This is my low-rent, quick-and-dirty green screen set in a corner of our basement. Annotated flicker image is here. Lighting and video pros can probably offer a dozen ways to improve on this but –like so much in life– I stop as soon as I hit good enough. I probably have no more than $50 bucks in this set-up. Next project is a graffiti mural on one wall.
Back in 2005 I posted a link to a clip from the HBO series, Deadwood. In this episode Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) is sick as a dog from a kidney stone. So sick he cannot speak. Doc Cochran is about to surgically remove the stone (which could kill Al) but at the last minute, they opt to let Al try to pass the stone, with help from Johnny, Dan and Trixie.
Bonus clip: I’m thinking of putting this on my answering machine (6 seconds)
Excellent interview with David Milch (The New Language of the Old West)
The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.
In the 1993 TV mini-series, Wild Palms, Senator Anton Kreutzer (Robert Loggia) has the Go-Chip implanted and uploads his consciousness to the Net. Immortality! Unfortunately, the IT guys were running Vista on the server. But that’s a damned fine looking smoking jacket.
30 years ago, my brother, his wife and I toured Oklahoma and southern Missouri with a small circus. Our trampoline act was the headliner. This weekend we discovered we still had the moves and the magic.
Escape from Kyle Shields on Vimeo.
Brings back memories Be kind. “Then” was 50 years ago.
I finally figured it out. Sort of. If you can count stumbling on the right configuration and being unable to do it twice in a row "figured it out." But I now know that it can be done. (The background image is lobby of our new offices in Dallas.)
My setup is pretty crude. Two flood lights from Lowe’s and a few yards of green felt on the basement wall. It’s pretty clear that lighting is critical for this effect and I might have to come up with more or better lights before I try a video background.
And streaming (over the wifi) from the basement isn’t gonna cut it. Too slow. Gotta get an Ethernet jack down here or set up in the upstairs office. But hey, that’s what weekends are for, right?
I’m proud to say I PayPal’d the CamTwist guy $50. It’s worth far more than that.
One of the new features (toys) in Leopard I’ve been most excited about is the addition of green screening in iChat and Photo Booth. This is the effect they use on The Daily Show (and the evening news) to make it look like the reporter is standing in front of the White House or the Supreme Court.
Mr. Jobs left me with the impression that I could put a still image or video behind me and have hours of fun. You can see the result above. I think I could get the lighting and the green screen working but the sound is off for some reason. One hopes this is fixed in a future update.