Back projection

Post by **Slimjim** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 10:09 pm

Hey

Sorry if this has been covered before, but a search didn't come up with much.

I'm wanting to do some old school back projection. Are there issues surrounding this, like having to sync up the camera and the projector? How would I do this for Super8? What if you're shooting at a different speed from the projector? Should I telecine the back projection footage and use a video projector instead?

Any advice or experience to share on this subject, not just in answer to the above questions, would be great. So far I've only done it on DV-Cam, and I had a cinematographer to take care of the technical stuff anyway.

Cheers,
Matt

Website · Post by **BigBeaner** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:22 am

If you shoot with a film projector and camera you need to sync the projector and camera's shutters. I was going to attempt to do a rear screen video projection and shoot on 16mm with I can't remember the shutter speed, all I know was that you might have to do some tests to see.

Post by **wado1942** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:57 pm

I'd personally rather use front projection. It's clearer and the colors won't look as faded but you can't move the camera while shooting or else your trick will show.

Website · Post by **BigBeaner** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 9:24 pm

Ya you have to watch out for shadows and keep the camera and projector aligned with a beam splitter.

Post by **wado1942** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:01 pm

Yeah, if the projector and the camera have the same focal length, just put the projector a little further away than the camera and you'll be fine. But watch the ape portion of 2001, A Space Odyssey and you'll see how good front projection can look. I had no idea they were on a sound stage until I read about it.

Post by **Slimjim** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:17 am

Thanks chaps, but with front projection how do I position my actors without them getting in the way of the projector beam?

Faded colours isn't an issue because I'll be shooting b/w, and I'm going for an old school Hollywood look anyway.

Post by **jpolzfuss** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:57 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_projection_effect

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/sk/2001a/page2.html

http://www.rosco.com/us/technotes/scree ... e_tbcs.asp

Post by **wado1942** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:12 pm

2001 is a pretty extreme case of front projection. We employed a more real-world approach with our movie Page & Reed. To see more about this, look at our page http://owyheesound.com/owyheesound_prod ... _reed.html
We used a 35mm slide projector and used an ordinary white wall for the screen.

Post by **Slimjim** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:01 pm

Thanks guys.