Would it surprise you to know that they don’t sell a Green Screen Treadmill?
Well don’t be surprised as they don’t… you have to make your own!
Being time for us to upgrade ours we thought we would share a little story on how it’s done and where it all started.
In the world of green screen film production, one of our key challenges is making sure that actors look natural while walking or running. Nothing screams "fake" louder than watching someone tap dance in place pretending to run or walk!!
Thanks to Robert Rodriguez and his innovative approach in Sin City , we've acquired a game-changing tool: the Green Screen treadmill, as you can see in the image below courtesy of IGN.com:
Here’s our super easy guide on how you can make your own:
We bought a new Under Desk Treadmill, not having any handles is key to getting this part right.
We chose to use Zinsser Cover Stain Primer, not because they are sponsoring us but because we know it works well – with just two coats we were ready to move to step 3. We let it dry for 45 minutes after each coat.
Crack open Mylands CSO Green Paint – CSO meaning Colour Separation Overlay. Crafted from Mylands' Flame Retardant vinyl emulsion made from specialised pigments, this paint ensures precise cutout accuracy.
Trusted by major film studios like the BBC for nearly fifty years and other major film studios, its high-opacity formula and dead flat matt finish are perfect for keying. When it comes to painting our treadmills green to match our green screen studios, for us it's the optimal choice.
It takes around two hours to dry, and we managed to get it done to perfection with just four coats.
The key to getting this right is testing, testing and yes TESTING – to make sure that it is smooth, doesn’t flake off and that it doesn’t restrict the movement of the treadmill. So after its fully dried, you have to test walk it – to make sure it's all covered and that the treadmill isn’t restricted from rotating.
Below you can see Marko from Broadley studios working on the first coat of CSO green paint:
Obviously, you need to cover the floor and anything that could get damaged – but for the purpose of this article we are assuming you know to cover the floors etc…
After painting our treadmill, we learned a few key lessons we thought worth sharing:
• Always allow the Chroma Key Green paint to dry thoroughly before use. Testing it too soon resulted in some paint being removed with our shoes. Waiting for about four days after a touch-up seemed to be the perfect time to hop on and test it out again.So you want to make your very own green screen treadmill? But where do you begin...
Remember, our step-by-step guide below:
1. Buy your treadmill of choice but make sure it comes without handlesThere is an element of trial and error, of course.
Don't fancy all the fuss and bother of making your own treadmill? Then...
Will all that said and done, we hope you enjoy the experience of making your own Green Screen Treadmill...
However if you want to use our,s you're more than welcome… feel free to reach out to us on +442077255858 or email us at [email protected].
