a7III + Green Screen advice

[SRV1981]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum - If so please disregard or I will delete.

I am a teacher seeking help making quality videos for my students remotely.  The equipment I have purchased thus far:

 

1. A7iii 

2. Tamron 28-75

3. Shure sm7b mic

4. Audient ID14 input

5. Green fabric for background

 

Need:  lighting for myself and green screen but not sure what is an affordable kit for my apartment

Questions:

 

1. Can I create video similar to the ones below with FCPX, Keynote, and my camera/audio?

2. Can the Shure sm7b be used to boom on a stand over my head and out of frame to record audio while recording?

3. What lights/setup can I use to light myself and the green screen?

4. is the 28-75 wide enough or would I need the shorter angle lens from Tamron?

 

Video looks I'm trying to achieve:

 

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxN8oEnIQ2w

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8SRcIbLQBg

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUnTb3_mwTY

 

Thanks to any thoughtful and helpful ideas!

[Mark Romero 2]

Hi there, @SRV1981

Yes, you are in the right forum.

You should be able to create videos similar to the ones that you linked to using FCP, Keynote, and your Sony a7 III and the Tamron 28-75 lens. I don't think you need a wider lens unless the room you are going to film in is very small. Ideally, you would move the camera further away from you and zoom in instead. If you are close and zoom out to wide angle, then you can often see wider than the background. Also you would want to be far enough away from the backdrop that your shadow doesn't fall on the backdrop.

Unfortunately, while the Shure SM7B mic has pretty good audio quality, it is a dynamic mic and is designed to be used VERY CLOSE to the audio source. So for a person, you would place the mic right in front of their mouth. Meaning, while you are on screen talking, the mic would need to be right in front of your face.

If you want to emulate the "look" of the three videos you linked to, you would want to use a boom mic with a cardioid pattern (or a shotgun mic on a boom). These mics are designed to be placed about 18-inches away from the speakers mouth. 

You will need a boom arm and stand to mount the mic.

Alternatively, you could use a lapel mic. The lapel mic would be more convenient (especially if you get a wireless lapel mic), but it can be prone to rustling noise if you move and the fabric of your clothing rustles against it. Also you might want to hide the lapel mic.

And in general, mics that are boomed overhead have a different sound than lapel mics. I don't know if it is a huge difference in sound or not.

The Audient ID14 input looks like it is good for recording sound in to your computer. But is this what you want? To make things as easy as possible, you would want to record the audio in to your camera. If you record the audio separately in to the computer, then later on you will need to sync up the (separately recorded) audio to the video. It's not rocket surgery, but it is more convenient if the audio is recorded directly to your video file.

As for lighting, you are probably going to want a key light in a softbox (possibly with a grid), then a fill light, then one or possibly two lights for lighting the green screen evenly. Godox makes several affordable LED lights, and many people use the SL60 if you are going to be filming one person from the waist up. They aren't super powerful, and the fans can be a bit noisy (so you would want a good directional mic to minimize noise from the fans).  

A step up would be the aputure lights, which are a bit quieter and the color of the light might be slightly better. They are significantly more expensive than the Godox lights, but as they say, you often get what you pay for.

My understanding is that a good green screen requires EVEN lighting and you need to remove wrinkles as best as you can. And don't wear green clothing. And don't have green eyes.

I would look up tutorials on "Lighting a one person interview" because that is mainly what you will be doing. Same thing for looking up tutorials on audio for a one-person interview.

Hope this helps.

[SRV1981]

Mark, 

 

Much appreciated!  Glad to know the software/hardware is on the right path.  I guess I could use the audient and shore for audio overdubs in videos where I am not on the video (i.e. showing history/news footage and narrating) as well as recording my acoustic/singing.  

 

What about the Deity D3 for a boom mic?  It could record directly into the A7III, be boomed overhead, and then be placed on top of the mic for run/gun situations?  That may be the better/versatile option?

 

The lighting is where it gets tricky!  I am least familiar with both hardware and placement/setup.  I would assume there are some kits for the setup I am seeking in those videos that produce fairly good/quality results.  I don't need to have top of the line as I think there should be options for more budget friendly and "professional" looking output.  

If you or any other members are familiar with specific kits/packages I would be happy to investigate.

[Trek of Joy]

I'd search youtube for green screen lighting tips. As Mark mentioned, it needs to be well lit and even with no wrinkles. Plus there needs to be some distance between you and the screen, otherwise the edges around you don't key out very easily. A lot of the issues people have are from inadequate lighting and standing too close to the green.

Good luck.

