ABSTRACT
Typically, a basic color-based composite is made up of background plate, foreground plate, and matte, which defines the transparency for the foreground plate. This chapter mentions that matching the light in plates is truly essential to creating an effective illusion in the finished composite. In fact, when the background plate is being created in a 3D program, it is probably a good idea to also draw up a basic lighting diagram that will be used for both the fictional background world and the real-world greenscreen studio. The chapter covers a lot of ground for creating the typical foreground plate— from decisions on the color of the background color and wardrobe to lighting. However, there’s one thing we haven’t touched on: matching the camera settings for foreground and background. When shooting the foreground plate, it is customary to record all the principal camera settings on a Visual Effects Data Sheet so that they can be matched for the background plate.
