I've been using a 47" tv sitting on a table, just outside the side windows of a car to do driving dialog scenes. So far no one has figured out that it's not real.
@@mrhobs I attached a dji osmo pocket camera to the side of my car and filmed from both directions, drivers side and passenger. As the pocket osmo doesn't really have shallow depth of field, I defocused the shots in post.
You can get bezel hiding kits for monitors that could be useful. Sim racers use them for 3 monitor setups to help make the monitors look like one. Basically they are strips that blur the light from the two monitors to the side and combine the light into the strip.
@PeterVanKeer possibly, though theoretically they could work for any size. One thing I am unsure of is if the monitors have to be at a specific angle or if the trick will work at any angles including flat.
When I saw PotatoJets video my mind was completely blown and I love how versatile you all got with this, hiding the bezel, still having foreground elements and even the resolve set up is an added layer I hadn’t thought about
User for the moon landings too? 🤣 Actually the video televised to the public was .. that is well know.. which is way it was so blurry (at least ... one of the reasons)
It's very cheap, comapred to a fully tricked out LED wall voume. The cost of building your own TV based setup is cheaper one a day renting a volume stage. Waaaaay cheaper. Let's say you plan to shoot a weeks worth of interviews, buy the 3 screens, do the shoot, flip the TVs on facebook marketplace, or return them to Amazon for a refund. If you're not getting paid for your work then yeah...everything is expensive. Another option would be to rent them from an AV hire company. I've worked on some i studio car interior shots for netwrok TV shows where the produciton have rented 4x 100" screens to do all of their drving shots over the course of a few days. Cost them next to nothing and it looked great. Buying or renting three or 4 TVs is negliagle for any of the jobs I would typically work on. Chump change.
I've been using a 4K short throw projector with a 120" ALR screen for a virtual background for my wife's channel and client webinars. The challenge is that you really have to control light spilling onto the projector screen, and 120" is a little too small to give us more flexibility with getting a wider shot of the talent. I'm considering changing to a TV video wall for our new larger studio but no bezel TV's are very expensive. It might not be worth the extra cost.
@@EpicLightMedia Thomas have you ever tried to use this method, but with good quality projector as it can be budget friendly option for some situations, when someone can't afford expensive TV monitors
I watched your video last year re TV wall backdrop and copied your system. Works out well -- I use it to simulate a window view from a downtown office. Love your content!
I use a 4k ultra short throw projector. You can blow it up to 300 inches no problem, however it is much harder to control the lighting as any spill into the screen washes out the image. When setup right even gives you room to add a slider or go handheld for some parallax adding more to the realism
I recently started doing something similar, however I just use one 75 inch tv right behind me, so I don't need the white strips because I'm only using one tv.
What I can say is that when “cheap” in-studio shoots are this complex, leaving the studio is for the birds in any situation you can avoid it. All of which is why I chose radio over TV some 50 years ago.
During the COVID lockdowns I saw a Twitter post of a news commentator working FROM HOME with a similar setup. She had only one large TV and the effect was perfect. I like what you've done here.
Have you considered integrating Unreal Engine into the setup and placing a gyro-sensor on the camera? You could upgrade to doing real-time dynamic backgrounds and even (some) handheld moving shots. That could open it up so you're not confined to just locked off shots with static backgrounds. Though, for the locked/static stuff, it looks pretty good - the attention to lighting sells it.
Looks amazing. We use a short throw projector from time to time. The brightness is the only downside. But if you expose for the background it sort of works pretty good.
I looked into this. There is supposed to be some really, really good screen material that reflects alot of the light back. You might want to look into that.
I've been doing this for a few years now, a single 55" HD screen is brilliant for product video. Especially with transparent objects like glass where green-screening a background is next to impossible. Add a turntable and a few props and you're good to go.
I've seen -- for triple computer monitor setups -- people that use a prism/diffusor strip that goes between each screen and sort of blends the bezels out. Don't know if they make them big enough for tvs like that. Just one big screen I would think could be enough for smaller product shot setups too! EDIT: apparently the DIY way is to get a broken TV of the same size - has to be one that has a backlight with a fresnel lens layer - and cut that into strips and flex them until the bezel disapears. Those fresnels in old tvs can be interesting light mods in themselves 🤔
Definitely pro-level. Wonderfully done. It would be great to see a comparison between this and, say a 4k projector. If the cost isn't that much different than the tv's would be better.
