FCP, keying, after effects, shooting HVX-200 720pn or 1080p

We are shooting a music video on a green screen, stage or possibly a blue screen set up.

Question is:

Is FCP sufficient enough to key green screen? Do I want some plugins? If so which ones?
Or is keying in After effects going to be that much of a better key? Is doing it in AE going to be worth the extra cost and time.

We are shooting on an HVX-200 is there any good benefit on shooting 1080p over 720pn besides p2 card space, and hard drive space?

Why would one want to shoot 1080 vs. 720


FCP Studio 2
After Effects 7.0
Apple G5 Dual 2.0
Panasonic HVX-200 HD

Thank you.

the built in keyer in fcp is kinda weak. i use dv matte pro ($199) and it works great!

1080 is bigger. if your audience base has 1080-friendly displays then it will look "better" than 720. if not, doesnt really matter.

Dv matte pro is fantastic, or dv matte blast, either one you can't go wrong.

Kevin

Final cut is not for keying, at least not if it is going on TV.
For web and corporate stuff - maybe.

After effects is better as it is a proper graphics program. The one thing After Effects is not great at though is keying. Having said that it is a whole lot better than FCP and decent results can be achieved if you know what you are doing.

The easiest way to get great keying results is without a doubt to use Shake.
Here is a tutorial on how to pull a basic key in Shake:

[www.lafcpug.org]

It will be faster and easier than After Effects.


The benefits of shooting 1080 when keying can be quite significant.
1080 is more than twice as big as 720.

If you key on something large and then shrink it down in size after (to PAL or NTSC for example), the edges of your alpha channel will be smoother since you had much more information to work with.

Shoot 1080 if you can and use Shake.
And most importantly - light it very well.

Johan Polhem
Motion Graphics
www.johanpolhem.com

"The one thing After Effects is not great at though is keying"

"The easiest way to get great keying results is without a doubt to use Shake."

"It will be faster and easier than After Effects."

Absolutely agreed. Shake has a fantastic keyer called Keylight, while After Effects has a lousy keyer called Keylight
For all the compositing fire power in Shake (which is almost frightening), it's not any better or worse than AE at keying itself. You have every right to prefer Shake in terms of what you can do once you have a clean key, though. Choice is a great thing, and Shake is an amazing VFX tool for film work.

I agree that the FCP keyer is really weak. I also agree that DVMatte (in Motion, FCP or AE) and Keylight are great options (in the later case, in either Shake or After Effects). IMHO, DVMatte shines with low color grid formats, like DV/HDV and Keylight is better with 4:2:2 sources (like DVCPRO HD). I remember Wayne loves using DVMatte with the HVX, so it's also a matter of personal preference.

Adolfo Rozenfeld
Buenos Aires - Argentina
www.adolforozenfeld.com