Shooting against a green background at home. What is chromakey and how to use it on video. Tips and tricks that won't cost you money. For Windows users. Free video editor for applying chromakey to videos - VSDC

We all know, of course, that Hollywood supplies perhaps the largest amount of green fabric, because without it, many films with special effects would never be released. It is the so-called “green screens” (which are then invisible thanks to the chroma key effect on the video) that allow directors to shoot incredible scenes without leaving the studio - be it a romantic dinner in Paris or a mortal battle of dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Most deadly fights, by the way, are filmed using chroma key, even if there are no dinosaurs in the scene.

One way or another, modern video editing programs have brought the “magic” that was once only possible in the film industry into the world of the average user. This means that you can now implement almost any idea that involves the use of chromakey technology. Hollywood budgets will not be needed - moreover, if you wish, you can implement your plans absolutely free of charge.

In this article, we will tell you how to make your own video with a green background at home, which free video editor you can use to apply the chromakey effect to a video, and show you some interesting techniques that you can use in your video.

Looking for a free editor to remove green background from videos? We recommend VSDC for Windows

To apply the chromakey effect on video you will need:

• Green background.
• Uniform lighting.
• Camera.
• The image you plan to use to replace the green background in the final video.
• Video editor with the ability to use chromakey effect.

Below you will find explanations for each stage of preparation, as well as a description of the difficulties that beginners may encounter.

What is a green screen and where can I get it?

Indeed, we have already mentioned both the green background and the green screen several times, without explaining what exactly we are talking about. So, from a practical point of view, this is absolutely any vertical surface, uniformly painted green or covered with green fabric. Despite the fact that in the film industry it is fabric installations that are most often found, in fact (especially for the first time) it will be easier for you to shoot against the backdrop of some green wall than to stretch fabric over a large frame.

Of course, you can always look for a ready-made green background in online stores - most often for home use they sell cardboard or fabric green screens that can be folded compactly after use. However, if you are set on video production on a zero budget, we suggest using your imagination and looking for available tools. Do you have green walls in your entrance? Perhaps a green board in the office or classroom? In the end, even a pool table will do. If you do find a piece of green fabric in the chest and want to use it, make sure that there are no noticeable stains or unevenness on it. Applying a chromakey effect to a video won't be easy if the color of your green screen is uneven.

Advice for those who plan to make their own green fabric background: Before filming, steam the fabric thoroughly to remove wrinkles, and if you wash it, leave it hanging or stretched to dry - this way you can avoid new wrinkles.

How to install lighting correctly

This is a very important point during any shooting, and even more so when shooting for subsequent use of chromakey. The fact is that a noticeable shadow, and vice versa, glare will disrupt the color integrity and uniformity of the green screen. As a result, during editing, the background simply will not be completely removed from the video, since the program will not perceive it as a single object.

We tell you how best to organize lighting to avoid all these difficulties.

• First, position the camera directly in front of your subject. Do not place the camera end-to-end, but rather move it further away, leaving room for the light to maneuver. Ideally, we are talking about 3-4 meters.
• Secondly, prepare two light sources. It is advisable that they be located slightly higher than the subject of photography. Ideally, there should be a 45 degree angle between each light source and the center of the scene. Both fluorescent lamps and almost any fluorescent lamps will do.
• Third, you need to determine the best location for your subject (which is most likely you). It will be almost impossible to avoid the shadow falling on the green background, so you will need to strive to ensure that it is either located outside the frame or evenly distributed across the screen. This is why we recommended leaving as much space as possible between the green background and the camera - so that the subject is not pressed closely against the screen. Using an experimental method, moving from the background towards the camera, find the optimal position in which the shadow will be minimally noticeable against the green color.

One of the clearest illustrations of green screen lighting was published in the online magazine Videomaker. We present it below for clarity.

Do I need a special camera?

No, not needed. The key here is a good video editor with chromakey functionality, not a camera. That is, you can use absolutely any device that records video of decent quality. A regular video camera, phone, and even an iPod Touch will do the job.

Where can I get images or videos to replace the green background?

Depends on your idea! You can use pre-shot photos or videos, stock materials from the stock exchange, fragments of famous films or clips. A couple of recommendations for choosing background videos:

If you are going to use only your own footage, make sure that they have the same parameters. When the quality of the picture in the background is very different from the main story video, it catches your eye and, in general, spoils the whole effect.

A large selection of free videos and high-quality images to replace the green background can be found on stock exchanges. For example, such as Videvo, Vimeo Free HD stock, Pexels and Pixabay. Before downloading media files, make sure that you have selected the required resolution and read the rules for further use of materials. Most exchanges with stock photos and videos allow you to filter materials by queries and parameters. And this is also convenient for finding objects that have already been shot on a green background - say, if you want to practice using the chromakey effect on video, but do not intend to film. Just enter “green screen” into the search bar and see what materials are available for download on this resource.

Now you roughly know what the secret is to filming news forecasts, and how the map appears on the screen.

