Minor Research/experiment: green screen setups.
Today i had decided to look into the methods of correctly lighting a green screen for use in stop motion/ live action footage whilst also lighting the subject to fit with the scene in the project.
a few weeks ago i had done some lighting tests before i could get equipent for actual photography. i decided that these quick lighting tests were to see how my armature would look on a green screen and how its texture and shine would react to the green screen, however i had ran into a major issue that will possibly become a large issue when it comes to filming; shadows. The shadows were created due to many factors; the closness of where the armature was and the intensity of my lights causing the green screen to look patchy and discoloured, this could be seen when i had brought the clips into after effects and keyed them to reveal large white patches on the images.
I had then decided to look into ways of properly lighting the green screens and using that information to help create a lighting plan that can also keep the character in a different lighting. take for example this video, which showed the impaortance of lighting and the correct distance between the green screen, whilst also showing me that colour correcting the footage is greatly benificial to creating a perfect even green colour to be as accurate as possible.
from the information i had created the following lighting plan to prepare myself for principal photography. The plan shows a modified version of a basic 3 point lighting, but without the use of a 3rd light to light the subject. I had decided to make this decision as i wanted my creature to only be scene by a silouette and slowly revealed through the slow rotating of the lighthouse light then with the ominous red of the flares in the scene. Also Shown in the plan is the distance between the lighting, the green screen and the subject, eliminating my issue of shadows of the armature and also reflections of the green screen reflecting off the shiny skin of the creature.