Tarp for Greenscreen?

Hey, how good of a greenscreen would a big ol' green tarp make? Because I just happen to have one and it would be great to use it instead of going on and spending more money.

 

Well, if you can compensate for the glare you'd get off it and the hundreds upon hundreds of wrinkles...

 

Heh, I just got a blue tarp for, that's right, a bluescreen! Anyway, I haven't really set it up good yet, but I did try it out and it seems if you could get good lighting and don't get to close, it could work...if you're willing to spend a lot of time with After Effects.

 

Depending on the tarp I reckon if you stretched it tight enough to reduce creases and wrinkles and lit it properly it could work.

 

You could try taking a very fine sandpaper to it first to reduce glare, but that might kill it. Try it on a small, out of the way spot first.

 

I tried a blue tarp I bought at Walmart, and there are always severe wrinkles and glare. But I found salvation. Poster Board. I found myself some flourescent green poster board. No wrinkles, no glare, green as all hell. My old tarp couldnt distinguish aquamarine, but compared to this... all other colors scream in fear. Best discovery I have made. Comes highly recommended.

 

I'm with Boskone_Kenobi, the poster board does nicely. You wouldn't have it as bad as using tarp and it's several million wrinkles

 

Tarps SUCK for bluescreens. Mainly because they have tons of wrinkles and create shadows. But another big problem is most of them are glossy, and have glare spots. You'd be better off using a blue sheet.

 

Sound like I need to re-think my choice of bluescreen.

 

You would probably be better off saving a few pennies and going to someplace like www.filmtools.com and buy 1 gallon of paint for like $40. They say you can paint 300 square feet with one gallon.

Tarps are just a headache waiting to happen. The posterboard method sounds nice but I'd be concerned about the seams. Never tried them though.

 

It worked for The Jedi Saga, and Rory keyed with only AE 5.5pb, no special plugins, as far as I know.

 

Surely seams wouldn't be a problem as you could just cut and paste blue over them. Then key the whole thing out?

Am I being naieve or is it just that simple?

 

It would be simple to did it for only one frame. If you are going to do that, you might as well just garbage mask everything right up to your subjects.

 

Seams aren't a big deal. They key out nicely, because they're tiny and if you light your screen well, hardly even show up.

 

AE is very forgiving of seams and glare, especially if you use garbage mattes, but poster boards are very cheap and effective. Blue felt has also worked well for me in the past.

 

I tried a blue tarp I bought at Walmart, and there are always severe wrinkles and glare. But I found salvation. Poster Board. I found myself some flourescent green poster board. No wrinkles, no glare, green as all hell. My old tarp couldnt distinguish aquamarine, but compared to this... all other colors scream in fear. Best discovery I have made. Comes highly recommended.

Okay, looks like I'll be going with the poster board. Where is the best place to get a lot of that kind of green poster board for cheap prices?

 

Wal Mart

 

Well, A coincidence this topic should arise now...

Today I continued working on my portable, semi-heavy duty Bluescreen. I made a frame of 2"x4" studs, and then layed playwood over it. I have 2 4'x8' walls I can bolt together to make a 8'x8' bluescreen. I ordered some Rosco Bluescreen paint, and a roll of Bluescreen tape for the seams. All together, the whole thing will cost me a little less than $200. The hard part is getting the plywood perfectly flat, with no divots, or pits. So far, I have put drywall compound all over it, and am now sanding it off, to leave it so it fills the holes and small cracks. Then, I will primer it, and paint it when the paint gets here!

BTW, the paint covers 300 Sq ft?!! Wow

 

Today I continued working on my portable, semi-heavy duty Bluescreen. I made a frame of 2"x4" studs, and then layed playwood over it. I have 2 4'x8' walls I can bolt together to make a 8'x8' bluescreen. I ordered some Rosco Bluescreen paint, and a roll of Bluescreen tape for the seams. All together, the whole thing will cost me a little less than $200. The hard part is getting the plywood perfectly flat, with no divots, or pits. So far, I have put drywall compound all over it, and am now sanding it off, to leave it so it fills the holes and small cracks. Then, I will primer it, and paint it when the paint gets here!

This is exactly what I was talking about. For about that $200 that he's paid, he's going to end up with a pretty professional looking bluescreen - assuming he can get the boards flat and be able to light it as evenly as possible. You'll need to post pictures of it once its finished.

How thick is that plywood? I've seen some homemade blue/greenscreens that were built using very thin wood stapled/nailed to a very light but sturdy frame.

BTW, the paint covers 300 Sq ft?!! W

I've never used it, but according to Rosco's specs on it, they say it'll cover 300sqft. I'll bet that it'll cover 300sqft with _one_ coat, but it may take more than one coat depending on what you're applying it to and whether or not primer was needed.

 

No, tarps have too many wrinkles, and the individual threads are sometimes different colors. It would be a nightmare.

Poster board will probably work, but I use a plastic table cloth I got at K-Mart. It's like 3 bucks for a huge puke green table cloth. And... It works!

 

"Wal Mart."

Bahahahahahaha! J/k.


Sorry. I like Wal Mart. But they won't have large enough green poster board pieces for what you need. But you could still put a whole bunch together. Only thing I'd be worried about is the lines between each board, and if that might create a keying problem. Have fun!

 

We've been discussing this in this thread. The 'seams' don't make any difference, if you take care.

 

The posterboard method sounds nice but I'd be concerned about the seams. Never tried them though.
I can tell you right now that tarps don't work at all. I've been there. For me the poster board method is the best way to go.

1. the will never wrinkle
2. they are thick and heavy (One sided boards of course) last a long time
3. what you do to eliminate the seam thing is to duct tape four poster boards together (from the back)real close together and then when you're done you can fold them up into the size of one poster board and throw it in your closet or under the bed!

I use blue masking tape to hoold them up on the wall!

And trust me...the seams are not even a factor!

EDIT:Just made a BTS video of my film. Watch the before and after shots ofmy blue screen

~Rory

 

Well, I believe I'll be making a stop at Wal-Mart tonight.

 

I guess I really need a new green screen. ugh
[image=http://angelfire.com/space2/aotp/greenscreen1.JPG]
I can get this with this screen, so a good screen should look... real!
[image=http://angelfire.com/space2/aotp/keyed.JPG]