Any tips on filming a person with a plasma TV in the background?

Question

The plasma TV will have text and/or video playing while the speaker is being filmed speaking. What advice can you give on light, etc. Websites, links, and general advice is welcome. I want to see the TV text and video clearly. Thank you.

Answer 1

you need a genlock/overlay card for the computer, this will sychronize the VGA output to a sample of the video out of the camcorder. Then the plasma TV has to be fed video from the genlock card instead of the VGA out.  One available card is the Grand Tech MagicView VGA to Video converter which sells for $249.99 at TecNec.

Answer 2

I just went downstairs and pointed my Sony camcorder at my Panasonic 42" plasma and it looks fine in the LCD panel.

As far as lighting is concerned, I would set it up at a normal-to-bright lighting environment - if you have the ability to concentrate a bit more light on the person speaking, that would be helpful.

Learn to use the white balance on the camera - if you don't know what this is, read the manual. Man-made light can turn things orange - though you don't see it. When you set the white balance, you are telling the camcorder what "white" is, so all the other colors adjust.

Then, you want to have the camera about 15-20 feet away from the person speaking and the TV. They should be as close to the same distance away from the camcorder as possible so the camera does not blur one while focusing on the other. If you can, put the camcorder in manual focus mode so it does not try to auto-focus back and forth.

Watch the newscasters on TV and see how they set up...

Pay attention that you are not picking up reflection of light off the TV's glass.

Because the camcorder is so far away from the person speaking (and the TV), you will need to zoom in a bit to frame the shot nicely. You should also consider using an external mic - not the built-in ones on the camcorder. Hopefully your camcorder has an external mic jack. If, not, it is not the end of the world, but your audio won't be very good.

Mr Safety has good tips on lighting.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OePFgmyvnWo