Looks great but when you switched over to Andrew I was hoping he would go into detail. What resolution project is in resolve? Does it have a particular name? How do you prevent flare from the tv. I thought that was going to be the problem you were going to say. For the strips, are they attached through velcro? But a deeper dive into the setup in resolve would’ve been nice. Or at least the source you used
It’s only a 1080p project in resolve. Because the background is going to have natural bokeh from the lens, you really don’t need high res images. We prevent glares on the TV during lighting setup by moving the lights into the right positions and using flags to prevent spill onto the screen. Also because of the large size of the TV wall out talent is several feet from the wall and having more distance between the wall and the lighting makes it easier to prevent glare and flares from the lights.
This is brilliant and definitely giving mega expensive virtual production studios for SMEs a run for their money and MORE accessible to more ppl and companies!:)
Is there a technical advantage to doing this over using rear projection? A space advantage? Budget advantage? It seems like you could get a larger background without dealing with bezels by using rear projection.
We did this for a VFX shot of putting an actor in spaceship. We only have one large monitor set up in landscape. We found it worked fine with minimal blurring/bokeh. It does need some so you can't tell it's a screen. Separately, consider blurring the background in photoshop. I am not sure how that will look but might be worth exploring.
That's really cool!! - I just wondered if using rear projection you can get the same effect, without the bezels? We used to use rear projection for events we ran years ago, not sure if anyone uses it for video backdrops these days though!
You guys could use one of those lenticular sheets that people use as "invisibility shields" to better blend the screens together and hide those bezels, look up some images, I think it might work well with this setup. Would give you the benefit of not having to change the colored bezel covers for different scenes.
Love this. Would be great setup for someone who shoots lots of a-roll interviews and standups. You could use backgrounds that are thematically in line with the b-roll without having to have subjects go on-location when they don't need to.
Amazingly useful video - thanks much for sharing your experience/know-how! Bigger background is better, but, but mind if I ask why you went 3-panel configuration over a single 98” (86”x49”) with no hide-the-seams worries? (…But slightly tighter shots on the talent for sure!) Cheers
It still looks composited, though. The talent doesn't look like it's lit by the background environment. I suppose it's faster, but it sure doesn't look any better.
My understanding is it’s an alternative to compositing for productions that do not really require 100% realistic lighting and want a quick turnaround, although people claim this method also works well for ‘outdoor’ dialogue scenes like driving, the use of video walls in Mandalorian (I guess natural daylight must be easier to approximate in those setups?)
I love this set-up, we've just build a studio in a tiny room with 2 big screens behind our journalist and the guests, the result is just fantastic. We have to struggle with lights to avoid reflections on the screens, but the result is just amazing. The studio look like a big place on the top of building with a view of Paris
It's pretty limited for what you can do, size-wise. It's great for that specific scenario. Add in a second camera, wide angle, two people... and you are going to be hitting roadblocks. But for a medium headshot, single camera... looks great.
I have worked with these type of virtual backgrounds using ultra short throw projectors. They have the advantage of enabling to shoot on a big 4 meter wide background but they are very susceptible to spill. Indeed using a lot of flags was crucial for those kind of setups pretty much what you are doing here.
Super cool! I defintely would want to try something like this out. I also like how simulating the TV provides some what would be natural ambient/colors onto the talent. Never liked the way green screen looks keyed with those edges that never quite look right.
a short throw projector accomplishes similar results, although without the ability to mimic the gloss of a window. that and a high quality projector might be more expensive than three cheap screens, especially considering longevity
What about using a ceiling mounted projector instead? You would obviously need the height to get over the subject's head, but other than that, you could end up with a really large image behind them. Would using a projector present any major problems I'm not thinking off? Edit: Also, for your bezel strips, they have these semi-transparent lensed strips that take whatever color is in the image and lenses it across the bezel, so you definitely would not be able to see it. They use it for sim racing setups with multiple monitors.
Another great video! Thanks guys! One important question for me is: What kind of TV can be used here? What do I have to pay attention to here? LCD, OLED,...
I shared this with my video production team (I'm the audio guy) as a potential way to do some of the videos we produce for our clients. Thanks for this!
