Technical Tutorials: Green Screen Practice

In order to further our knowledge of technical skills, as a class we experimented by using the green screen. Green screen is a process used to insert effects in the editing stages of post-production, where the green screen layer is removed, to expose another layer: the background image.

When using the green screen, I learnt:
- Shadows on the green screen will mean different shades of green, which will register differently on the computer, and may make it harder to edit. Therefore, there needs to be no creases on the green screen, in order to achieve a sense of consistency in colour.
- The direction of lighting helps with the balance of colour.

When using Final Cut, we went through the following steps:
- Effects → Video Filters → Key → Chroma Keyer is then dragged onto the clip.
- Use the middle screen: "Viewer" → Click Chroma Keyer → Pepette → Click on the "Canvas Image" to remove the green screen, in order to expose the bottom layer image.

Although it is unlikely, as it wouldn't fit the conventions of genre, if we were to use the green screen in our music video, the improvements would be:
- Make sure the music and lip-syncing are in sync throughout the whole video.
- Ensure the green screen fills the frame - so we can't see the surroundings of where the video was actually filmed.
- To make sure it looks more professional, try to ensure that when removing the green screen to reveal the background layer, it doesn't remove sections of/spill over onto any objects/people in the video.