Green Screen: Technically, this term refers to the colored background you want to make transparent and remove from your shot.
We’ll talk lighting, cinematography, keying, editing, and common mistakes.īefore we jump into how to use a green screen, let’s learn what a green screen actually does and familiarize ourselves with a few key terms. Here, we’ll guide you through the entire process of using green screen backgrounds from start to finish. Technology that was primarily reserved for Hollywood blockbusters is now utilized by many of your favorite YouTubers. The use of green screens has come a long way over the past few decades.
You’ll find that really good green (and blue) screen comes in many packages, from David Fincher’s subtle yet detail-oriented effects to the iconic space battles in Star Wars. You can peruse YouTube for behind the scenes clips, or just check out our round up of the most inventive uses of green screen throughout the years.
One of the best ways to learn green screen is to research how it has been implemented in actual movies. From Marvel movies to local news stations, everyone’s got the key (hah!) to expert compositing technology. While that’s a completely unscientific appraisal that you shouldn’t cite in a college paper, it’s probably not far off, considering the accessibility and sophistication of the green screen technology available today. In our estimate, almost every big movie made in 2019 used green screen effects for at least one scene. In this guide, we’ll walk through everything you need to know about green screen backgrounds and achieving a perfect chroma key.