To solve the bezels in more scenarios, why not just use 1 tv in horizontal position and bring it close enough to camera to fill the BG? You can even blur the image _itself_ as much as you need to make up for the reduced in-camera blur. What you did with the 3 tvs + bevel hiders obviously worked just fine, but this way you wouldn't have to deal with that every single time you use this CU setup.
In the 80s we would conversations about this. ILM has billions and can do cutting edge. The real power is when tech gets into masses. A few good tvs is pricey, but this is magical stuff we could only dreamed of. This one of them the most transformative techs in the business that I get giddy about. I use it whenever we can because it’s easy and cost effective.
They make bezel hiding strips you can put between two monitors. They reflect the image over the bezel making it almost disappear if you're not focused on it. I don't know if they make them big enough to use for what you're doing though.
I started to get into sim racing and they use a special tape to cover up the bezels, it refracts the light and creates a diffused border to the next screen. Maybe that works for you too!
You can get one of those backlit things for a TVs where it lights up the wall behind it and all around and use that as your light around your subject to mimic the environment that you're showing on the screen
How much of a consideration is color accuracy of the monitors for you? are there any specific specs you were looking for or was it just seeing for yourself?
I’ve been using my iMac 27” as a backdrop (along with my iPad Pro 12.9” as a floor) for Star Wars toy Photography for years now - so much easier and safer for me to shoot at home, where I can control everything, than out in the real world trying to find locations to suit the figures I shoot. - It’s a life saver, a time saver, a money saver and a biggest thing saved is MY SANITY!!!
You reckon a good brand short throw projector on a white wall would reach these levels of brightness?? I've seen some projector stuff and it's good for lower light backgrounds, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be bright enough for this kind of background.
i thought that looked really good! Outside of this video knowledge, if you just showed me that final output, there's no way i would have guess that. Nice job and thanks for the insights i might be able to use down the road :)
I wonder if it might not be easier, to use only one large screen, closer to the subject and just blur the background image, rather than manipulate the depth of field?
This looked great. I always wondered if a high end short throw projector and large high quality screen would work. The background is usually not brightly lit, and the hair light faces forward. Added benefit of being able to adjust orojector focus to blur the image on screen maybe?
Yep, the cheapest most convinent way to do this is with an ultra short throw projector. Most can throw up to a 150" image which is crazy big. They will wash out if light directly hits them. But honestly, with the way they have the negative fill setup, the ultra short throw would have been a much better, less complicated setup.
I tried it with a Ultra Short Throw Projector, but the rainbow effect appeared on all the different cameras... then I tried a 3-laser standard projector and same results... Some combos work so I suggest demo-ing your intended camera with the projector... Just because it is an expensive projector didn't mean it would work, either.
@@michalwalks Yeah if the projector is a DLP and has a color wheel, the camera picks up on that. You can correct that with a 360 degree shutter, but that introduces other issues as well. I've done that exact setup and yielded great results, but you can't have fast action or camera movements as it will expose the 360 degree shutter pretty quick.
You could use an ultra short throw projector to remove the need for hiding the bezel since those can go to very large screen sizes while being very close to the wall. I could see matching the projector and camera refresh rate being a bit of an issue though
Couldn't you use something like a laser projector where the throw is very short to achieve the same thing but without the bezels? Plus the added benefit of not as many reflections as a TV.
So you depth if field issue, just add blur to the image to fine tune then you can accomplish pretty much anything. And use a cut up plastic Lenticular lens to help hide the seem and tiny amount of depth of field and you've got a better look. Great idea keep it up. Just used a projector for something similar.
Looked amazing. Totally get the 3k/d saving benefit. I have one question please; do you think the talent responds to the set? Does the environment bring out different behaviours?
Looks great. I think a high quality high lumen short throw projector along with a screen that cancels off axis light would be a better/easier solution though. You could have up to a 150” screen with a single source so you don’t have to line them all up and get them in sync and a bigger screen. Just need it to be around 3,000 ANSI lumens and it should work fine.
We've been curious about those short throw projectors. Our biggest issue with any projector is if any ambient light reaches the screen, the blacks in the background become lifted towards grays and it has a washed out feel. The TV's don't do that the same way, but we do have to work around reflections...
