how to create videos using a green screen

Using a green screen when creating a video will give your videos a much more professional look and also give you the ability to show off their products, diagrams, or more easily put in what is commonly referred to as word pops. You do not need a green screen in order create a lower third. I say lower third I’m simply referring to the lower one third of the screen which typically new stations used to display data or it would pop up and say the person’s name typically lower thirds also don’t stay there forever a lot of times lower verbal pop up and then say what needs to say and then go away.

Here are my top five green screen tips

1. You do not need to have a full body green screen.

Most people that are producing their own videos and are either marketing or trying to promote a certain political view or some type of way religious message. And you know that your videos going to be viewed almost exclusively online. Online viewers do not need to see the lower part of your body. Online viewers do not need to see your shoes. When filming with a green screen, most people should just shoot the top half of a person’s body. When putting a video online remember the video is only going to be at most in full-screen mode 12 inches tall… Maybe? Most of the time if it’s in bed into a website it’s only 3 inches tall and 4 inches wide. In order to connect with the audience they want to be able to see your eyes. If you film in a full body green screen your eyes are the equivalent of one pixel you’re not going to have this same effect of connecting with your audience.

2. When filming with a green screen more light is typically better

the idea is that your computer program whichever one you’re going to be using is going to be keying out the green and so you want your brain to be as green as it can be. Also whatever colors your actor is wearing should pop as well. I think it should go without saying that the actor cannot wear green. Investing in some additional light is a great way to create a higher quality green screen video.

3. Have enough room that your actor isn’t standing with her back directly against the green screen

if an actor is standing too close to the green screen and you have lights pointing directly on them that actors going to create shadows and the shadows will not have time to dissipate or blur. This makes the keying out process a little bit more difficult for your computer. If you’re not running a program like after effects or one that has a lot of different settings to be able to customize the effect. Then you need to make sure that you are doing everything in your power to help your computer produce a high quality video while keying out the background.

4. having a good microphone is essential to creating a good video

I know that we are talking about green screen but I think that it is a good point to make that most people who create videos seem to really not care too much about the audio and yet the audio is one of the most important parts to any good video. If you can’t hear the person, if you can’t hear their enunciation is in their words. Then what good is the video? All the great graphics in the world won’t overcome poor audio. I personally invested around $800 and my wireless microphone. There are much cheaper versions are ways in which you could do this. But is that important.

5. Types of programs that I’ve used in order to key out the background of my Green Screen

I have used iMovie, with the iLife plug-in. This program is great for your beginners… It works well and eliminates the need for tweaking your green screen settings in order to produce great-looking videos. This comes for free with any new purchase Mac. ILife is a extra expansion which must be purchased in order to create green screen videos. If you start taking this to the next level and you have the money to spend I highly recommend getting after effects. In after effects you can crop out the person once you have dropped away the background and move that person or resize that person on your video canvas.

For more information about how to keep out the background or use a green screen in your videos also a great resource is YouTube. There are many videos showing and explaining how to use software and work to key out the background as well as how to set up your green screen room.