For the cheap, stupid and lazy
Let's face it: everyone is lazy and dumb. I certainly am. I don't want to have to drag my expensive-ass chroma screen rig out of the closet just to do a 10 second shot of someone blathering in front of it.
(For those of you who might now know what a greenscreen is, This is what it is: (Below)
"...And, so, he grew that mustache, he indigently put on that purple blazer, and he fought for what was right, and he conquered the world of pasting yourself into a picture of some rich dude's, really nice living-room... you know, to fool the ladies".
I am also cheap. So, I don't want to pay out the wad. Yeah, That's right. A 10 X 30 foot roll of this stuff runs at about... say... $746.95.: This is on B &H.com. Unbelievable. That price doesn't even include the rig you need to set it up. Those big pipe-ish things that hold up the screen (yep, just HOLD THE GREEN SCREEN IN PLACE) are around $300-400. I'll Make you a deal. If you can find a way to do this cheaper, I'll punch myself in the face before a live studio audience. Cheaper than, say, $40.
"This little set up is the best flat-surface consistency you can get in your house. It's flat-finish, acrylic house paint."
So, I send Homedepot.com a Jpeg of a the color so they can match my paint and deliver it. (That's right. I live about 5 minutes from an actual Home Depot, and I'm so lazy, I order it online.)
Note: I practically stole the color off the image that B&H.com has on their site and sent it directly to HomeDepot.com. Thanks, B&Hvideo.com, for the FREE PHOTO of the greenscreen! I'll just go ahead and send this right on over to Homedepot.com, so I can do this at around 5% the price that B&hvideo.com does it!
Note: I practically stole the color off the image that B&H.com has on their site and sent it directly to HomeDepot.com. Thanks, B&Hvideo.com, for the FREE PHOTO of the greenscreen! I'll just go ahead and send this right on over to Homedepot.com, so I can do this at around 5% the price that B&hvideo.com does it!
You've got your paint,now... 1) Pick a wall in your house. 1-a) Make sure it's a wall you can easily light 1-b) wall has a decent amount of space around it. 1-c) You can get away with the wall being BRIGHT green and not look like an interior-design retard. (see left.) one of my kitchen walls.
2) Paint the living-crap out of the wall. 2-a) you'll probably need more than one
coat (make sure that green color is completely solid on the wall). 3) Do your test shots:
"Run, Amanda, RUN! There's a terrorist behind you, and he's up to no good!"
4.... It's time to cue it up in Adobe After Effects.
I recommend this Effects Plugin for After Effects: The Foundry: KeyLight. This really nice filter makes keying so much easier. It's on the expensive side so, just download the trial for 30 days if you don't want to foot it right away.
Finaly, lighting makes all the difference in keying. If you can, use diffused lighting and 3-point lighting that's well balanced. That will make the shadow behind the subject less of an issue. (shadows make keying very difficult, so put your subject as far away from the screen surface as possible)P.S. Most Pro-Sumer camcorders have horrible contrast issues, even the ones with better optical chips. Before you apply your keying filter.