Hello.
I have been reading as much as I can on greenscreen and techniques, and I watched the tutorials already. I see some other greenscreen threads out there, but I don't want to hijack anyone else's thread, and when I got too far afield on a different thread, I was advised to start a new one.
I am brand new to video editing. I am training up on Vegas Pro 8.1 and Boris RED. I am hoping to get into Adobe CS4 just as soon as I get Vegas and Boris all figured out (OK...so it may be Adobe CS5 or 6 by that time...lol). My goal is to make some lightly composited teaching and training videos for use in our organization. (I just want to composite things in order to make my points more interesting, and to make the illustrations easier to understand).
Camera is a Sony HDR-FX1 recording in HDV (1080i) with a juicedLink CX-431 pre-amplifier (to quiet the onboard Sony pre-amps). Microphone is a DPA-4088B headset connecting to the juicedLink by XLR connector with 12V phantom power. B-roll camera is Sony HDR-HC1 (which will also be used to feed in the tape).
My question here is about configuring my studio. Basically, my bedroom is going to have to double as "the studio." By 're-arranging the furniture' I can get about twelve feet in between the teleprompter and the greenscreen. Ceiling height is about ten feet. I have six Lowel Tota halogen light stands with umbrellas for diffusion. The green screen is a nice foam screen (http://www.eefx.com), so it should not give off a lot of overspill.
The light bulbs I have on hand are these:
300W EHZ 2900K
500W FCZ 3000K
750W EMD 3200K
I was advised that I should use light bulbs of the same color rating; however, I am not sure if that means 'exactly' the same color rating, or whether it just means "don't mix 5200K with 2900K." In other words, are 2900K, 3000K and 3200K 'close enough for all practical purposes'? Or would it be better to pick just one color (say, 3000K) and then make adjustments/jump through the rest of the hoops accordingly?
My green screen will be about 11-12 feet wide. Height is almost ten feet. My question is about placement of the lights, and myself, relative to the green screen. I read somewhere else that in order to get a clean key, it is best to put more light on the green screen than on you; and I also read that it is best to stay in front of the lights that light the green screen (although why, I am not so sure). My problem is that the bed limits me to about six feet away from the screen. If I am six feet away from the screen (about halfway in between the camera and green screen) then I can move freely left and right, in order to make my points. If I need to be farther away from the green screen I can still do that, but it will limit my lateral range of motion (i.e., 'cramp my style') somewhat, although not excessively.
If I can freely mix 2900K, 3000K and 3200K, then ideally I would like to place two 750W 3200K EMD's on the green screen, about four or five feet away from the screen. Then I would like to stand about six feet in front of the screen (so that I can have free range of motion left and right). If I do that, then I can use a 500W FCZ at 3000K for a key light, and perhaps a 300W EHZ at 2900K for a fill light, and then use another 300W EHZ for a back light (or even use two back lights, if I need a second one to kill any green over-spill).
First question: Will the two 750W umbrella lamps that are on the green screen provide enough peripheral lighting to kill any green over-spill from the screen, such that I only need one back-light (to make me 'pop')? Or will I need two back lights, in order to kill any green on the shoulders and hair?
Second question: Can I really freely mix 2900K and 3000K (on me), with 3200K (on the green screen)? Or do I need to re-work my setup, so that I only use 500W bulbs at 3000K?
Third question: If I have to use only one color of lamp, are the 300W EHZ's at 2900K strong enough? I do have an air conditioner in my bedroom, but this is the northern tip of California's Central Valley, and the only place that gets hotter in California is Death Valley (it got to 118 degrees F in the shade here last summer). If 300W is enough light, then I would really like to go with that; but I also do not want to compromise picture quality in any way. I know that 1080i is not as good as 1080p, but at least for right now, this is what I have.
I am just guessing that 90 percent of our views will be on the Internet, but I also want to make things available on DVD and eventually Blu-Ray (or whatever they come out with), so audio and picture quality are more important than my comfort while filming. However, if picture quality would not be compromised by the use of, say, 500W bulbs at 3000K on the green screen, and 300W bulbs at 2900K on me, that would be great.
Finally, how good is the chroma-keyer in Vegas? And does anyone know how good the chroma-keyer is, in Boris RED? Eventually, when I get to Adobe CS4 (or 5 or 6, lol), I want to make extensive use of their virtual sets, so I would use their chroma-keyer (is that correct?). I just think I need to learn Vegas as completely as I can, before I start to take on Adobe. I also understand that the keyer in the Matrox RT.X2 is superb, but I just don't have money for Adobe/Matrox just yet.
Any advice, comments or words of wisdom you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for your help.
Norman
