BENEFITS OF A GREEN SCREEN
An essential part of marketing is engaging customers, integrating social media, and becoming a resource for your clientele. Not every company has access to studio space or the equipment necessary to produce high-quality and compelling video content. If you have an upcoming event with executives worldwide or if you’re looking for an agency to help you round out your list of video services, TFG has you covered. There are a plethora of ways to achieve the high-quality look you want, one of those solutions is the use of a green screen. Whether you need to implement video effects for executive presentations or are simply looking for consistency across your video content, a green screen can ensure your needs are met.
If you are unsure of the benefits of using a green screen don’t fret, we have compiled a concise list to help you!
WHAT IS A GREEN SCREEN AND HOW DO THEY WORK?
A green screen is a colored backdrop placed in the background of a shot to superimpose digital effects and separately-shot footage in post-production. Green screens can be any distinct color, however green and blue are most commonly used because these colors differ from the natural color hues of human skin color. This tool is an exceptionally integral part of special effects in a film and television production process called “chroma key compositing.” Compositing is the process of layering or combining visual elements from separate sources to create the illusion that these elements are part of the same scene.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF A GREEN SCREEN?
Flexibility: Green screens allow the flexibility of shooting content in one place, rather than in various locations. Understanding the tools and techniques of chroma key compositing will allow for more exciting and otherwise difficult scenes to be produced.
Consistency: Lighting is a crucial part of video production and shooting outdoors in natural light may lead to inconsistencies in lighting due to weather conditions. Shooting with a green screen in a studio or indoor setting cuts out the hassle of having to adjust to changes in light.
Interactivity: Engaging storytelling is incredibly important when trying to communicate with your audience and having engaging visual graphics will make your project more memorable.
Budget: Utilizing a green screen may eliminate or reduce the cost of other production expenses such as travel, location, or other equipment costs.
Clarity: Visual aids and graphics are powerful tools for supporting clear comprehension and communication.
Creativity: One of the greatest benefits of using a green screen is that anything goes. A green screen can provide you with an open canvas to create whatever background you want!
COMMON GREEN SCREEN MISTAKES
Uneven Lighting: If you’re new to using a green screen the majority of the problems you are going to experience regarding lighting are going to come from wrinkles in the fabric, uneven placement of lights, and shadows. Make sure that your green screen fabric is stretched and either ironed or steamed to get all of the wrinkles out, you’ll be able to see it when you put in your desired background. In addition, it’s important to block out ambient light when setting up a green screen, any inconsistent or unevenness in the lighting will be visible.
Shutter Speed / Motion Blur: The shutter speed of your camera is going to control the amount of motion blur that will be visible in your shot. Motion blur can become a problem when keying out the green screen because you may see quite a bit of green in that blur, the solution to this is to increase your shutter speed.
Green Clothes: This one may seem obvious but when there are so many things to consider when setting up your shot you may forget about what your subject is wearing. Try to be mindful of this, even the green in tattoos will be keyed out.
Matching Lighting: A lot of the work of matching the lighting of your background to your subject can be done in post-production but a lot of realism can be lost if your subject is not lit in a way that matches the background. If your background is a bright and sunny beach image and your subject is dimly lit, your shot will lack realism.
Still not sure if a green screen is right for you, drop us a line, we would love to talk you through it!