I totally agree with Spot -

unless the money here is large, I'd say fuggetaboutit -
a job like this either looks perfect or it looks like poop.
We've come too far to "wing" chromakey - you can spot a bad one a mile away. Your best bet would be to sub it out to a professional rotoscoper or to find a large chromakey studio...

otherwise...
you might look into difference keying, if the budget is small and the client is easy

but don't even dare hope for perfection - now the question is how fussy is the client and how weird can you go on the execution. Think about other approaches to what you client is trying to SAY - rather than how to do it.

best,
v

Thanks for the reply Spot I think you just saved me alot of time and effort.

Do you think that the area of the foam backed screen that the horse is walking thru would present a problem to key out?

Not at all.
I know a guy in Sweden who did exactly this with a moose.
Using a whip stitch, you can *easily* get a 24' high and wide foam backed screen, light it with supplemental lights, walk the horse and rider in front of it. Experiment with a guy sitting on top of a car so you're not fooling with the animal in front of the screen, use a field monitor such as DVRack/Onlocation or use the 100 IRE on your cam to check that the screen is evenly lighted.
Use caution to be sure there is distance between subject and screen so you avoid spill/reflection. I wouldn't expect this to cost $500.00 in parts if you already own some lights and are willing to invest the time.

Why does it have to be shot outside?

here is how we did it for a cow:
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/heinz/heinz_behind.html

and the results:
http://www.patrykrebisz.com/heinz/heinz_movie_fla.html

I may have to pass on this job but at least now I know what I'd be getting into.

It dosen't have to be outside just thought lighting the moving horse inside would be beyond my abilities. Sure would like to your thoughts on it. Do you think it would be a better way to go?

if there is a budget of much...doing it outside isn't too hard. Patryck's example isn't much different than some shots we've set up, and it obviously wasn't terribly expensive either. The primary diff is that with a rider and full bodied horse, a 10 x 14 screen on a bar isn't going to cut it. But the lighting, especially outdoors, won't be much different either.
As far as bringing a horse inside, it's significantly more dangerous for everyone involved, will require an insurance bond in most situations, any room big enough to manage a horse/rider will likely have a hard cyc as well, so the studio isn't going to be a large version of someone's garage. Now you'll be getting into the big bucks, unless you've got a friend in the cyc business.

As a last resort, you might be able to pull a difference key if your background is extremely stable and the camera will be locked down. At best, you will have a lot of clean up work on ragged matte edges. But if a large green screen isn't possible it may be the next best thing. I've only done it a few times and the results aren't as good as using a green screen. You could test it with just a person and see if the results are acceptable or not. It is possible with Vegas but much easier with After Effects.

It may be possible to shoot it from a low angle on a clear blue day and use the the sky as a blue screen. That may not jibe with your scene and the weather doesn't always cooperate well with shooting schedules either.

GregFlowers:

I would try a difference key too. The marks a shoe might leave (or the
second natural thing horses leave behind) might not be so bad.

murphy:

Keep us informed about your results. A very interesting project indeed.

I have been inspired to thinking about this problem and have a solution which would be cheap (relatively) and doable, with a lot of location scouting.

Essentially find an old warehouse or building or handball court that has a southern exposure (faces south).

PAINT the wall and the parking lot next to it green.
Wait for high noon (or really anytime during the day) for the wall and deck to be brightly lit.

Instant cyc - complete with lighting by God.

Cost - probably 20 gallons or so of green paint. NOTE: You do NOT need special paint - just a nice hearty green will do fine... you don't even need an exterior paint.

This will definitely work - just be ready for a quick escape in case the owner of the building comes by - heh heh.

v

Excellent Vic!

"just be ready for a quick escape in case the owner of the building comes by " - luv it! Luv it!


. .and to develop the theme: Suggest it to your nearest Environmentalist Chapter that they could THEN use the Green as a backdrop for a mural!Maybe with a GreenPeace ship splashing through the waves, under a Rainbow!

Hey you could even convert it into a Skools project; get local business and State Arts groups to fund it; have the local TV station cover the story and produce the whole event as a way forward and sell the DVDs as part of an environmentalist campaign!

. . was there something about a horse in here . . somewhere? Dunno . . ?

Point being, we have NO idea just where these things spin off to. And I used to do this type of arts and funding development work for a living - loved every moment of it.

Grazie