Haha I’ve done similar with a few TVs for my Christmas displays disguising one as snow falling outside a window, one for a fireplace etc, same for halloween with ghosts floating up and clouds passing a full moon
Quick question, are there any considerations to keep in mind with regards to frame rate and the TV refreshing? Any best practices? Also what screen tech [LED/OLED/LCD] would be best for camera?
I’m curious how much more it would cost to have a screen that large without bezels. Or, could you hide them with video wall panels, wouldn’t be flush but maybe would still be ok?
Anyone that says "this is ridiculous" needs to run back 1 min to where he said that the client remarked "why don't we do this with all of our videos". Game set match. Anything the client likes is the move. Great job guys! Secure those contracts!
Why not use retro projection like in the old days or even short-throw laser projection? There are some affordable 4K projectors nowadays with lots of lumens and would make up to a 300” image. Just wondering. Sure you guys already thought about it and weighed all costs involved.
A sample of finished work you’ve done, snippets rather than the whole content, would be good to see, that way I’d be better placed to make a comment about whether it’s a good idea. It looks like it might be, but I need those samples.
you could use a good quality UST projector and if setup correctly you could have the projector behind the person and you don't have to worry about any bezel lines or other things associated with 3 large tv's.
I've been using a 47" tv sitting on a table, just outside the side windows of a car to do driving dialog scenes. So far no one has figured out that it's not real.
How do you find/create good footage (right angles/speed/etc) to go on the TV? This is a good idea that I may actually want to try
@@mrhobs I attached a dji osmo pocket camera to the side of my car and filmed from both directions, drivers side and passenger. As the pocket osmo doesn't really have shallow depth of field, I defocused the shots in post.
I just figured it out. But only because you told me. 😉
@@AtomicAgePictures Hey man, that's a pretty straightforward method, thank you!
@@heckensteiner4713 Goofball. ha
You can get bezel hiding kits for monitors that could be useful. Sim racers use them for 3 monitor setups to help make the monitors look like one. Basically they are strips that blur the light from the two monitors to the side and combine the light into the strip.
Whoah! Do you have any links or a name for that? This is pretty pretty pretty useful
@@evilpigskin ruclips.net/video/MCib9bpdqJg/видео.html
Good tip, but as far as I know those are for smaller monitors only? Would be amazing though to have these for a 70" TV!
@@PeterVanKeer Couldn't you stack them to get the height you need?
@PeterVanKeer possibly, though theoretically they could work for any size. One thing I am unsure of is if the monitors have to be at a specific angle or if the trick will work at any angles including flat.
"Film in front of a TV instead of traveling" 2024 economy in a nutshell
Hahaha love this
Really laughed so hard!!
Hahaha exacly. It the same as "why have kids, adopt a dog and cultivate a plant"
When I saw PotatoJets video my mind was completely blown and I love how versatile you all got with this, hiding the bezel, still having foreground elements and even the resolve set up is an added layer I hadn’t thought about
Modern spin on classic, traditional rear projection. Used in Hollywood since the 1930s. Battle-tested, tried-and-true.
Exactly what I was thinking.
disney still uses it to this day
i think they use massive screens now tho
Rear projections then, volumes now, TVs here.
User for the moon landings too? 🤣 Actually the video televised to the public was .. that is well know.. which is way it was so blurry (at least ... one of the reasons)
“This is cheap stuff,” with three 75 inch TVs in the background. 😂
You guys make amazing content.
It's very cheap, comapred to a fully tricked out LED wall voume. The cost of building your own TV based setup is cheaper one a day renting a volume stage. Waaaaay cheaper. Let's say you plan to shoot a weeks worth of interviews, buy the 3 screens, do the shoot, flip the TVs on facebook marketplace, or return them to Amazon for a refund. If you're not getting paid for your work then yeah...everything is expensive. Another option would be to rent them from an AV hire company. I've worked on some i studio car interior shots for netwrok TV shows where the produciton have rented 4x 100" screens to do all of their drving shots over the course of a few days. Cost them next to nothing and it looked great. Buying or renting three or 4 TVs is negliagle for any of the jobs I would typically work on. Chump change.
@@robertdouble559 this is actually a really good point. Thanks, for exposing me to the other side of the technical details and comparisons. 😃
you can create the same thing with a so much cheaper projector.
Love this setup! Especially using Resolve for the quick adjustments! That's a great tip.
I've been using a 4K short throw projector with a 120" ALR screen for a virtual background for my wife's channel and client webinars. The challenge is that you really have to control light spilling onto the projector screen, and 120" is a little too small to give us more flexibility with getting a wider shot of the talent. I'm considering changing to a TV video wall for our new larger studio but no bezel TV's are very expensive. It might not be worth the extra cost.
That looked surprisingly good.
Thanks!
@@EpicLightMedia Thomas have you ever tried to use this method, but with good quality projector as it can be budget friendly option for some situations, when someone can't afford expensive TV monitors
@@ciinelogi doubt a budget friendly projector would have nearly enough brightness to pass this off, but I’d love to see it tested out.
Absolutely professional end result, and such a great idea! This certainly got me thinking about the many possibilities with a setup like this.
Hey thanks!!!
Post more regularly or I will subscribe.
With notifications on!
Couldn't agree more 👏 👌
OMG!! That is a real threat right there.
You mean "and"?
You wouldn't DARE 😦
😱
I watched your video last year re TV wall backdrop and copied your system. Works out well -- I use it to simulate a window view from a downtown office. Love your content!
Glad you guys are uploading videos. this was super fun and creative.
Philip Bloom did a great review of a TV where he posed this same option. The tighter the shot or larger the tv should get seamless.
I have access to a 77 inch TV. I definitely want to try this out. Thanks for this breakdown! You guys always make great stuff!
I use a 4k ultra short throw projector. You can blow it up to 300 inches no problem, however it is much harder to control the lighting as any spill into the screen washes out the image. When setup right even gives you room to add a slider or go handheld for some parallax adding more to the realism
This is SUCH a great idea! Excellent breakdown.
I recently started doing something similar, however I just use one 75 inch tv right behind me, so I don't need the white strips because I'm only using one tv.
how do you do it with one and make it look good
@@ytwatcher2021 He didn't say it looks good.
What I can say is that when “cheap” in-studio shoots are this complex, leaving the studio is for the birds in any situation you can avoid it.
All of which is why I chose radio over TV some 50 years ago.
Great setup. Big tv, good lighting and blur...don’t look hard to emulate. Thanks!
During the COVID lockdowns I saw a Twitter post of a news commentator working FROM HOME with a similar setup. She had only one large TV and the effect was perfect. I like what you've done here.
Have you considered integrating Unreal Engine into the setup and placing a gyro-sensor on the camera? You could upgrade to doing real-time dynamic backgrounds and even (some) handheld moving shots. That could open it up so you're not confined to just locked off shots with static backgrounds. Though, for the locked/static stuff, it looks pretty good - the attention to lighting sells it.
Now that I work at a film studio, I’m definitely doing this now. Thank you for making that tutorial in the other video. Excited for this one.
Looks amazing. We use a short throw projector from time to time. The brightness is the only downside. But if you expose for the background it sort of works pretty good.
I looked into this. There is supposed to be some really, really good screen material that reflects alot of the light back. You might want to look into that.
Have you tried rear projectors as an alternative instead of TVs? It would require more space, but probably allow more lighting flexibility.
Unfortunately the blacks in the image get washed out and look grey with rear projection. The reflections are annoying with tvs though
@@EpicLightMedia great point!
@@EpicLightMedia Can you get big sheets of anti-reflective screen protectors like you can for ipads and phones?
Nvm answering my question then. Parallel thinking strikes again.
@@bhgemini Actually, I wonder if a darker silver screen with a shockingly bright projector would help with the washed out contrast.
This is a wonderful practical studio.
Always delivering some enjoyable and enriching content! Thanks guys!
The lighting on talent is 🔥. Well done!
I've been doing this for a few years now, a single 55" HD screen is brilliant for product video. Especially with transparent objects like glass where green-screening a background is next to impossible. Add a turntable and a few props and you're good to go.
I've seen -- for triple computer monitor setups -- people that use a prism/diffusor strip that goes between each screen and sort of blends the bezels out. Don't know if they make them big enough for tvs like that. Just one big screen I would think could be enough for smaller product shot setups too! EDIT: apparently the DIY way is to get a broken TV of the same size - has to be one that has a backlight with a fresnel lens layer - and cut that into strips and flex them until the bezel disapears. Those fresnels in old tvs can be interesting light mods in themselves 🤔
I’m so happy another one dropped. I love your content
I think for most cases, especially creating social media ads, this looks fantastic. I'm looking at buying an 85" TV for our Christmas photoshoot
Definitely pro-level. Wonderfully done. It would be great to see a comparison between this and, say a 4k projector. If the cost isn't that much different than the tv's would be better.
Agree
Looks great but when you switched over to Andrew I was hoping he would go into detail. What resolution project is in resolve? Does it have a particular name? How do you prevent flare from the tv. I thought that was going to be the problem you were going to say. For the strips, are they attached through velcro? But a deeper dive into the setup in resolve would’ve been nice. Or at least the source you used
It’s only a 1080p project in resolve. Because the background is going to have natural bokeh from the lens, you really don’t need high res images. We prevent glares on the TV during lighting setup by moving the lights into the right positions and using flags to prevent spill onto the screen. Also because of the large size of the TV wall out talent is several feet from the wall and having more distance between the wall and the lighting makes it easier to prevent glare and flares from the lights.
This is brilliant and definitely giving mega expensive virtual production studios for SMEs a run for their money and MORE accessible to more ppl and companies!:)
Is there a technical advantage to doing this over using rear projection? A space advantage? Budget advantage? It seems like you could get a larger background without dealing with bezels by using rear projection.
I think this setup is ridiculous… ridiculously awesome!
We did this for a VFX shot of putting an actor in spaceship. We only have one large monitor set up in landscape. We found it worked fine with minimal blurring/bokeh. It does need some so you can't tell it's a screen. Separately, consider blurring the background in photoshop. I am not sure how that will look but might be worth exploring.
looks like a great idea for simple talking head type shoots. The image was extremely convincing A+
Think this is really smart! But how about using a projector? Rear projector maybe? Or is it too washed out or even more costly?
That's really cool!! - I just wondered if using rear projection you can get the same effect, without the bezels? We used to use rear projection for events we ran years ago, not sure if anyone uses it for video backdrops these days though!
You guys could use one of those lenticular sheets that people use as "invisibility shields" to better blend the screens together and hide those bezels, look up some images, I think it might work well with this setup.
Would give you the benefit of not having to change the colored bezel covers for different scenes.
Epic Light Media doesn't question if this idea is crazy, they wonder if it's crazy enough!
I love this break down! thank you! How do you think a 4k laser projector would work as an alternative rear projection?
Love this. Would be great setup for someone who shoots lots of a-roll interviews and standups. You could use backgrounds that are thematically in line with the b-roll without having to have subjects go on-location when they don't need to.
Very nice setup. Looks great and vastly improves your post processing time
Glad you guys are back… Hope Thomas is ok, seems as bummed as he was In the last one❤
We have been doing this in action figure photography for many years...cool to see it adapted to something else!
Amazingly useful video - thanks much for sharing your experience/know-how!
Bigger background is better, but, but mind if I ask why you went 3-panel configuration over a single 98” (86”x49”) with no hide-the-seams worries? (…But slightly tighter shots on the talent for sure!)
Cheers
I agree in LA at 5.65 an hour it lives in my head.
It still looks composited, though. The talent doesn't look like it's lit by the background environment. I suppose it's faster, but it sure doesn't look any better.
My understanding is it’s an alternative to compositing for productions that do not really require 100% realistic lighting and want a quick turnaround, although people claim this method also works well for ‘outdoor’ dialogue scenes like driving, the use of video walls in Mandalorian (I guess natural daylight must be easier to approximate in those setups?)
I love this set-up, we've just build a studio in a tiny room with 2 big screens behind our journalist and the guests, the result is just fantastic. We have to struggle with lights to avoid reflections on the screens, but the result is just amazing. The studio look like a big place on the top of building with a view of Paris
Awesome! I’d love to see it
@@EpicLightMedia The first video will be uploaded in June, I can put a link a this moment if you want
I did use a tv as a background for a photo once and it came out great, so when I saw your suggestion to use it for video it just made sense.
Well done!
Could a high end projector be used too, or would that pose even more problems?
It's pretty limited for what you can do, size-wise. It's great for that specific scenario. Add in a second camera, wide angle, two people... and you are going to be hitting roadblocks. But for a medium headshot, single camera... looks great.
I have worked with these type of virtual backgrounds using ultra short throw projectors. They have the advantage of enabling to shoot on a big 4 meter wide background but they are very susceptible to spill. Indeed using a lot of flags was crucial for those kind of setups pretty much what you are doing here.
Super cool! I defintely would want to try something like this out. I also like how simulating the TV provides some what would be natural ambient/colors onto the talent. Never liked the way green screen looks keyed with those edges that never quite look right.
a short throw projector accomplishes similar results, although without the ability to mimic the gloss of a window. that and a high quality projector might be more expensive than three cheap screens, especially considering longevity
It looks awesome! Sparking off ideas as I type. Greetings from New Mexico!
What about using a ceiling mounted projector instead? You would obviously need the height to get over the subject's head, but other than that, you could end up with a really large image behind them. Would using a projector present any major problems I'm not thinking off? Edit: Also, for your bezel strips, they have these semi-transparent lensed strips that take whatever color is in the image and lenses it across the bezel, so you definitely would not be able to see it. They use it for sim racing setups with multiple monitors.
Another great video! Thanks guys! One important question for me is:
What kind of TV can be used here? What do I have to pay attention to here? LCD, OLED,...
These were cheap lcd TVs you can just use cheap ones
I shared this with my video production team (I'm the audio guy) as a potential way to do some of the videos we produce for our clients. Thanks for this!
To solve the bezels in more scenarios, why not just use 1 tv in horizontal position and bring it close enough to camera to fill the BG? You can even blur the image _itself_ as much as you need to make up for the reduced in-camera blur. What you did with the 3 tvs + bevel hiders obviously worked just fine, but this way you wouldn't have to deal with that every single time you use this CU setup.
In the 80s we would conversations about this. ILM has billions and can do cutting edge. The real power is when tech gets into masses. A few good tvs is pricey, but this is magical stuff we could only dreamed of. This one of them the most transformative techs in the business that I get giddy about. I use it whenever we can because it’s easy and cost effective.
Love it! I wonder how these compare with a laser projector. I would like to add this to my home studio but not sure what it would get the best results
They make bezel hiding strips you can put between two monitors. They reflect the image over the bezel making it almost disappear if you're not focused on it. I don't know if they make them big enough to use for what you're doing though.
Great stuff guys. I'd love to hear more about clean plate capture for the video wall.
It looks really good. What were your thoughts on a projector
I could see myself actually doing a setup like this in the future. Great job guys!
I started to get into sim racing and they use a special tape to cover up the bezels, it refracts the light and creates a diffused border to the next screen. Maybe that works for you too!
You can get one of those backlit things for a TVs where it lights up the wall behind it and all around and use that as your light around your subject to mimic the environment that you're showing on the screen
Wouldn't just one good projector yield similar results without so many issues? With the bonus of an adjustable size?
How much of a consideration is color accuracy of the monitors for you? are there any specific specs you were looking for or was it just seeing for yourself?
I’ve been using my iMac 27” as a backdrop (along with my iPad Pro 12.9” as a floor) for Star Wars toy
Photography for years now - so much easier and safer for me to shoot at home, where I can control everything, than out in the real world trying to find locations to suit the figures I shoot.
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It’s a life saver, a time saver, a money saver and a biggest thing saved is MY SANITY!!!
You reckon a good brand short throw projector on a white wall would reach these levels of brightness?? I've seen some projector stuff and it's good for lower light backgrounds, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be bright enough for this kind of background.
i thought that looked really good! Outside of this video knowledge, if you just showed me that final output, there's no way i would have guess that. Nice job and thanks for the insights i might be able to use down the road :)
I wonder if it might not be easier, to use only one large screen, closer to the subject and just blur the background image, rather than manipulate the depth of field?
Fabulous, no issue with frame rate or flickering?
This looked great. I always wondered if a high end short throw projector and large high quality screen would work. The background is usually not brightly lit, and the hair light faces forward. Added benefit of being able to adjust orojector focus to blur the image on screen maybe?
