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Buck-Beaver
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I know bluescreen/greenscreen questions often pop up and while I was putting together some film/video production resource pages I came across this great guide to making your own blue/green screen for cheap:
http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy...rticles/photography/homemade_greenscreen.html
Haven't tried this myself, but I thought some people here might find it helpful. Of course a blue or green screen is practically useless without proper lighting. If you don't know very much about lighting for film and video, you should Google the phrase "3 point lighting" to find tutorials and more information. My favourite three point lighting tutorial is this one by Andrew Whitehurst.
Here are some links to good chromakey lighting articles:
http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/ChromaLighting.htm
http://www.signvideo.com/ltchromky.htm
If you have a limited budget you can buy photoflood lights with stands fairly cheaply at professional photography stores or find them on ebay. Some people recommend using halogen utility lights (like the kind from Home Depot) but these should generally NOT be used for blue/green screen work because they distribute light unevenly and it causes problems when you try to composite your footage.
Really, the key is just to have an evenly lit backdrop and your puppets have to be at least 4-8 feet away from it. It's also a very good idea to use a back light or "kicker" with an amber-coloured gel (I think one of the articles mentions that too) on your subject or puppet.
Once you get to the stage where you have to composite your footage probably the best tool is Adobe After Effects if you can afford it or get access to a copy. A good AE compositing tutorial can be found at http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/software/aftereffects/hobson_tutorial/index.asp. Adobe offers free 30 trial versions on their website and students can get heavily discounted copies.
If you can't get your hands on AE, compositing can be done using Photoshop or even Photoshop Elements, but I don't recommend it. I had to do this once five years ago on a three minute clip and it was painfully time-consuming.
Keep in mind most of the tutorials and links I've listed here are written with low-budget experiments by film and video enthusiasts in mind. They're in no way a comprehensive guide to professional blue/greenscreening.
I hope this is helpful stuff!
http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy...rticles/photography/homemade_greenscreen.html
Haven't tried this myself, but I thought some people here might find it helpful. Of course a blue or green screen is practically useless without proper lighting. If you don't know very much about lighting for film and video, you should Google the phrase "3 point lighting" to find tutorials and more information. My favourite three point lighting tutorial is this one by Andrew Whitehurst.
Here are some links to good chromakey lighting articles:
http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/ChromaLighting.htm
http://www.signvideo.com/ltchromky.htm
If you have a limited budget you can buy photoflood lights with stands fairly cheaply at professional photography stores or find them on ebay. Some people recommend using halogen utility lights (like the kind from Home Depot) but these should generally NOT be used for blue/green screen work because they distribute light unevenly and it causes problems when you try to composite your footage.
Really, the key is just to have an evenly lit backdrop and your puppets have to be at least 4-8 feet away from it. It's also a very good idea to use a back light or "kicker" with an amber-coloured gel (I think one of the articles mentions that too) on your subject or puppet.
Once you get to the stage where you have to composite your footage probably the best tool is Adobe After Effects if you can afford it or get access to a copy. A good AE compositing tutorial can be found at http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/software/aftereffects/hobson_tutorial/index.asp. Adobe offers free 30 trial versions on their website and students can get heavily discounted copies.
If you can't get your hands on AE, compositing can be done using Photoshop or even Photoshop Elements, but I don't recommend it. I had to do this once five years ago on a three minute clip and it was painfully time-consuming.
Keep in mind most of the tutorials and links I've listed here are written with low-budget experiments by film and video enthusiasts in mind. They're in no way a comprehensive guide to professional blue/greenscreening.
I hope this is helpful stuff!
