EDF Greenscreen

Talking a little about my latest project, and my greenscreen.

Greenscreen effects

I have been asked by some people how I did my latest video.  I thought I would post some of the answers about my greenscreen process here also.

Please know that I am not an expert in this field (yet), and I do not have all the answers. Here is how I do it though:

1) I designed my “set” in photoshop. I used a resolution of 300dpi, and made the size 640px X 480px, this is the perfect resolution (I have found so far) for internet video viewing.

2) I filmed my greenscreen footage. I use a Casio, Exilim 7.2 Megapixel digital camera which has movie recording capability.

3) I edit my film in Magix Movie Edit Pro 14, which is a nice compositing software. It is within this software that I composite my greenscreen, and place it “against” my “set” graphic. It is within this software that I also add my music, sound effects, and any other animations that I need. Once I am satisfied with the project, I import it to Windows Media, and upload it to the internet!

While I have made the process sound extremely simple, it does take a lot of time to do. I am still learning, and experimenting everyday. I just got a new “rotoscoping” software that I am playing around with. Rotoscoping is the process by which the movie “Through a scanner darkly” was made. It is a process of painting over the existing film, to make an animation. I am playing around with it now.

When you set up a greenscreen, you need to have the brightest green possible. I am using a fabric which is almost a neon green. The entire trick to greenscreening successfully is the color of the green, your lighting, and contrast. Notice the colors I am wearing in my video. They are as far removed from the green spectrum as I can possibly get. I also wear no green item. If I were to want to wear, or use green items, then I would have to do a whitescreen instead of green. You can do greenscreen, whitescreen, bluescreen, and blackscreen. It all depends on what you are trying to do. If I were to wear a green item, like a green jacket, and act in front of the greenscreen, when I do the composite process, my green jacket would not be visable, and I would look transparent. Same with white clothes on whitescreen, and so on.

I hope this helps you!

Dan
“Remain true to yourself always!”

You can view my latest video here: //www.dragonbrusher.com-a.googlepages.com/dragonbrushert.v

I am just a simple artist trying to make my way in the universe!

There are a number of places on the Internet where my work can be found. I have worked under several different names, and nicknames. My nickname usually has something to do with a dragon, however. I have always been fascinated by those most magical of creatures, their presence, Majesty, and power are of special interest to me. I have always been surrounded by the dragon totem in my life. It seems that everywhere I have ever looked, I have seen dragons in conjunction with my personality. I was born under the sign of the dragon (Chinese calender, I am not too sure if it counts since I am not of oriental descent at all). In the conventional astronomy and zodiac calendar, I was born under the Cancer sign. Not too surprising that I would become an artist I am sure.

I have always been artistic. That is to say that I have always been most comfortable with a pencil, pen, or brush in my hand. When I was a child, I remember sitting for hours drawing. My mother once scolded me for claiming to have drawn something on my own when I was four years old. She told me that she knew I had traced the image. It was an image of Bugs Bunny. I proved to her that, while I did indeed copy it, I did not trace it. The image that I had drawn was several times larger than the image I had copied it from. She apologised and I was hooked on drawing from then on!

During my school years, I was once again most comfortable with a pencil in my hand. I found that I had the ability to delight those around me by connecting shapes and lines into a picture! My art teacher’s always thought of me as a prodigy of sorts, and usually took special time with me. My academic teachers however, were my bane. I usually found myself drawing unflattering pictures of many of them! One day my father found one of those unflattering portraits of one particularly despicable teacher. I was in trouble because the picture was of her engaged in some sort of unhealthy act with the principle, however, later that night, I heard my parents discussing the picture. They were chuckling, they actually found it funny! Now I was really hooked!

Once I left high school, I joined the military. My artistic talents were soon realized by my commanding officers and I became the unit artist (even during basic training). This talent actually got me out of many details that the normal “joe” had to endure. I remember the first time I was called out. It was in the middle of winter at Fort Leonard-wood, Mo. It was freezing! We were in the third day of our field training. A jeep drove into our compound and some figures got out and spoke with the commanding officer. I was called out of formation to go to base camp and meet with the post commander! To make a long story short, the base commander had learned of my talents, and commissioned me to paint a portrait of him! Since this took some time to complete, I was warm and snug in base camp painting his portrait for several days! I felt a little guilty that the rest of my unit was enduring the freezing cold during this time, however, I felt that since I was singled out it really was not my fault.

While I was (many years later) stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hi., near Honolulu, I became fascinated with the airbrush T-shirt artist’s that were on every street corner. I loved the paintings that they so (it seemed) effortlessly and quickly painted on the T-shirts. I had to have an airbrush! So, I purchased one. I mostly taught myself how to use it. I would read any book or article on the subject, and practice, practice, practice! Soon I was doing airbrush paintings and illustrations! In the years since, I have even taught many class’, and held many exhibitions in airbrushing techniques. Now I have turned my attention to digital art.

This is actually quite a funny story. I have a friend who is an artist. He is a very good cartoonist, graphic artist, and sculptor. He found the magical artistry of digital art years ago, and had for many years tried to turn me on to it. I had refused, saying “Part of the artistry is that the artist actually has his hands in the medium.” We would argue to some extent about it. Since he is more of a cartoonist, and I am more of a painter, I just did not see the valid point of using the computer for the creation of artwork. One time he told me, “In the computer, the paint never dries!” Well, he was right. I finally became hooked a couple of years ago when I purchased my first WACOM tablet and started drawing my first lines on cyber canvas! Now, just as I did with the airbrush so many years ago, I am teaching myself, and learning everyday how to use the mighty tool of the computer for art! I absolutely love it!