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We are setting up a big cellar as a studio in which we will shoot with a green screen. At this point we have two solutions:

  1. Put in place a curtain which will be attached to a rail on the ceiling.
  2. Paint directly the wall in green ( with the proper paint of course )

What do you think is the most practical?

Is there a risk to have chroma-key issues with the curtain? If we opt for the paint, how often should we expect to have to refresh the paint?

Thank you for your help!

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Practical or most effective?

Green Screen work demands the following optimazation points to have it be effective.

  1. flat even lighting, no hot spots, no dark spots.
  2. no shadows,
  3. no reflections,
  4. the lighting has to be bight enough to register the green correctly, aka no noise.

Additionally, to help avoid hot spots, plan on a fresh drywall/plasterboard for that wall and when fixing, ensure sunk and smooth plastered nails. This will help you get a consistent surface for the green.

A curtain if it can be expanded to be absolutely flat with out any wrinkles might work, but I think this will be very troublesome.

Painting the wall with the appropriate paint would be more effective.

When to repaint?

Establish a base-line video test, that is repeatable, same lights, same object(s), same camera. Run this in your post production chroma-key video track before each production use, and it should be obvious if the paint needs to be refreshed.

Paint source: http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-5/greenscreen-screen/Detail

Disclaimer: I have not used this paint, it comes with no recommendations.

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  • Additionally, to help avoid hot spots, plan on a fresh drywall/plasterboard for that wall and when fixing, ensure sunk and smooth plastered nails. This will help you get a consistent surface for the green.
    – Dr Mayhem
    Mar 2, 2012 at 21:38
  • Yes, I agree 100%. I should have mentioned this explicitly and not implied it. Thanks.
    – filzilla
    Mar 2, 2012 at 21:54
  • added that para in for you then - is that ok?
    – Dr Mayhem
    Mar 2, 2012 at 21:56
  • Thank you for your answers. I am trying to make a budget estimation, so if someone is actually using a painted green wall, I would like to know how often, in average, there is need for paint refresh.
    – Olivier S
    Mar 3, 2012 at 10:00
  • Thank you Dr. Mayhem. And, sorry I can't predict the refresh rate.
    – filzilla
    Mar 5, 2012 at 19:07

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