Chris

[Snowfun]

I do something very similar. My set up is a BMp4k (Prores 422) with a Rode lav microphone (soon to be replaced by a Sennheiser wireless  lav) and BlindSpot Gear lighting. I have two LED panels which sit one each side and slightly above head level - one is slightly brighter just to give a bit of depth. The third light is behind the speaker (at the side of my green screen) and gives the hair a highlight. I find that in FCP all I need to do is use the “key“ feature and it simply works (unlike Resolve in which I struggle to get the key to work as easily). It’s not best practice but space limitations mean I have to stand close to the screen - it still works!
I built a holder for an iPad which I mount just above the lens. I put my text into Keynote (PowerPoint) and use a Bluetooth remote. Eye “contact” is not as good as an Autocue but it works absolutely fine. 
(I also do this using an ATEM mini and record the hdmi output to a Video Assist which, again, is simple to use and works well. This setup is slightly more convenient to use because it’s all set up on my desk). 
Ok, it’s not the BBC but I find the setup is very effective. (I should add that I have no formal idea what I’m doing but it really does work!)

[Mark Romero 2]

6 hours ago, SRV1981 said:

The lighting is where it gets tricky!  I am least familiar with both hardware and placement/setup.  I would assume there are some kits for the setup I am seeking in those videos that produce fairly good/quality results.  I don't need to have top of the line as I think there should be options for more budget friendly and "professional" looking output.  

If you or any other members are familiar with specific kits/packages I would be happy to investigate.

Regarding lighting, the main factors are going to be:

1) How much of your body you want to show on screen

2) How much room do you have

3) Your budget

@Trek of Joy mentioned searching for a tutorial on how to light a green screen and I would agree that's a good place to start.

In a very simple setup, you would probably need one key light for your face and front, then a reflector, and then one (or possibly two) lights for the green backdrop.

To use a reflector though you will probably need to get it pretty close to you, so you might not be able to shoot as wide as you would like.

I use one of the pop-out folding green screen reflectors so that it will be pretty much wrinkle free. It sounds like you might already have green fabric. You might need to use a frame of some kind to stretch out the fabric to minimize wrinkles...

As for the mics... I think Curtis Judd did a recent (last 6 months or so) comparison of mics that fit different budgets. I would look it up on you tube.

A lav mic isn't necessarily bad (Jared Polland - Fro Knows Photo - uses one taped to his chest, I believe). It certainly is more convenient than setting up a tall stand and a boom pole and getting the mic about 18-inches above your face.

Just don't get a shotgun mic and slap it on the camera and expect the sound to be good from several feet away. Because it won't be good. 

Hope this helps.

[SRV1981]

Thanks all!

I just had a thought after rewatching the clips i posed - I don't think I need a green screen.  Based on what they did, they seem to film the narrator, use picture-in-picture, and have the narrater overdub slides/video for presentation/education.  If so, then I don't need a Green Screen when using FCPX to achieve similarly produced education videos.  Is this correct?  Then I would only need a key light and fill light.

 

Instead, I could just hang a few shelves, get some plants/lamps and desktop lights or LEDs to create a "vibe" in the background and just shoot myself with keylight/fill light and use PIP when needed?

I"ll check the review for mics.  I was thinking a Deity D3 that could be boomed above my head/out of frame but it would have the benefit of also being mounted on the a7iii when run/gun.

 

 

[Mark Romero 2]

21 hours ago, SRV1981 said:

Thanks all!

I just had a thought after rewatching the clips i posed - I don't think I need a green screen.  Based on what they did, they seem to film the narrator, use picture-in-picture, and have the narrater overdub slides/video for presentation/education.  If so, then I don't need a Green Screen when using FCPX to achieve similarly produced education videos.  Is this correct?  Then I would only need a key light and fill light.

 

Instead, I could just hang a few shelves, get some plants/lamps and desktop lights or LEDs to create a "vibe" in the background and just shoot myself with keylight/fill light and use PIP when needed?

I"ll check the review for mics.  I was thinking a Deity D3 that could be boomed above my head/out of frame but it would have the benefit of also being mounted on the a7iii when run/gun.

 

 

You are correct in that you don't NEED a green screen. You just want something that is appropriate as a background.

You will probably want to light your background though, too, either with a dedicated light (or lights) on a stand, or using practical lighting (shelf lamps, table lamps, floor lamps, ceiling lights), or a combination of both.

In your instance, I would probably either go for the shelf background, or just a nice paper background. 

In either instance, you will still want to have enough room that the camera is moved back a bit and zoomed in, and you aren't casting shadows on to your background, whatever it is.

And finally, a lapel mic MIGHT work out well for you, especially something like the Rode wireless go. A shotgun mic on top of the camera is almost always going to give mediocre to poor audio unless the camera is less than three feet away from the person speaking (and preferably closer to 1.5 feet away from the person speaking).

On the other hand... Dude Perfect use shotgun mics on top of their camera for their videos, and I think they have over a million subscribers to their youtube channel, so there is that...

[SRV1981]

Thanks! I think I will remove the green screen and get a few background lights to give depth!

 

The Deity D3, I believe can be boomed above my head and off camera, but plugged (butt plugged) in.  I wouldn't use it on top of the mic