How to Use Green Screen Properly

 


Whether you’re making a short special effects video or a professional film, the use of green screen can help you achieve great things with a relatively small budget. But it’s not without its challenges. To get the best results you’ll need to be able to set up your camera in a dedicated space with good lighting and a quality green screen. A basic chromakey setup can cost as little as £1000, but it’s important to understand how to make your equipment work properly in order to avoid problems down the line.

The green screen technique is called chroma keying, and it uses a specific color to block out the background and leave only the subject visible. This particular colour is usually green, although it wasn’t always this way. At first, the technique was used with black screens, then blue, then yellow and eventually green. The reason is that green is the most contrasting colour to human skin tone. If you use any other colour as the chroma key, it can cause problems when compositing the subject and the background, because parts of the body that are the same shade as the background will become transparent.

Before you start shooting, it’s important to plan out your scene and decide what is and isn’t going to be included in the final shot. You might want to include some concept art or storyboards, or even draw a rough sketch of the scene. This helps the actors on set to know what they are supposed to be focusing on and which elements can be changed in post-production. It also makes it easier for the compositing team to do their work later. In behind-the-scenes footage, you might also see tennis balls hanging on the Greenscreen  screen to give the actors visual references for where they should be looking.

It’s essential to choose a high-quality green screen, and to make sure that it is wrinkle-free and tightly stretched. Any creases can cause unwanted shadows and colour variations that can ruin the effect. If you’re able to, opt for a fabric that has a matte finish to avoid any reflections. Muslin or polyester are both good choices.

For wider shots or action scenes that involve movement, you’ll need to have a full-sized green screen that covers your actor from head to foot. You may also need to add a curved wall or drop to smooth the transition from wall to floor and avoid any gradient changes.

When you’ve finished shooting, you’ll need to edit the video and replace the green screen with the desired background. There are lots of options for video editing software, but the easiest and quickest is probably to use BIGVU’s online editing platform, which can change your background with just a few clicks. And don’t forget the music! The Audio Network catalogue has 175,000 tracks to choose from, and you can find the perfect song for your video using our handy playlists.



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