Does it make any difference if I use Chroma-Key Paint?

Hello,

In my quest for better keys, I was wondering if I can get much better results if I use Chroma-Paint instead of normal blue paint.

Also, is this paint much more expensive than normail paint?

Juan

 

Yes, Chroma paint in general is more expensive than regular paint.

It might make a difference depending on what you are shooting on and what software you are using. From what I remeber Ultimatte might be optimized for Chroma colors. It also depends on your camera, are you shooting DV or something better with 4:2:2 or BetaSp? etc. Something that makes a huge difference is lighting. Make sure the blue screen is brightly and evenly lit. Put as much separation between the subject and the screen.

For the paint if you ever get a small sample of Chroma you could go to a Hardware store and tell them to match it and buy cheaper paint that way.

 

when i was going to paint a wall in my house a chroma key color, i thought about the same thing. Luckily my friend owns a paint store so i was able to get some samples of green paint(non-chroma)to see which would work best. the one i finally chose was called neon green with a flat finsh which i then painted a wall in my house with about 4-5 coats. The lighting i have set up is 3 overhead 300 wat bublbs(i think) and a one from the side. i was thinking at first this wouldn't be enoguh, but then later realized that this was fine because of the small space, and the other walls being white. When originally filming i used a canon zr-25 and was able to get good keys in after effects, but it wasn't the best results in the world. this was the fault of the lighting i think. then when i got my canon xl1s i can pull off perfect keys in premiere. anyway, those are only my 2 cents.

-bert

 

I didn't think it made much difference. I shelled out for two tins of 'Roscos Finest Green' and was,

a. Disappointed in the pathetically watery coverage it gave - which required three coats.

b. Was dismayed that the tins content where actually quite different in colour and you could definately see the 'join' (although it still keyed out okay)

I doubt I'd but Chromakey paint again, unless I had a pot of cash. I prefer the coverage and ease of use of normal Crown/Dulux paint. Obviously you need to get a freaky green or blue colour (I'm sure you could match them with a sample taken into the store) and then just use that - at least you won't need so many coats - and you'll have change in your pockets. The ROSCO paint worked out about three times as expensive.

 

also, when i was picking out the different paint samples, i always leaned toward the more darker ones because later i would add heavy light onto the color.
-bert