blue screen technique

[Peter H]

hi
i was wondering if anyone has dabbled in any blue screen work. i wouldnt mind having a go. can anyone share some advice or recomend a good site. i only have an analogue video camera. does this make a difference?

Thanks

Peter H

[Conquest10]

no the camera won't really matter (as long as it takes clear video). just make sure the set is well lit. also make sure the person is not wearing any blue/green (depending on what color you use). green is generally easier but tends to bleed more. so you have to light it better and make sure the subject isn't too close to the screen. blue is used more for action scenes.

[tgpo]

I've gone some with After Effects. The best advice is lights, lights, lights and lights. If you don't properly lights the blue/green screen then you'll end up having to re-tape it or just mask it in After Effects. But make sure you don't light to the point where it is washed out white. It needs to just keep the backdrop a constant color.

[Rond66]

Another term for Blue or Green Screen is Chroma-Key.

See these sites?
http://www.seanet.com/users/bradford/bluscrn.html

http://www.greatdv.com/post/bluescreen.htm

http://www.howstuffworks.com/blue-screen.htm

[Conquest10]

I've gone some with After Effects. The best advice is lights, lights, lights and lights. If you don't properly lights the blue/green screen then you'll end up having to re-tape it or just mask it in After Effects. But make sure you don't light to the point where it is washed out white. It needs to just keep the backdrop a constant color.

i use after effects, too. its the easiest thing i've used for blue screen. just select the color and BAM its gone.

[tgpo]

i use after effects, too. its the easiest thing i've used for blue screen. just select the color and BAM its gone.

Exactly. It's almost too easy. But again, while you can change the color tolorance, constant color is critical.

[Immortal_MJS]

After Effects is really good for Keying though recently I've been trying out Avid Xpress DV 3.5 and found it to be even better, as you'd hope and expect, with many more features.

Here's two PDFs on Lighting and using keying in AFX:

Lighting

Keying in AFX

[Peter H]

i have ulead video studio 6, has anyone tried it with this program? thanks for all the help anyway, ill do some more research.

Thanks
Peter H