Our New Puppet Web Series! Starship Sassafrass!

crazy chris

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Finally had a chance to watch some your videos today Chris, great work!
Thanks so so much Andrew!!! It's definitely been a learning experience. Figuring out all the technical details of filming and production. But we are having so much fun. Hopefully folks will enjoy it!

cc
 

Buck-Beaver

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Thanks so so much Andrew!!! It's definitely been a learning experience. Figuring out all the technical details of filming and production. But we are having so much fun. Hopefully folks will enjoy it!
It looks like a fun set!

I did notice that some of your composites were a little rough. What software are you using?
 

crazy chris

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Yes, sorry.
Yeah... we filmed with a canon 60d and later found out in post productions that DSLR's are not ideal for chroma key due to an issue with the sensor ...so i now hope to invest in a Sony FS100 (full frame 35mm sensor) ...and if that doesnt get us the results we want then i dont know what will... lol...

At the end of the day...green screening with ostrich feathers will never give you the super duper results we all crave...

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Buck-Beaver

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Well, feathers and fur are always tricky but I don't think the issue is the 60D. While there are some technical issues with the sensor, I've shot on that camera a lot and you can composite very clean images from 60D footage.

I can't tell what exactly is going on without seeing your lighting set-up and AE workflow, but a lot of the shots seem to have green spill, which is just a lighting problem. Make sure your puppets are at least 6'0 away from your green screen (8'0 is preferable). If you're already doing that, you may have to use a hair light (or "Kicker") on the puppets with a gel that is the exact opposite of green/blue (whichever you are using) to neutralize the green light that is bouncing off the screen and hitting your puppets in the foreground. Roscoe makes those, you can look them up online.

Are you using AE's built-in chromakey tools? Because a 3rd party plugin like Red Giant's Keying Suite can make a huge difference with things like hair and fur if you aren't. That package is a little expensive ($700 I think), but much cheaper than buying an FS100!

If you haven't already seen them, check out the keying tutorials on VideoCopilot.net. Andrew Kramer offers lots of great tips and tricks.

Honestly, it's either the method you're using in After Effects or (much more likely) your lighting set-up that's giving you grief. It's possible to get clean composites from footage shot on a $300 T2i, so you don't need a more expensive camera!
 
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crazy chris

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Thanks for all the tips! I am not actually the one who does the visual effects so i will let him know.... The room we shoot our green screen in is set up a bit weird... we shoot from an adjacent room over a little balcony and our subjects have about 5 feet or so of space to stand in front of the screen...

some photos:

https://imageshack.com/i/ewdrsuFKj
https://imageshack.com/i/iqc2OMFvj
https://imageshack.com/i/iqTgeriAj

Our editing work stations are located directly in front of the performers so it limits our ability to move forward much... but i guess we may need to rearrange things a bit in the future...

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