Thinking about creating your own online videos? Have you ever wonder how videos are put together? Maybe you seen videos online of a PowerPoint presentation where slides are playing, with the presenter walking out in front of the slides and talking about them, while they continue to unfold in the background.
For video, it’s done with a green screen (film – is done with a blue screen). We really are talking about the colors. Technically, it could be any color that’s contrasting enough for an editor to separate the speaker from the background. The reason GREEN became the standard video color to key (to turn transparent – so another video could play behind it) is that most people don’t have green in their skin color, furthermore, green is also the RGB color channel that hold the most detail, making it the easiest color channel for editors to work with.
Tips about green screening
1. It’s best to have an actual “green screen” but not necessary. You can actually have a wall that’s painted green and get similar results. The most important aspect is making sure it’s as flat a color as possible (an issue solved with lights). When you’re videotaping someone in front of a green screen, you want as few shadows as possible because that footage is heading to your editor where you’ll next need to select those greens in the background. You don’t want dark green, light green; you’re trying to get your color eyedropper to select as many of the green tones as possible. The more it selects the less work you have to do to clean up the stray pixels that are just a slightly different green.
2. I touched upon it above, but perhaps the most important tool when working with green screening is your LIGHTS. You want to do all you can to get a smooth evenly lit surface. Keeping talent away from the background will help reduce shadows. Position your lights for the least amount of shadows. A backlight will help separate the subject from the background, making for easier editing.
3. If you’re serious about green screening – you’ll want to invest in a professional camera. The everyday video cameras often sold in local stores don’t capture the same information from a scene. Especially colors….you really need a camera with 4:2:2 ratios to get a high quality key without a tone of extra work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use a standard camera. You can, but it makes your light setup even more important.
You probably hear a lot about high definition video (HD) – better picture, bigger size: There’s lots going on today in terms of what’s standard. Fact is, standard definition (SD) video remains the industry standard online. Most professional are already working with HD. Does that mean your podcast or online video should be HD? There’s a yes and no to that question. If you have the ability to shoot in HD, go for it, but give serious consideration to your distribution before you release an HD version only. If your audience is spread far and wide across the country, you’re going to be safer with SD. The reason: Many people are not high tech, do not have high tech computers – though the web can support high definition video and play it just fine, that doesn’t mean your grandmother’s or your mom’s computer will. Just yesterday I was over my mom’s house – her computer is 10 years old. She can play her Susan Boyle videos but just barely. That computer is working like crazy trying to play that file for her. Even today, many people in our high tech area don’t have the proper codex to play these video files. To understand why SD is still the standard, just consider rural areas of the country and the low tech population. If you’re marketing to the entire country with only an HD video, you might be missing half your intended audience.
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