What Is Green Screen and Chroma Keying? Image via Disney+.īefore we jump into how to use a green screen, let’s learn what a green screen does and familiarize ourselves with a few key terms. We’ll talk about lighting, cinematography, keying, editing, and common mistakes. Here, we’ll guide you through the entire process of using green screen backgrounds from start to finish. Many of your favorite YouTubers utilize technology that was once reserved solely for Hollywood blockbusters.

The use of green screens has come a long way over the past few decades. You’ll find that really good green (and blue) screen comes in many packages, from David Fincher‘s subtle yet detail-oriented effects to the iconic space battles in Star Wars.

You can peruse YouTube for behind-the-scenes clips or check out our round-up of the most inventive uses of green screen throughout the years. One of the best ways to learn about green screen is to research how it’s been implemented in actual movies. From Marvel movies to local news stations, everyone’s got the key (hah!) to expert compositing technology. While that’s an entirely unscientific appraisal that you shouldn’t cite in a college paper, it’s probably not far off, considering the accessibility and sophistication of today’s green screen technology. In our estimate, almost every big movie made in 2019 used green screen effects for at least one scene.

This guide will walk through everything you need to know about green screen backgrounds and achieving a perfect chroma key.

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