S.U.M. Thoughts

Since relocating our nerve center to the Central Texas area, we’ve learned one thing:

People love western themed events.

Luckily, we love designing for western themed events, because of the ample amounts of imagery and iconic looks we can incorporate into our custom photo templates. Here’s a sampling of the designs we created for Starburst a recent Wrigley event. Some of the designs were quite ambitious to pull off, but the results were worth the effort and speak for themselves.

In our previous Green Screen 101 post, we gave you the general rundown on how the process works — but lets face it, the explanation was very rudimentary. Ready to dive in a little more? Then read the following conversation, where we’re actually just talking to ourselves:

Green screens - why green?

Although the chromakey process can be done on any color, green and blue are typically used in projects because those hues are not present in skin tones. Well, not unless you’re really, really cold. We could use a blue screen, but if you take a gander into your spacious walk-in closet, I’m sure you’ll notice quite a bit of blue in there. Using a blue screen would mean people wearing jeans would turn into floating torsos — perhaps a good look for a Halloween party, but not your next corporate event. Bright green is a little more rare in clothing, although some sports teams feature it heavily and bright 80’s colors are making a comeback in fashion, which always makes things “interesting”.

Wait, you threw out a big word like “chromakey” without explaining it. Rewind.

Sorry about that. Let’s break down the word, Sesame Street style. Chroma is the Greek word for color, and when you “key in” on something you’re really focusing and pinpointing something in particular. Slam those definitions together and what do you get? The ability to pinpoint a color, in our case green. Modern technology makes that process a breeze, allowing us to not only select a color, but also slightly lighter and darker tones, accounting for shadows and hotspots.

That’s cool, but I took a green screen photo at Johnny’s bar mitzvah and it was pretty cheesy, just me in front of a background.

But there lies the difference, my fictional friend. We don’t just plop your photo on top of a background sourced straight from an image catalog we purchased off of eBay. We aim to capture a scene or a moment and place you in it. Let’s put it this way — what’s the best use of chromakey in Hollywood?

When you don’t know anything was being chromakeyed. When belief is suspended for a moment and you accept the images you see as real.

While we don’t have the million dollar chromakey studio with light banks and hair fans, we do bring that same effort and concept into all the work we do. SUM Booth set-ups (usually around 10’x10’ in space) include studio level lighting so we can match the mood of the template and background that’s designed, and when you add in some custom props, then the magic happens. Also, we always pay attention to scale, which is a key thing in making the final photo look “real”.

Alright. I can see how SUM Booth is different in that respect. However, why should I choose a green screen photo booth over a traditional photo booth? Or even one of those “photo booths” that traditional photographers are adding on to their packages?

It’s really up to the client, since each method has it’s merits. Some people like the novelty nature of a traditional “let’s-all-cram-into-a-phonebooth” style photo booth along with the strips of 3-photos they print. There’s a sense of nostalgia with those, and since you’re employing decades old technology, you’re getting a decades old final product. Nothing wrong with that.

Due to the photo booth craze, a number of photographers are cashing in on the market as well. That style of photo booth, much like SUM Booth, is more of an open-air photo shoot, so it has it’s advantages over the traditional booth — however many of them don’t produce prints on-location, so the instant gratification aspect is lost. Also, because most of them use a flat, colored background, almost all of the photos look the same. There’s no uniqueness or individuality from event to event. It’s the same oversized sunglasses, the same fake mustaches and the same feather boas again and again and again. If that’s what a client is looking for though, then it’s a good option.

SUM Booth, on the other hand, has carved it’s own niche by offering elements of those types of photo booths, and adding it’s own spin on things. We aren’t photographers trying to be designers, and we aren’t designers trying to be photographer — we are the rare instance (at least in this field) of being both photographers and designers, and that comes through in our work. By combining the best of both of these worlds and using the magical powers of the green screen, clients get a final product that’s impossible to get in another type of photo booth, and guests have a ton of fun during the process. Thus our slogan of “the fun of a photo booth + the style of a photo shoot”.

Nice, I like how you snuck that little sales pitch in there at the end.

Sorry, couldn’t help it. It’s just habit.

For the past three years, SUM Booth has worked with Konami to bring fans customized versions of their products. In the past, this meant Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, the top selling trading card game of all time, according to the folks at the Guiness Book of World Records. However this year, some of the other licenses jumped on board and we offered a wide array of photo giveaways — from the standard YGO cards to 4x6 photos with their favorite video game characters (among them Metal Gear’s Snake, Frogger, Burgertime, etc) to a new line of skateboard themed trading cards.

One of the coolest aspects of ComicCon are all the familiar faces that make a point to stop by every year — and as odd as it seems — we recognize almost all of them. Some of them have photos we took of them in years past in their wallets, some have them in protective display cases (see photo above) and some even showcase their growing collection in multi-page booklets (see video below). There are even groups that specifically wear green, taking advantage of our green screen, and pull off highly orchestrated, pre-planned poses.

Every year, more and more photo stations and green screens pop-up at ComicCon, but we’d like to think that we continue to offer the most unique and most memorable keepsake in the convention center. But don’t take our word for it, ask the Konami fan who has stood in line for over 70 of them over the years!

Ever want to take your spirographs to the next level? Yeah, I know that’s not really something at the top of your to-do list, but the Guilloché Pattern Generator is a cool way to generate the math-based patterns that are common elements in paper money. Named guilloché after the French engineer Guillot, who invented a machine that could scratch fine patterns and designs on metallic surfaces, the patterns are generated with a series of variables controlled by sliders. So now if you ever want to secede from the Union, we just made it easier for you to design your new currency. You’re welcome.