Yep, I used Joel's screens for many years (although they're just a reseller, and bring them in from Germany, or somewhere).
The darker the screen, the less spill they take from ambient light sources - and the less washed out they appear.
Black or dark grey screens therefore are more suitable for a TV studio. They increase contrast BUT have a narrower "viewing cone", i.e. they lose clarity the further away from centre that you view/film them. So in wide side shots they don't look terribly good.
White (or twin white for rear projection) is crisp and clear and bright from any angle, but useless where light off a shiny floor etc will wash onto them.
Black or dark grey screens therefore are more suitable for a TV studio. They increase contrast but have a narrower "viewing cone", i.e. they lose clarity the further away fro centre that you view/film them. So in wide side shots they don't look terribly good.
White (or twin white for rear projection) is crisp and clear and bright from any angle, but useless where light off a shiny floor etc will wash onto them.
Fair enough on really wide shots, but when it's close up being used on a shot where the viewers attention should really be on the screen, then surely they should get it right? The most comparable is the weather summary slide.
Black or dark grey screens therefore are more suitable for a TV studio. They increase contrast but have a narrower "viewing cone", i.e. they lose clarity the further away fro centre that you view/film them. So in wide side shots they don't look terribly good.
White (or twin white for rear projection) is crisp and clear and bright from any angle, but useless where light off a shiny floor etc will wash onto them.
Fair enough on really wide shots, but when it's close up being used on a shot where the viewers attention should really be on the screen, then surely they should get it right?
Well, as with most things, there is a way to get it right - if money is no object.
There's anti reflective high-gain solid screens from japan, there are arrays of smaller projectors lined up throwing the same image that's superbright with no hot-spots, and there's projector cubes like the ones in London.
But in the absence of unlimited budgets, you can do it with PVC black screen and a single Christie projector.
You can have it right, or you can have it on a budget.
the screens were supplied by the set design company. They are quite clever in that they 'swallow' light on one side and re-transmit it on the other, and are known as a 'fresnel screens'. Have a read up about them. They are odd in that if you look at the projection side of the screen, you don't really see an image, just the studio lights falling on the screen, on the front side you see the image, but not so much key light splatter.
The projectors are in a multi mirrored projections box that's kept as dark as possible. Gives very good contrast.
The image is so good, certainly in the Hull studio, that it actually looks keyed in. Strangely, from what I hear, the image doesn't actually look that good to the eye, but looks great when a camera is pointed at it.
The projectors are run at low power, (1 lamp) and can switch to the other lamp on the fly. Too bright on 2 lamps.
The image is so good, certainly in the Hull studio, that it actually looks keyed in. Strangely, from what I hear, the image doesn't actually look that good to the eye, but looks great when a camera is pointed at it.
Indeed - in the studio the "rings" dominate and you don't see anything like what appears on camera
The image is so good, certainly in the Hull studio, that it actually looks keyed in. Strangely, from what I hear, the image doesn't actually look that good to the eye, but looks great when a camera is pointed at it.
Indeed - in the studio the "rings" dominate and you don't see anything like what appears on camera
