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Wednesday, 02 February 2005 |
 MLI recently spent three days filming actor Sean Holland (Clueless) for
an upcoming DVD aimed at teen abstinence. The production involved
filming the actor with a variety of new technologies.
A combination of digital technologies were used from Serious Magic and
Reflecmedia. The setup was a traditional green screen shoot with a few
important exceptions. In traditional green screen filming, actors stand
in front of a green or blue backdrop which can be later removed in
post-production. Care must be taken to insure even lighting and limited
green reflection, spill, onto the actor.
Chromatte, by Reflecmedia, is a fabric designed specifically for use as
a background for chroma key production. Unlike conventional chroma key
fabrics that are usually blue or green in colour, Chromatte is grey to
the eye in ambient light. By generating the background colour through a
retro-reflective process using a lense mounted series of LEDs,
considerable time and effort can be saved.
To further speed
the production/post-production process, DV Rack by Serious Magic was
used to digitally monitor and capture over 500 shots onto a Sony Vaio
laptop.
Using standard DV cameras for green screen work has
been a challenge because of the limited colorspace. A new chroma keying
technology, called vector keying, is utilized by Serious Magic's Ultra
and produces outstanding results.
Producer Perry Lawrence
chose the technologies to allow complete flexability in
post-production. "The script called for many different scenes, virtual sets, and
effects" said Lawrence. "By combining Ultra and Chromatte we can easily
produce a wide variety of looks and effects which will appeal to our
teen audience."
(Photo Left: Producer Perry Lawrence and Director Christian Ray relax on the "Set")
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