Matt Siegel

Hi All, I'm shooting a TVC this weekend which, being for a major manufacturer of solar batteries, is meant to have a high-key "sun-drenched" look. Of course, that means the forecast has suddenly come up with a 90% chance of rain on the day, and I'm wondering what people have done in the past to mitigate this kind of thing. Unfortunately, budget means rescheduling isn't an option, and I need to get at least three ext setups with a backlit, sunny look. We've got M18s and lots of smaller lamps in the 600D/X range, but I'm more wondering if people have had success in the past rigging rain covers over large areas, ie a 20x20 ultra bounce over the location, maybe with an M18 bouncing off it for ambience? It's more about keeping the rain off my talent and making it appear not to be raining than anything else; and then once I've got that, I can worry about how to actually make it look like a naturally sunny day when it's absolutely bloody not. Any experiences in the past that folks have had would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Best, Matt

Thanks Robin! That's all very helpful. Funnily enough, only one of my three actors is blonde, but still, it was a safe bet :)

That makes perfect sense. Thanks so much.

Oh, and regarding bit rate and LOG flavours, I have three options, I suppose: 1. 4K 10bit 422 2. 1080 12bit 444 3. 4K 16bit PRORES RAW Does anyone have thoughts about the pluses and minuses? I was thinking 4K RAW to start but given I’ll be delivering at 1080, maybe it’s better to just get the extra info from 12-bit and save some file size? Regarding LOG and gamma, that does make sense. Anyone with experience of C300 mkii on green screen had more success with one of Canon’s non-LOG profiles?

Thanks to you both, that’s very helpful. In this context, is green screen spill essentially the same as any other light spill that we want to try and control? Conceptually it’s just reflected green light, right?

Hi All, I’m shooting an underwear commercial next week and it’s the first time I’ll be shooting green screen. It’s a series of five short spots and the reason I’m shooting green screen is so that I can change the background in each to a different pastel colour, so it’s not at all complex VFX, I just don’t want to have issues with keying in post. I’m shooting it at an SAE-owned green screen studio here in Byron Bay, Australia. The green screen is about five meters wide by three tall. I’m shooting 4K DCI C-LOG 2 on a C300 MKII at 10-bit 422. It’s all on sticks and lighting is the main thing I’m worried about. I’m planning on lighting the background with two Aputure 300d Mkii’s with Light Domes, an Aputure Nova P300c through a 4x4 of full I grid for the key and a Godox VL 150 for hair/rim. I’ve got a Mole 2K fresnel in my back pocket if I need it, plus a couple of Phottix 1x1’s as needed. None of the videos has more than one actor on screen at a time and the shots are mostly medium closeups, closeups, medium wides, etc, of actors modelling the underwear, so nothing too wide. They’ll be doing a fair bit of moving about, dancing in place to some upbeat music. I guess I’ve got a couple of questions off the bat: 1. Is that lighting going to be enough to cover the background? 2. What’s the best way to insure I have the green screen evenly lit? 3. Any recommendations or suggestions based on your first time shooting green screen? Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions. It’s my first time working with a new client and I really want it to go smoothly. Best, Matt