Green Screen LA

The term Green Screen LA is fast becoming a very popular buzz phrase in the Los Angeles / Hollywood area. Full of confusion as to the true definition of what the difference between a Green Screen LA and just plain Green Screen really is. It has recently become very clear to me what exactly what Green Screen LA actually means. To me the term or phrase Green Screen LA in relation to a studio means just about anything green or close to green put up behind a subject or talent for the purposes of keying with no regard to simplifying Post production in any way where the term green screen with out the addition of “LA” stands for the more traditional way of how a green screen should be built

It seems many studios in the LA area have conveniently adopted a fix it in post attitude but don’t be fooled by this lacksidasical mentality about the quality of the green screen a green screen LA lit by low power consumption lights may seem cool but what happens if you want to shoot at a high frame rate? Guess what? Relight with a bunch of space lights or there equivalent just to get the subject to Green Screen background ratio correct. Very close subject to Green Screen background ratios can often adversely effect on the lighting of the subject and at the same time affect the ease of green bounce spill suppression. Lets say hypothetically, you have to be at a F1.6 on a HVX-200 just to get a proper exposure on the green screen la background (around 70 ire, but I wont argue that in this article) It will be very easy to over expose your subject. Every green screen la owner will have two quick solutions to over exposing your talent other that adjusting the iris. Now remember that you can’t stop down because you will under expose the green screen LA. The first quick solution that the green screen la owner might suggest would be to scrim down the light or use a lower intensity light fixture (if you just happen to have one). That sounds logical right? Well not so fast… What if you are going for a film noir or very high contrast look? Not going to happen unless you rig some serious negative fill on the fill side of the subject or talent. This is all well and good unless the subject / talent or camera moves. Ever see what happens when you shift a negative fill out of the way of a moving camera when the subject / talent is relatively still or an actor moving in and out of negative fill? Not to realistic huh? Also keep in mind that your ultimate goal usually is to match what the lighting look like in the background plate and still make the subject / talent look good or evil but never bad. Small oversights like this are what make subjects have that cut and pasted look in the final product. Not going for a film noir or very high contrast look? Cool, well you do want an eye light right? So your talent at least looks alive? Here is the next of many problems that can and will result from a close subject to Green Screen background ratio. A noticeable eye light now heavily affect the over all look and feel of the light in addition to the contrast ratio primarily because of the eye light to key light ratio is now way too close. See what happens when you listen to some of these green screen la owners???                                  
another very important reason not to get the subject to Green Screen background ratio too close is to keep the green spill to a minimum. In many green screen LA type of studios there is no attention at all paid to green spill suppression. Huge huge huge mistake. Yes you can pull some green out of the subject / talent in post.  Just don’t forget that what ever color you pull out you also pull in the opposite. In this case you would be pulling in magenta which is the opposite of green. You may actually like the color magenta but you probably won’t like too much more added to the existing amount present in Caucasian skin.

Shooting wide open or “WFO” (W is for wide and O is for open, you can finish the equation) is common way of achieving a shallow depth of field and I of course do it all the time when there is not enough light to shoot at an F 2.8. By the way if you are shooting on the HVX-200 you have no choice but to shoot at an F 2.8F or deeper on the long end of the lens. When it comes to shooting green screens it far more effective to back the camera up and shoot at the longer end of the lens to achieve the shallow depth of field look. In my opinion 50 feet from the green screen back wall is no where close to enough to space to have the much needed freedom to shoot on the long end of the lens. Here at atomic Studios we have almost 200 feet from the green screen back wall giving you, in most cases the ability to easily shoot head to toe at the long end of the lens         

Atomic Studios green screen rentals are always for 24 hours and we are often on hand to help out and answer any questions you may have about our green screen located in LA

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