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Green Screen Compositing Isn't for Everyone

Green Screen 101 – The Traveling Matte

From the 50s through the 80s, blue screen effects involved no less than 7 specific and time-consuming steps.
  1. Shoot background footage
  2. Shoot the actor or model against a blue screen.
  3. Create the “female matte” by re-photographing the blue screen shot through a blue filter to isolate the background (the negative is a black background with an actor-shaped hole)
  4. Create the “male matte” by re-photographing the blue screen shot through a red and green filter to isolate the foreground (creating a black silhouette on an unexposed background)
  5. Re-photograph the background through the male matte
  6. Re-photograph the blue screen shot through the female matte
  7. Combine the two images together, one frame at a time, with an optical printer

With the continued advancement of editing and effects programs for your personal computer, everyone now has the ability to do simple compositing. But for high quality video compositing, a professional touch goes a long way. The possibilities for advertisers, webmasters, and independent producers are literally endless. Green screen can take you anywhere.

In the old days of the film and TV industry, the technique of green or blue screen filmmaking was complex, time-consuming, and expensive. The advent of digital green screen has made compositing more accessible, but it’s not as easy as flipping on a digital camera and pointing it at an evenly lit green background. The bottom line is that advances in consumer and prosumer technology have dramatically shrunk the time, cost, and complexity of blue and green screen production. But here’s the catch. The quality of the image still directly corresponds to the quality of the equipment and software, and the experience of the artists and technicians involved.

"But it's just for the web"
Video for the web still deserves to be treated professionally. Your company or client’s identity and brand are at stake. Would you put the success of your project in the hands of an inexperienced videographer, when even a seasoned professional shooting in a controlled environment can sometimes miss a shadow or lighting challenge on the set? It takes planning, tools, and professional experience to know how to avoid those issues AND how to adjust when they inevitably appear on the monitor two months later.

Green or Blue Screen?

Color should be selected based on the needs of a specific shot.

Blue is normally used for shooting human subjects because skin tone contains very little blue.

Green has become dominant in film special effects over the past decade because it has a higher luminance level AND because digital cameras retain more detail in the green color channel, requiring less light and making it easier to work with.

Avoid red when shooting people because of its prevalence in normal human skin tone.  Red can be used, however, for footage that does not involve human subjects.

Other colors have been used in the past including:
Magenta (The Matrix)
Yellow (Song of the South)
Orange (Apollo 13)

Planning
The first step in any successful green screen shoot is thorough preparation. This involves everything from picking the right props, talent, and camera angles to deciding on the appropriate high-quality acquisition format, compositing software, and lighting to eliminate shadows and reflections. Across the board, expertise and attention to detail in this early stage can save you a lot of headaches and hassle during post-production.

Equipment
The second step is selecting the right professional, high-quality equipment. Consumer digital cameras, and especially the consumer zoom lenses on those cameras, cannot hold a candle to the image quality, depth of field, color vibrancy, and contrast level of a professional grade HD camera with specialized lens sets.

Expertise
Finally, the most important step in producing great green screen images is to approach it professionally. Compositing experts understand the quality of the tools they need and can get the most out of them. They know the level of planning necessary to achieve the desired result. They’re masters of mastering both in camera and in post. Isn’t that what you want when the quality of your project is on the line? 

OK, it’s true -- anyone can throw up a blue screen and start the cameras rolling. But for high quality footage for the web or any delivery, you can’t rely on just anyone. Professional planning, equipment, and expertise can take your footage to new heights. And it doesn’t have to break the bank. Green screen has the ability to WOW, but without that expert guiding hand on the wheel it could just end up falling flat.

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