Chroma-ing: It's easier than you might think

One facet of movies or shows that can be super important is the use of green screens, or other screens to fulfill the same variety. These can be used to add in background animations or scenery shots to add some variety into whatever is being edited. First, to add the chroma key, select the clip that you want to add the chroma into. In the effects panel in the bottom right, click on the folder that says "video effects", and then in that folder click on "keying". There are a few different options, but the most simple option would be to select "Ultra Key". Drag this onto the clip in your sequence, and you will now be able to edit the chroma in the clip panel in the upper left corner. Make sure that the background chroma is on the lower level than the clip you want to add it to, so have the clip with the green screen on track 2 and the thing you want to chroma in on track 1. Then, take the eye dropper tool and click on the green, or whatever color you want to chroma out, and at this point, you should see the background change. It still may not look perfect yet, though, as shadows and different lighting conditions might not create a clean chroma. Took fix this, in the same panel as the eye dropper, there should be a few options, like "matte cleanup" with different sliders altering shadows and choke. Once fiddling around with these, your overall shot should be done and looking nice. A good chroma can end up improving shots and adding much needed variety.

The Green Screen: Just fix it in post (but really)

Not to sound like an old person, but technology absolutely amazes me these days. I was just recently shown the new Snapchat update, which includes new features like being able to put crazy animated features on your picture that track and move with your face on the screen. If you really take the time to think about it, that's pretty freakin' cool. How long would someone have worked to create that effect on a moving picture only fifteen years ago?

Almost every major production involves green screen, or chroma key, in some capacity. Whether it is creating a fantasy land, or making a slight change to the background, green screen technology gives filmmakers the power to manipulate the onscreen world in more ways than one. So, how did we get here?


The first use of a green screen, or at least the idea behind it, came from Georges Méliès. Ol' Georges didn't use a green screen, or any screen at all for that matter. He used a 'matte shot' by actually painting (matting) parts of the frame black, which would stop it from getting exposed. He would then rewind the frame and matte our every ELSE in the frame, and only expose what was originally matted, resulting in two 'different' shots in one frame via double exposure. And thus "green screen" technology was born:

As on screen trickery evolved, another more direct technique was developed. Filmmakers would actually have a piece of glass painted, and then place it between the subject and the camera. Kind of the ultimate perspective manipulation. This technique was perfected by early filmmaker Norman Dawn. 


To solve the problem of motion in film, both primary and secondary, the "black screen" was born, the ancestor of todays green screen. This allowed a entire background to be matted, and also eliminated any matte "line" that actors would have to avoid crossing or else ruin the effect. It was most famously used in The Invisible Man.

As technology advanced, several different colors emerged in efforts to perfect the matte process, but in the digital age green has emerged as the industry standard. 

It seems like each year some new, visual stunning film comes out that totally blows us away. From Jurassic Park to Avatar, Gravity to Interstellar, Alice in Wonderland to The Hobbit,  green screen digital effects seem to be taking over cinema. They allow a surreal escape into fantastic worlds, or, as technology continues to advance, it just might be easier to "green screen it" and literally fix it in post.

Some interesting examples: