In Box: Best Media Storage Methods • DIY Chroma Key (page 2)

DIY Chroma Key Wall

I have gone to our local hardware and inquired about the chroma key green paint. They have no idea. Can you perhaps let me have the color combination (RGB or CMYK) to make up the green.

Regards
Leon Ellis

We asked an employee at a local paint store if there was a paint formula a person could take into any paint store and have a certain color mixed that would be the same at all stores. He said no, the colorants are different at different stores. They used to be the same but stopped at some point because of trade secrets. Here at Videomaker, when we painted our wall, we worked off the Pantone CMYK 4-Color process guide that many print designers use. If you know a graphics artist, you can probably get your hands on one. The color mix and Pantone guide we recommend is Pantone DS 284-3c CMYK: 60/0/70/20.

The green box in the photo above is this Pantone mix. If you take that green square in to your local paint store, you shouldn't have any problems getting it matched through their computer imaging. Nowadays, you can take any swatch and nearly get a perfect match. We might also suggest you contact your local TV station about their weather wall, most likely they have the name and numbers that they use because they have to make patch and repair work on those walls from time to time.

Something to consider before you do paint an entire wall in your studio green: chroma key green is a powerful color. Because our original green wall was very large, unless we flagged it off completely, we often found it "spilled" onto other subjects we shot in the studio, often giving them a greenish tint in error. Think about how you would mask that green wall, when you need the studio for other production.
-The Editors

Post-It Note Story Boarding

I produce training video vignettes for my company and I read the latest article regarding story boarding, (Directing column, February 2009) Very good article and points out a very important basic precept...plan the work and work the plan. I have one recommendation. I use Post-It notes in several colors depending on what the note is about (position, audio, etc). I can then do a dry run through the vignette and move the Post-Its around as necessary. Once I have the basic sequence arranged, I number the notes and put them into a three ring binder, six or so to a sheet then head to the production location.

Excellent magazine.
William Hinton
Florida Power and Light
Seabrook Station
Seabrook, NH

DIY Jib

I have your magazine and read the camera jib article and liked it. (Tutorial - DIY Jibs, November 2008) I went to several stores (Home Depot, Chase Hardware) and got all the material items except the galvanized pipe hangers. Neither store had them so I went to Barnhill Bolt company, but the guy there said they don't make that type of pipe hangers any longer, as they are not needed. I was wondering if there is an option for another type of pipe hanger or round diameter type galvanized hardware item that will work?
Jack Brown,
Freelance Videographer for the past 7 years.
Albuquerque, NM

Glad you liked the article and video, Jack. Tom says he bought his hangers at Lowes (but he said Home Depot has them too, regardless of what you were told!). Lowes has them in stock and listed on their website as well. Here's the Lowes website link for the hangers.

Hope this helps you out - have fun making the jib and happy shooting!
-The Editors

Great Audio from a Canon

In your review of the Canon Vixia HG21 (January 2009 issue), you failed to discuss a feature which I assume is the same in the HG21 as it is in the Vixia HF100, which is the model I am using. Namely, the excellent options available for audio. In addition to using the built in mics, you can use a variety of external audio sources because in addition to selecting the audio input as the mic source, you can select input attenuation, which allows you to connect a line level output (from a mic preamp, for example) to the input of the Vixia. The crowning touch is that you can also adjust the audio level manually. A tiny, but still helpful meter shows on the screen so you have some guidance about setting a level to avoid overload. And when you are using the manual level control, the auto gain feature is turned off. This is vital for the best quality recordings of concerts and performances.

I've been recording audio with Earthworks QTC40 mics into a Tascam HGP2 audio recorder and sending the line level output of the Tascam to the input of the Canon Vixia HF100. Even if I decide to use the higher quality Tascam recording (24 bit rather than 16 bit), syncing the audio is much easier. It's great though to have very high quality sound recorded with the video with no compression.
Bob Sellman
Direct-to-Tape Recording Co.
www.dtrmusic.com