Living in a Green Screen World

Green screen, blue screen, chroma key, colour keying and colour separation overlay; it is all the same thing and is a technique used for combining two frames or images by replacing a colour or a colour range in one frame with that from the other frame.

It is often used in the film and video industry to replace a scene’s background by using a blue or green screen as the initial background and placing the actor in the foreground. The principle behind chroma keying is that the colour blue or green is far removed from the colour of skin tone, so a distinction between the two is very clear, making it easier to select the colour without worrying about any part of the actor being included in the selection. The whole Green/blue selection is then replaced with another frame as the background.

It was decided to film all the actors in a studio in one day and then add the locations in afterwards

For this project our client wanted to create a number of banking adverts.  These were to be used for training purposes.

The chroma key process is widely used because it is cheaper to do this than to shoot in expensive or inaccessible locations.  On this occasion, with the constraint on budget and time, it was decided to film all the actors in a studio in one day and then add the locations in afterwards.

Four adverts were produced with five actors in six different locations, which included a wood panelled office, a call centre and a home environment.  For these videos stills were used as the backgrounds but video footage can also be used.

A recent project was to film a presenter in Paris in front of a green screen and mix in the background presentation live.

We are also frequently requested to use green screen to “add” presenters into their presentations.  Again, the presenter is filmed in front of a green screen and their Power-point presentation is the background.  Adjusting the background allows the presenter to be added in a final composite video.

All this compositing is generally achieved in post-production but this can also be achieved live.  A recent project was to film a presenter in Paris in front of a green screen and mix in the background presentation live.  This final image was then broadcast through the internet to colleagues in multiple sites around the world.

If you would like to know how Green screen filming can enhance you production or presentation don’t hesitate to call us on 01634 841663.