as the green screen but slightly lighter. On Friday we intend to re-rig the lighting set up, removing the ground row and reinstalling it on the top lighting bar. This lets us remove the timber panel totally and solve one problem. As to the floor, we are going to use 'blacks' (heavy black drapes) to minimise the bounce back from the space lights. All of your suggestions will be tried and I'll let you know the outcome. Thanks again, And I agree Phil, flying is a pain in the arse!!!

Hi, I am lighting gaffer shooting a 15 week video drama which includes a fair amount of 'green screen' shooting (flying sequences). The 'screen' is 60' x 25' and is suspended from scaffolding bars and the floor has been painted in green chromakey paint and is 60' x 60'. The lighting set-up suggested by the DOP is 2 rows of 8 x 1Kw Iris 1's to light the screen. One row suspended on a bar at the same height of the screen and the other as a 'ground row' at the base of the screen. Both rows are 10' from the screen and the individual heads are 6' apart with 250 diffusion fitted to make the lighting as even as possible. A 3' high timber board 60' long has been painted to match the floor and is angled at 45 degrees to hide the ground row. Above the floor area are 4 x 5Kw space lights, equally spaced at 12' to form a square, the nearest 2 lamps to screen are approx 20' away. All 4 space lights have full length black skirts fitted and 250 diff on the colour frame. The 3/4 back lights requested are 5Kw fresi's suspended on the ends of the green screen bar and side lighting the flying rig is a 10Kw fresi. A 2Kw fill is at the side of the camera which is square onto the screen. All the lamps are supplied via dimmer racks. A brief camera test has been shot but the results are not so good, problems with reflective floor paint and the the angled timber causing a not matching green screen, which, incidentially has been dimmed considerably. With out stepping on the DOP's toes does anybody out there have any experience in green screen lighting and make a few suggestion to put forward?