Yep, the cheapest most convinent way to do this is with an ultra short throw projector. Most can throw up to a 150" image which is crazy big. They will wash out if light directly hits them. But honestly, with the way they have the negative fill setup, the ultra short throw would have been a much better, less complicated setup.
I tried it with a Ultra Short Throw Projector, but the rainbow effect appeared on all the different cameras... then I tried a 3-laser standard projector and same results... Some combos work so I suggest demo-ing your intended camera with the projector... Just because it is an expensive projector didn't mean it would work, either.
@@michalwalks or get an epson. That doesn't have rainbows, because it's lcd not dlp
@@michalwalks Yeah if the projector is a DLP and has a color wheel, the camera picks up on that. You can correct that with a 360 degree shutter, but that introduces other issues as well. I've done that exact setup and yielded great results, but you can't have fast action or camera movements as it will expose the 360 degree shutter pretty quick.
@@robertper4102 That's so interesting, the part about the fast camera movement effects causing issues. Thanks!
You could use an ultra short throw projector to remove the need for hiding the bezel since those can go to very large screen sizes while being very close to the wall. I could see matching the projector and camera refresh rate being a bit of an issue though
Couldn't you use something like a laser projector where the throw is very short to achieve the same thing but without the bezels? Plus the added benefit of not as many reflections as a TV.
In the opening shot there are 3 tv’s aligned vertically. If you get stuck trying to figure things out, like I do, this is for you.
So you depth if field issue, just add blur to the image to fine tune then you can accomplish pretty much anything. And use a cut up plastic Lenticular lens to help hide the seem and tiny amount of depth of field and you've got a better look. Great idea keep it up. Just used a projector for something similar.
Looked amazing. Totally get the 3k/d saving benefit. I have one question please; do you think the talent responds to the set? Does the environment bring out different behaviours?
She was great and since she was just reading a teleprompter I don’t think it mattered much. She did awesome
great nifty idea! do one with a projector. report if it is any better/worse.thanks!!
Looks great. I think a high quality high lumen short throw projector along with a screen that cancels off axis light would be a better/easier solution though. You could have up to a 150” screen with a single source so you don’t have to line them all up and get them in sync and a bigger screen. Just need it to be around 3,000 ANSI lumens and it should work fine.
We've been curious about those short throw projectors. Our biggest issue with any projector is if any ambient light reaches the screen, the blacks in the background become lifted towards grays and it has a washed out feel. The TV's don't do that the same way, but we do have to work around reflections...
Haha I’ve done similar with a few TVs for my Christmas displays disguising one as snow falling outside a window, one for a fireplace etc, same for halloween with ghosts floating up and clouds passing a full moon
I have an 85” TV to produce the same results… thanks for posting it is very useful reference of what’s possible.
0:50 i think you want less depth of field not more
Quick question, are there any considerations to keep in mind with regards to frame rate and the TV refreshing? Any best practices? Also what screen tech [LED/OLED/LCD] would be best for camera?
Looks fantastic, great work!
If it's an out of focus backdrop, would a projector do the job - or does that cause problems because of the brightness (of the screen) and contrast?
amazing video as always
I’m curious how much more it would cost to have a screen that large without bezels. Or, could you hide them with video wall panels, wouldn’t be flush but maybe would still be ok?
Anyone that says "this is ridiculous" needs to run back 1 min to where he said that the client remarked "why don't we do this with all of our videos". Game set match. Anything the client likes is the move. Great job guys! Secure those contracts!
Thanks!!!! Yes the client was very happy
@@EpicLightMedia that's all that matters!
I have that intellytech litecloth and I love what you all did for diffusion. I'm gonna try that myself.
Looks really good. How difficult was it to match color on all 3 of those tv's?
Wouldn't a short throw projector give you a larger background image area or have I already missed the answer to that question?
Why not use retro projection like in the old days or even short-throw laser projection? There are some affordable 4K projectors nowadays with lots of lumens and would make up to a 300” image. Just wondering. Sure you guys already thought about it and weighed all costs involved.
A sample of finished work you’ve done, snippets rather than the whole content, would be good to see, that way I’d be better placed to make a comment about whether it’s a good idea. It looks like it might be, but I need those samples.
you could use a good quality UST projector and if setup correctly you could have the projector behind the person and you don't have to worry about any bezel lines or other things associated with 3 large tv's.