Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Curse of the Haunted Table ~or~ A Lesson in the Importance of a Tripod

Our very first shoot for House of Flying Squirrels was on June 2, 2012. With the exception of a brief chroma-key experiment with a flying squirrel puppet, I'd never done blue screen before. It seemed simple enough. In the last words of many a dead man, "What could possibly go wrong?"


We shot scenes 1 and 3 with a handheld camera against a blue screen, which was actually comprised of two of the largest muslin blue screens I was able to purchase for less than an arm, a leg and a newborn (someone else's, I assure you. But, still...). The joining of these two screens resulted in an 18' by 15' expanse of seemingly demon-possessed material, which insisted on splitting into fissures roughly the width of the Grand Canyon or your standard-issue plumber's crack.


Only slightly more attractive than a plumber's crack.
You see, I didn't want to sew them together because it might "interfere with the chroma-key process".


Bwahahahahahaha! It always makes me laugh when I'm an idiot.


I also figured that I'd hang the whole affair from a series of giant clips affixed to the wall above the mirror at our martial arts school. This resulted in deeply shadowed, attractive draping for the entire length and breadth of the blue screen -- ever so helpful during my chroma-key adventures in Sony Vegas.


Saggy as my old, decrepit booty. No wonder Ellie is sad-kitteh faced.
Since my last post already dealt with the joy and happiness which results when the color teal meets scalloped blue, I'll move right along to


CHROMA-KEY: TRIPOD = IMPORTANT


Unless, of course, you're really seeking that oh-so-spooky haunted table effect.




Many thanks to freeSFX for the nifty spooky music for this clip.
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Location: Martial Artistry, 2500 Jefferson St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110, USA

4 comments:

  1. April DawnJune 22, 2012 at 8:04 PM

    So...next time we need to build a wood set and paint it green? Is that what we're saying? ;)

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  2. Kayne Sirocco LaTransJune 23, 2012 at 9:51 PM

    I'm thinking maybe do that back corner, all three walls, chroma-key blue. Then we can use the blue screen on the floor to finish it off. First we have to take care of that foundation issue, though.

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  3. April DawnJuly 5, 2012 at 9:33 AM

    It will be perfect! You're own blue screen studio! I'm still trying to find someone to fix that foundation issue. Apparently it's tricky business as several folks have told me they wouldn't know how to fix it. :P But I will keep trying!

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  4. Kayne Sirocco LaTransOctober 1, 2012 at 8:37 AM

    A little update.

    We finally found a company to fix the foundation issue. We've had rain several times, and it appears to have solved the problem.

    Last week, during fall break, I removed the plywood on the back wall of the back corner of Martial Artistry, clumsily repaired and patched the sheetrock, and gave the two walls three coats of paint that matched our blue screen.

    I still have to apply velcro to the bottom of the walls and to the 15' x 18' muslin blue screen so we can use it for the floor. Although it's still a cobbled solution, it should be better than what we had. Can't wait to shoot on it this Saturday!

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