Green-screenvideo has been around for years. The local weather forecaster has been standingin front of the green screen gesturing into space for about as long as I canremember. However, many in educational video aren’t using green screen, andthere seems to be a false belief that it is either too expensive or toodifficult to do.
Inthis column, you’re going to learn exactly what tools you’ll need to producegreen-screen video—and that they’re surprisingly inexpensive. I’ll also go oversome basic techniques to get you started.
Figure 1: Aninexpensive green-screen setup
The tools of the green-screen trade
Oneof the good things about green-screen work is that you can start veryinexpensively and purchase more durable tools later.
I’mgoing to assume you already have some type of video camera and computer forediting; I’ll discuss only those tools you need specifically for green-screenproduction.
Tostart out, you need a few items:
Green screen orgreen-screen paint—You’veseen the lime-green screen used in many productions. Sometimes a deep aquacolor is used as well. Regardless, you can purchase a fabric green screen fromAmazon.com for as little as $30. Usually, the more expensive the screen, themore durable the fabric used. There are several shapes, and they are usuallyattached to included posts with clips. The screens are often sold as a kit. Irecommend the screen set if you’re going to be moving the green screen around.
However,if you’re going to be shooting in only one dedicated location, I’d suggest youuse green-screen paint. (Here’s one option.) You’re going to want a consistentgreen, and a flat wall will be more consistent than a fabric with folds andcreases.
Purchasethe biggest screen or paint the biggest wall you can afford. You’ll find that alarger green-screen studio will provide you with more options down the road.
Lighting—A standard three-point lightingsolution will work best. There are three-point lighting kits available fromAmazon for under $100. You want to light your subject so you don’t cast shadowson the green screen, but you must also highlight well. We’ve augmented ourin-studio lighting with a hair light and a ring light. The hair light(obviously) lights the subject’s hair from above. The ring light is a circularlight around the camera that evenly lights our subject well.
Figure 2: Thetraditional standard three-point lighting setup
Whenactually completing a shoot, your time spent arranging lights is well invested.You’ll want to run several tests to see what positions give you a bright,cheery image, while keeping the green screen even. You might want to try lightingyour green screen from above with additional lights if you find it difficult tolight the green screen evenly.
Asyou become more proficient, and if you have dedicated studio space, you maywant to consider permanently hanging your lights from either a ceiling railsystem or mounts made specifically for drop ceilings.
Figure 3: Inexpensivestudio with green screen and three-point lighting setup
iPad teleprompter—Studio teleprompters can cost thousandsof dollars. We use a four-year-old iPad, some free software, and a mount wepurchased from Amazon. (We use this one. There are many others to choosefrom.)
Wehave found that scripting content and using the teleprompter during our actualrecordings makes production much quicker. This isn’t necessarily unique to the green-screenenvironment, but I wanted to share this with you.
The shoot
Shootinggreen screen isn’t all that different from shooting other types of video. Onceyou have your lighting and teleprompter set up, you’re ready to roll. Normally,I’d advise you to utilize the rule of thirds in your shot composition. You’dshoot your subject about one third of the distance from either side. For a green-screenshot, however, I’d recommend shooting your subject dead center. You’ll becompositing your final shot in post-production, and shooting in the middle willleave margin for error.
Rememberthat you can’t do jump cuts here, at least not without the final video lookingweird, so your subject has to be able to make it all the way through the textwithout error. Try to keep your individual sections short to increase thechance of a good take. As always, keep all of your footage and diary each shot.You’ll be thankful you did when you get to post-production.
Post
Iam going to be discussing post (that is, the post-production process) usingCamtasia 9. There is a similar process in just about any contemporary video-editingsoftware, such as Adobe Premiere. You’ll need your footage and some type ofvirtual background (discussed below). The first thing you’ll do is import yourfootage and background into your editing software (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Thegreen-screen stand-up video and the video that will serve as the backgroundappear in the Media Bin in Camtasia
Onceyou’ve imported your content videos, drag your background video onto the bottomlayer or track in your editor. Drag the green-screen video onto the track ontop (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Thegreen-screen track appears on top, and the video track I will run behind itappears on the track below
Next,using the Visual Effects menu in Camtasia, I’ll choose “Remove a Color.” In thesubsequent menu that pops up on the right, I’ll use the eyedropper to choosethe green color I’d like to remove. Next I’ll adjust the tolerance, softness,hue, and defringe settings to get a crisp green-screen effect (Figure 6). Testthe video by playing the clip using the space bar.
Figure 6: Onceyou’ve removed the green color, you’ll need to adjust the tolerance to take outmore of the green screen. Remove as much green as you can directly around yoursubject.
Yourgoal is to take out all the green without removing any of your subject (Figure7).
Figure 7: Theresult of successful green-screen removal
Finally,using the Move and Crop tools, position your subject using the rule of thirds (Figure8).
Figure 8: Withthe subject properly positioned and any additional green on the edges croppedout, we’re ready to render this video
Virtual backgrounds
Wework a lot with virtual backgrounds. These are backgrounds specificallydesigned to give your green-screen production a studio feel. You can purchasevirtual backgrounds online if you wish; or, if you have a designer, you can designyour own. Ideally, virtual backgrounds should look somewhat realistic so youdon’t have a video of your subject in a cartoonish landscape.
Thekey to “selling” the virtual background effect is correctly proportioning thesubjects within the virtual background. If they appear too big or small, or arepositioned too close or far within the composited video, they will lookunrealistic and incorrect. Pay careful attention to the size of your subjectsand the size of the surrounding objects. One trick I use is to watch televisionnews and proportion the same way the newscasters are shown in their real studio(Figure 9).
Figure 9: Virtualbackground with subject correctly proportioned
Asyou’ve seen, green screen is not a tool only for advanced videographers. Withsome practice, you can expect results that look outstanding in no time!
