Commission: Green Screen Shoot


Filming

Today was my first shoot day, and although it was a relatively simple shoot where I only needed to get one sot, I really wanted to make this shot perfect. Due to the filming circumstances in the studio, I'm not able to film a lot, so anything I do film I want to be spot on; well lit, well focused and nicely setup. This meant spending on average 45minutes just to set everything up. An issue I came across when setting up the green screen was the shadows from the lighting. This would be an issue with listing in any setup, but with the green screen this was particularly crucial as having shadows could alter the look of the entire scene. Whilst I wanted a shadow for it to look more realistic in a studio environment, I wanted the shadow to be even so it would trim out the colours nicely and cleanly in post production. Knowing I wanted to create this research, and having struggled with lighting when green screening in my last project 'News Production' I wanted to befall prepared. So I researched online how to create low key lighting, and shadows. In the example I found they made a budget two light setup. They said "It can be easy to spend your entire equipment budget on camera gear. Don’t make this mistake. A small investment in lights will go a long way." (Ward, 2015) which inspired me to the fact that I could use a set of two LED lights to create a good look. The Panasonic cameras look good in 4K, but lighting is key to this look so it was important for me to get it right. Videomaker.com said: "A huge error that many filmmakers make is thinking that it is cheaper and easier to fix all production problems in post." I have had the attitude before of its fine, I'll fix it in post, but setting up properly in the first place saves a lot of time and inconvenience to doing it in post production. Also, if my skills and software aren't as advanced as they need to be to change something dramatic in post, I have run into a large, and unnecessary problem. Luckily, I had Jack on site to help me setup the green screen and lighting. He managed to fix the shadowing issues for me, which has taught me the importance of teamwork. Having a different set of eyes on something can notice the things I wouldn't otherwise necessarily have noticed.

In filming I set the camera stabilisation on and onto filming in 4K (4096 x 2160). I planned through what I wanted to film. A basic slow zoom into the Television and an out-ro zoom out in case I decide to end the video on that graphic as well. Once I got these two shots I decided to make the most of the setup by filming as much as possible. I attempted zooms from different distances and at different speeds and would adjust the exposure of the camera. This was so I would be spoilt for choice in post production, I would rather have too much coverage than not enough, as setting it all up to film again would be a big hassle, especially with deadlines to meet. "How Much to film in your shoot is a budgetary concern and is determined by your shooting ratio, how much film you need to soot to get the coverage needed" (B Frost. 2009. Pg. 114). This means that getting more coverage is especially important for low budget productions, and I have little to know budget. If I was doing this in a professional production, time is money. Having to re-film would mean spending more money on potentially studio space, cast/crew and equipment hire. Although I haven't add for money, I am limited for time and its good practice for when I do have a budget. I looked through the clips and color coded the ones I really liked (green) and the ones I could potentially use (amber)
Selecting coverage 













Editing GreenScreen Footage 

After choosing the final clip I wanted to use I went on to editing it in Adobe After Effects. I already had experience in editing green screen footage with my 'News Production Unit'. So although I was editing something different, the principle is the same. As Ferg said in our After Effects Workshop "once you understand the concept, you can apply it to most things". I feel like this idea has proven to be right with most things I've done in After Effects. Learning what different parts of the software do I feel I can now apply it to some things. My skills in the software are far from perfect, but also much better than what they were at the start of this unit. “It's important to learn the concepts of editing, as this gives you skill and experience not only in the digital technology but also in important concepts about pacing, structure, and how shots interact with each other.” (Wolsky, 2013. Pg. 8).

My next stage was to test out some backgrounds. I initially wanted a plain black background, but after experimenting with it, it just didn't sit right with me. I then proceeded test a few geometric wallpapers which did look quite effective, especially the example of the yellow one below. The idea then came to me of taking this a step further in adding some of the studios 4K photos that were taken professionally. I could use them in the background. I went through all of hem to see what worked best. Initially I wanted the reception in the background but after putting that against the gallery pictures, they seemed to work much better. If I add the screen graphics and darken the television slightly this should look great in the end. Overall I am very happy with the way this graphic is coming along and can't wait to use it in the final piece.








References 

Ward, 2015, https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-low-key-lighting-can-instantly-make-your-film-dramatic/

Jacqueline B Frost, (2009) 'Cinematography for Directors'. Michael Wiese Productions


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