Buying a 'green screen'

[Jayell]

I have never played with using a green screen, but would like to do so. Upon doing a little online research, I find there's numerous sizes. Assuming I'm just looking to have 1-2 people sitting or standing, any specific recommendations to make sure it's 'big enough?'

[Steve Grisetti]

Here's where I got mine. The 10' x 16' should be plenty big for your purposes.
http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-Gre ... Categories

If you can afford it, get the screen with the support stand. (It beats trying to nail it flat to your wall.)

[Jayell]

Thanks, Steve.
Yes, I was thinking I could do without the stand .. but decided I'd probably regret that.

[Chuck Engels]

I want the suit and the duck tape too !!!

[Jayell]

Yeah, that was a pretty slick suit

[Dave McElderry]

Okay, so I'm going to show my ignorance, but I'll never learn if I don't ask...

I understand the green screen, but what would be the point of being "invisible?" What kind of effect would you use the suit for?

[Peru]

I understand the green screen, but what would be the point of being "invisible?" What kind of effect would you use the suit for?

Manually animating objects?

[Chuck Engels]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXtOwemyLqU&feature=related[/youtube]

[Dave McElderry]

Thanks Chuck and Peru. I was still trying to figure out what it meant to manually animate an object. I've got it now.

[dlgilbert]

I got two sizes... one is 10x16, which is monstrously huge and the other is 6x10, which is much more manageable for shooting one person. I did get the stand and it makes a big difference, especially with the larger size backdrop.

The advantage, in my opinion, of the larger one is that you can shoot from the ground up... with the subject standing on the green. the 6x10 is great for smaller stuff, but it's not really big enough to shoot head to toe.

If you're not going to shoot head to toe, you could get a 10x10, but if you're going that far, you might as well get the big size.. just in case. ;-)

They're loads of fun!

(and I seriously dig the suit, too! LOL!)

[holotrope]

I bought a green screen from the place Steve recommends, and then I made a stable stand for $15 worth of PVC pipe from Lowe's. There are several places on the web that give ideas on how to do this. PVC is extremely easy to cut with a hacksaw so there's really no need to purchase a special PVC pipe cutting tool. Mine holds together tight without glue - and that makes it portable.

[Steve Grisetti]

Cool idea, holotrope!

[dlgilbert]

I agree! Cool idea!

The "professional" stand that I got is really nice, but it's... big. I wouldn't quite call it cumbersome, but it's close. Having a nice, lightweight, easy-to-handle PVC stand sounds like a great idea and you could probably make a number of them to accomodate different size shoots... for less than what my "pro" stand cost.

*starts scheming*

[Jayell]

I got two sizes... one is 10x16, which is monstrously huge and the other is 6x10, which is much more manageable for shooting one person. <snip> They're loads of fun!

Thanks for the detailed input, Dan. I ended up starting with a 10x12 +stand just to see if I'll use it much and will go from there. Looking forward to playing with it.

Love the video, Chuck! Really helps understand how the 'green' can be used.