Interview by Jon Ehinger, Digital Media Instructor, with Tatiana McCabe

What's your level of video experience coming into this green screen class?

I went to school for filmmaking at Emerson College in Boston, am currently working as a freelance videographer, but I've been most active in the documentary field and have never used a green screen before.  As of recently, I've been interested in exploring motion graphics and using video as one element of many in a spectrum of mixed media, and green screeninng seems like a good place to start experimenting.

What do you call the piece you made here at 3rd Ward?  Where did you get the idea to se the books as a prop?

I hadn't thought of giving it a name, but now that you ask, it's called "2 people, 2 books, 2 lights, a camera and a tripod."

The books came into the picture because I like how green screening can create gateways into new expansions of the imagination, so I thought it'd be a good test to use books as two windows into an alternate space, but somehow I managed to accomplish the Brady Bunch effect instead.  Oh well, it's a start!

How did you like using the green/blue screening as a process overall?

It turned out to be much easier than I had imagined!  For te longest time, I was intimidated by my own perconception of it being really difficult, but I've come to find that it's quite simple, if you get the lighting right.

After class we were talking about more subtle ways of intergrating green/blue screening... what are some of your ideas using this process more alternatively?  Do you think you'll continue to use green/blue screening in your work?

I feel that when green screening is used for compiling video onto video only, it can be cheesy at times, so I'd like to integrate the green screening process with stop-motion photography and animated illustrations and text elements.

And yes, I'm loving it so far.  After taking this class, I went out and bought a small sized green screen and did a quick, fun shoot with my roommate.  This is the result:

You can see more of Tatiana's video work at:
www.tatianamccabe.com  &  www.hellosuper8.com