Monday, March 20, 2006

Snakie (or Mr. Snake)



Still trying to determine if I am okay with using my current Sony Handicam and other resources for Television greenscreen work. Today I decided to try another green screen test run. The last two were so unsatisfactory that it would have taken me eons to manually animate points around my subject. This time instead of using my green screen I used a neon green poster board that I clipped to a closet door. I decided to use the poster board because the color was so much brighter than my actual green screen. I also took some good advice to heart and used a flood light on the poster board. For my subject I used a knitted snake puppet that I made a while back (there you go Lady K!). Remember that Mom! I had to find just the right position, and this was somewhat difficult, a matter of precision really, trying to keep the puppet close enough to the greenscreen to avoid creating shadows (which I knew would cause problems later), but on the other hand if the puppet was too far away from the green screen the light wouldn't be on him and he would be too dark. So there I am, one snake handed with the camera on it's tripod just far enough away that I have to stretch my free hand over the flood light cord as far as my legs and body can possibly stretch (what a sight that must have been, sorry no footage of that). I had the camera screen facing me so that I could make sure I didn't create a shadow or move myself accidentally into the shot. After I reached far enough to hit that little tiny record button on the other side of the camera I kept my eye on the screen and did my puppet movement and voice bit but I had to monitor so closely (and keep myself positioned so perfectly) that I am a little nervous as to how I am going to shoot movie length material of a subject(s) without a problem (which I will need to do for that big project I keep mentioning to you). I think I will have to run another human test with the new set up. Anyway when I was done I set up a composite scene in my program, imported the footage and applied a linear keyer to it, I dragged that tolerance bar and immediately I knew it was golden! I then had some grey residue left over from where the green was but when I moved the clean up bar, zap, all gone! This is how it should be! Okay, time to get up and dance! Then I made a background magazine image just to have something interesting to show you (since this was just an experimental piece) and fit with the footage you saw in the first Mr. Snake mini movie. Click here to go see the MOVIE!
My only remaining question here is, if I can get rid of the greenscreen with a human model, will I be able to render out to a quality (size & res) that is acceptable for television (with the cam)?

11 Comments:

Blogger Lady K said...

I'm still laughing away! I'm very found of Mr. Snake. He's good for a giggle infusion. Thank you for honoring my request for a repeat performance!

5:44 PM  
Blogger Lady K said...

Fond not found. My fingers are laughing so it's very hard to type!

5:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gina, I think the image is very realistic...The voice is very funny! You are a good puppet animator:))

8:17 PM  
Blogger Gina said...

Thanks lady k! It was my pleasure! I love to hear about your laughter. I'm so excited that I got it to work!

8:45 PM  
Blogger Gina said...

I'm glad you said that Martha, because the whole puppet arena is something I really want to explore! Uh-umm, clears throat, glad you like the voice : )

8:51 PM  
Blogger Tongue in Cheek Antiques said...

Hello! What a plesant surprise to see Mr Snake!! You are funny! I too hope for a repeated performance!
Thanks for bringing me here!

1:01 AM  
Blogger Gina said...

tongue in cheek antiques - thank you so much for coming by. I truly enjoyed my visit to your place. And thank you for your kindness!

1:32 AM  
Blogger alaphrench said...

Awesome as usual!

8:59 AM  
Blogger Gina said...

Awww, thank you, still waiting for those drawings from Thomas so I can make an animation for him!

3:53 PM  
Blogger nico said...

holy crap that is the funniest thing ive seen all year

11:28 PM  
Blogger Gina said...

Really! Oh that's great nico!

11:35 PM  

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