Michael Sousa

Eliminating wires vs eliminating a highway of cars passing by are 2 completely different things. Like stated above, you could roto it. If you have a high enough resolution and good colour sampling, and a lot of time on your hands, it might work out nicely. Then again, if you had high resolution and colour sampling, green screening would be possible. Keep in mind, you really can't roto it in final cut because for some stupid reason you're only given 8 verticies to work with. I suggest After Effects, or another compositing program to cut a nice mask. Hope all goes well, Goodluck!

Will do :lol: Thanks for all the info, its been extremely useful to my "DIY" education. I think I will sign up for those courses, and I'll let them know you referred me.

Can 3d tracking be done in After Effects? Thanks so much Scott. I have checked the website you recommended, and it seems priced very attractively. I might sign up for some courses as soon as exams are over.

Hate to double post, but I had also heard that shooting with a higher shutter speed will help reduce motion blur, and give cleaner edges. Is there any truth to this? Again sorry for the double post, and thanks for the reply.

Thank you Scott for that informative post. 1) Is their a way to know which colour is best regarding which colours work best with which screens? I did not know that about brown vs. blonde hair. Or is it simply experience? 3) Could you elaborate on the tracking marks? How does it relate their movements in 3d space? Is their a way to find out its movement in the z-axis by looking at the change in size? Is it by eye? or are their ways to exactly measure it? 4) Also, you mentioned keeping the screen one stop under the key. Do you mean the subject? Or just the key light on the subject. Again thanks for the detailed response. I'm quite happy about discovering this forum!

Hello. I am for lack of a better word, a newbie, when it comes to VFX. I'm also disadvantaged as I am an economics major, and have never studied filmmaking in any capacity. However, I have for the past 1 1/2 years, studied cinematography from any source possible. (mostly books). I understand the basic concept of chroma key but I am confused about a couple of things, that I was hoping could be cleared up on this forum. 1) When should I use Blue vs. Green in a chroma keying situation. I heard something about blue being further away from red on a vectorscope. 2) When the desired shot is a focus pull to an element that will be in the matte, is it better to shoot the footage with a focus pull, or save it for post. Does the lens create a blur around the edge at some point in the transition, making it difficult for an accurate key? 3) In many behind the scenes, where I see professional VFX being done, I notice these green x's of tape on the background. I haven't found any literature online about them. My guess is that they are reference marks for the compositors. Could anyone validate this for me? 4) Are there any professional methods to pulling the "perfect" key? My understanding comes from having the actor as far away as possible from the blue or green, because the further away, the less spill. Also having the background and the subject separately lit. From my understanding it is usually common practice (depending on the nature of the intended composite) to light the subject in tungsten, or anything with a 3200K colour (yes, i'm canadian) temperature, and the background with fluorescent, or green filtered light (in this case assuming the chromakey screen is green). This allows the colours to be more separated in the vectorscope allowing for a cleaner key. Are there any other things I would need to know in order to pull a "professional" key. 4b) I guess what I want to know in general, is what separates your average chromakey work from the absolutely astounding? This is my first post, and I feel it warranted a small intro. Sorry for it's length. Thanks in advance, Michael Sousa