(Pictured left to right: 80’ x 20’ vertical screen lit with Kino Flo 525nm green screen lamps, one of the many visual effects sets
of Mission Impossible II which included over 100 Kino Flo Image 85 DMX fixtures; 100’ x 75’ blue screen lit with two rows (top and bottom)
of Image 85 DMX fixtures with Kino Flo 420nm blue screen lamps on the feature film Swordfish.)

Blue and Green Screen Lamps – Whether you’re lighting a blue or green screen for film or a virtual studio,
the screen needs to be lit evenly and with the best possible color saturation.  Evenness is easily achieved
using Kino Flos because of the soft quality of the light and the wide beam spread.  For film or high end HD shooting, the best saturation of color is achieved by using Kino Flo’s 420nm blue-spike lamps (488-K10-S) on
blue screens and 525nm green-spike lamps (488-K5-S) on green screens.  It’s not as much about how much light is used to light a screen, but rather what produces the best saturation of reflected blue or green light. 

For virtual studios, Kino Flo’s True Match® KF32® (3200K) lamps (488-K32-S) are used more often than any other lamps due to the proximity of the subject to the screen.  See Virtual Studio and Chroma Key for more information.

Rigging - When lighting blue or green screens, the rule of thumb is to place the fixtures in front at about
half the distance of the screen height, with the fixtures tilted down at a 45° angle.  For example, if the
screen is 20ft (7m) high, the lights should be hung 8-10ft (3-3.5m) in front of the screen.

Fixtures – For larger screens, the Image 85 and 45 are the softest with the most even beam spread. 
For smaller screens, location systems such as the 4Bank are popular because of their in-studio/on-location versatility.  

The Image 85 fixtures are usually rigged in rows on 7ft (2m) centers.  Image 45 and 4Bank fixtures are rigged in rows on 5ft (1.5m) centers.  A row at the top and bottom of a screen will increase brightness of the blue or green reflected light, and on screens higher than 20ft (7m), the light will be brighter and more evenly spaced.

Energy Savings – Kino Flo softlights have ten times more light per watt than tungsten lighting;
low power consumption; low heat; and cost savings from not using color gels.

Features – Kino Flo Image 85 and Image 45 fixtures come with onboard studio grade features such as
DMX lamp switching controls, mounting systems, diffusion frames, focusing louvers and built-in AC power cords.  The versatile 4Bank also has a DMX option with manual or DMX lamp control.

Lamping Up – Kino Flo recommends safety coated blue 420nm lamps (488-K10-S) for blue screen and
safety-coated green 525nm lamps (488-K5-S) for green screen.  The safety-coating cuts the ultraviolet end
of the color spectrum to produce a cleaner matte.  However, when the subject matter is in direct contact with the screen, use Kino Flo True Match® KF32® lamps (488-K32-S). 

See Blue and Green Screen Lamp Options below for more information.

Blue Screen using Kino Flo KF32 3200K Lamp (488-K32-S)
When the subject matter is in direct contact with the blue screen,
use Kino Flo True Match® KF32®.  The KF32 peaks slightly bluer at 490nm.  The additional blue energy
spikes at 404nm and 436nm further enhancing the ability of the KF32 to deliver superior blue layer exposure.  Quartz/tungsten light has its blue energy peaking at 515nm.  The KF32 has dramatically lower red energy
making it better at cleanly exposing the blue layer of film.  Quartz/tungsten has contaminating red energy between 670nm and 800nm.

Green Screen using Kino Flo 525nm Green Lamp (488-K5-S)
The lamp has a narrow concentration of green between 500nm and 560nm.  This highly efficient green source makes it ideal for clean green layer exposure.  Quartz/tungsten has a broad spectral distribution.  Its green energy peaks between 490nm and 675nm with an undesirable rise in red contamination between 690nm and 800nm.

Green Screen using Kino Flo KF32 3200K Lamp (488-K32-S)
When the subject matter is in direct contact with the green screen,
use Kino Flo True Match® KF32®.  On green screen material, both quartz and Kino Flo’s KF32 (3200K)
follow very similar spectral distributions.  The KF32 has an advantage over quartz due to its lower
red spectrum response and because it has a slight green spike at 547nm.  The green spike means you
need less KF32 illumination than quartz to get the correct density on the green layer.

Virtual Studio Lighting – Conventional composite screen illumination allows the screen to be independently
lit from the foreground action. Virtual studios differ in that the entire environment is either green or blue.
The subjects are in direct contact with the blue or green floor. The Kino Flo® True Match® KF32® lamp
(488-K32-S) provides the ideal illumination for skin tones. Its enhanced blue and green response and its lower red response makes this lamp a better choice over tungsten.

Rigging – Virtual Studios come in many sizes, but the rule of thumb is to measure the wall height and
hang the Kino Flos half the distance downstage.  The fixtures hang in a row on 5-7ft centers (1.5-2m)
side by side, usually at the same height as the stage wall being lighted.

Fixtures – Different fixtures produce different kinds of soft light; the Image 85 and Image 45 are the softest, with the most even beam spread.  They cover the most area with the fewest number of fixtures. 
However, ParaBeam and ParaZip fixtures are popular on mid-size to small stages because they do not hang down as far as the Image 85 fixtures.  Their shallow profile is ideal for lighting wide low cyc wall areas. 
The 4Bank, Foto-Flo and Diva-Lite fixtures are sometimes used because of their in-studio/on-location versatility.  The 4Bank also has a DMX option with manual and DMX lamp control features.

Energy Savings – Kino Flo softlights require little power, and do not overheat the stage.  The Energy and
Cost Savings chart below shows the energy savings of a ParaBeam 400 (Center or Yoke Mount) compared to
a virtual studio lighted with incandescent softlights.

Features – Kino Flo Image 85 and Image 45 fixtures, along with the ParaBeams, come with onboard studio grade features such as DMX dimming and/or DMX lamp switching controls, mounting systems, diffusion frames, focusing louvers and built-in AC power cord.  Also, the versatility of Pole-Op yokes allow for quick adjustments.  Kino Flo location systems are popular for smaller studios because they can be removed from the overhead mounts and used in the field.

Lamping Up – Virtual studios use Kino Flo True Match® KF32® (3200K) lamps (488-K32-S) more than
any other lamp.  However, when the studios are used for film and high end HD shooting, the Kino Flo fixtures take specially designed Kino Flo 420nm Blue (488-K10-S) and Kino Flo 525nm Green (488-K5-S) spiked
visual effects tubes, for the deepest color saturation possible. 

See Blue and Green Screen Lamp Options above for more information.  All lamps last for thousands of hours.