Greenscreen effects
I have been asked by some people how I did my latest video. I thought I would post some of the answers about my greenscreen process here also.
Please know that I am not an expert in this field (yet), and I do not have all the answers. Here is how I do it though:
1) I designed my “set” in photoshop. I used a resolution of 300dpi, and made the size 640px X 480px, this is the perfect resolution (I have found so far) for internet video viewing.
2) I filmed my greenscreen footage. I use a Casio, Exilim 7.2 Megapixel digital camera which has movie recording capability.
3) I edit my film in Magix Movie Edit Pro 14, which is a nice compositing software. It is within this software that I composite my greenscreen, and place it “against” my “set” graphic. It is within this software that I also add my music, sound effects, and any other animations that I need. Once I am satisfied with the project, I import it to Windows Media, and upload it to the internet!
While I have made the process sound extremely simple, it does take a lot of time to do. I am still learning, and experimenting everyday. I just got a new “rotoscoping” software that I am playing around with. Rotoscoping is the process by which the movie “Through a scanner darkly” was made. It is a process of painting over the existing film, to make an animation. I am playing around with it now.
When you set up a greenscreen, you need to have the brightest green possible. I am using a fabric which is almost a neon green. The entire trick to greenscreening successfully is the color of the green, your lighting, and contrast. Notice the colors I am wearing in my video. They are as far removed from the green spectrum as I can possibly get. I also wear no green item. If I were to want to wear, or use green items, then I would have to do a whitescreen instead of green. You can do greenscreen, whitescreen, bluescreen, and blackscreen. It all depends on what you are trying to do. If I were to wear a green item, like a green jacket, and act in front of the greenscreen, when I do the composite process, my green jacket would not be visable, and I would look transparent. Same with white clothes on whitescreen, and so on.
I hope this helps you!
Dan
“Remain true to yourself always!”
You can view my latest video here: //www.dragonbrusher.com-a.googlepages.com/dragonbrushert.v
October 20, 2008 at 2:49 am
With green screen you can create very expensive looking sets without the need of building one during production. Lighting your green screen properly can save you loads of time during chroma keying. Below are just a few tips:
When lighting your chroma key green screen backdrop, make sure the lighting is even with no hot spots or shadows. Your backdrop lights should be located on either the side or on the back of the subject you are taking video or picture of. You should light the foreground subject using a separate light and not the same light you used for your backdrop. You can light the subject dramatically however the trick is not to screw up the chroma key background. Make sure you neutralize any color cast.