But let's get back to the magic of video editing. In the second case, when the program you are using is not set to green chromakey color by default, you will need to adjust it manually using the eyedropper tool. Just click anywhere on the background that you want to remove later so that the program has an idea of ​​the color that needs to be isolated. This technique, by the way, will also be useful for dimly or unevenly lit green screens, which are not perceived by the video editor as a single whole. Using the eyedropper manually, you can remove unrecognized background elements.

Technically speaking, after your video editor has successfully applied chroma key to a video shot with a green background, you should now have your subject on a transparent background. Thus, no matter what video or image you put as the background, it will take up all the free space around the object.

For Windows users. Free video editor for applying chromakey to videos - VSDC

Today there are a lot of excellent video editing programs available on the market, including professional ones. However, if you have recently become interested in editing and are not ready to spend thousands of rubles on purchasing licenses, there are fully functional free video editors that are worthy of your attention. For example, VSDC.

How to remove green background from video in VSDC.

Once you've added the green background video to your project, go to the top menu and select the Video Effects tab. From the effects drop-down menu, select "Transparency" and go to the "Background Removal" option. VSDC recognizes the color green in the video for the chromakey effect by default, so as soon as you do this, the background should disappear. As we said above, it happens that several areas around the subject remain green due to less-than-ideal lighting. It's not a problem. To remove any remaining green background, go to the menu on the right. Please pay attention to the following parameters:

• Minimum brightness threshold.
• Minimum color threshold U.
• Minimum color threshold V.

Gradually increase or decrease the value of these parameters until you see the desired result. Once you've completed this task, all that's left is to add the image you want in the background instead of green. The technical point here is that your main video must be placed on top of everything else. If it is not, right-click on it and select the "back to top" option.

Even though it took us more than three paragraphs to describe the process of using chromakey on video, in fact it will take you much less time than reading this section. Everything is much simpler than it seems. To convince you of this, we have prepared a two-minute video tutorial on how to remove the green background from a video using VSDC.

For Mac users. Free video editor for using chromakey - iMovie

It just so happens that the choice of free video editing programs is not so wide for Mac owners. On the other hand, the default iMovie video editor will do an excellent job of removing the background from your video. Moreover, iMovie is equally effective at recognizing both green and blue colors for isolation and subsequent substitution.

The process for applying the chromakey effect in iMovie is slightly different than in VSDC. First of all, you need to immediately add both videos (the main one and the one you want to see in the background instead of green) to the timeline. After that, all you need to do to replace the background is to literally drag the video with the green background on top of the video that should become the new background. Once you see a green circle with a "+" sign, you can release the mouse button and the green background should change automatically. If you feel like something has gone wrong and the magic hasn't happened, open the "Video Overlay" control panel and select "green/blue screen" from the pop-up menu.

The instructions published on Apple's technical support page say that iMovie determines which color is considered the background and is removed based on the dominant hue. In other words, iMovie will remove the color that is most present in your video. That is, if your green background color is not dominant - say, if your subject takes up more space in the frame than the background - you will have to apply chromakey manually. Instructions are available on the company's website.

Some final inspiration

We understand that after so much information, you may have a lot of ideas on how to use the chromakey effect on video. Or perhaps, on the contrary, you don’t know where to start! In this section, we have collected several options for using chromakey that may be useful for future projects.

1. Replace locations on video. Movies often use jokes in which the hero films himself in front of a poster depicting an exotic island, pretending to be somewhere in paradise. If you want to repeat something similar, but you don’t have the right type of photo wallpaper, chromakey on video will do the job perfectly. For example, American Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and model Karlie Kloss pretend to be at a prom, although in fact they are filming on a green background.

2. Add emotion to your video message. There are times when you need to emphasize how important what you are trying to say is. No problem. Just record yourself against a green background, and then, using the chromakey effect on the video, replace it with, for example, a flame - as Shia LaBeouf did in his famous motivational video.

3. We “invite” the star to your video blog. You may not be able to organize a full-fledged dialogue, but adding a celebrity to your video for fun - so that it looks more or less natural - is absolutely free. Just look for videos of stars on a green background and you will easily find John Travolta, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Jean-Claude Van Damme and many others.

4. We joke about a friend who wears green. Perhaps, comments are unnecessary here - you probably understood everything yourself. The only thing you should make sure of before uploading such a joke to the Internet is your friend in green’s sense of humor.

5. We record videos for business purposes. Many graduation photos and videos are actually recorded using green screens and then edited using chromakey - because finding a good, uniform background is not always an easy task. Sometimes it's easier to just add it in the editor. The same is true for professional videos - interviews, recordings of performances, and so on. Moreover, a green background is often used in business presentations or videos demonstrating the capabilities of mobile applications - as in the example below.

Well, now you know how the chromakey effect on video works, and that you can apply it completely free of charge if you have the right materials, a little time and imagination. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel- we publish new video tutorials every week!

The terrifying invasion of the White Walkers, the epic battle between a squad of dashing gnomes and a dragon - all this looks incredible and excites the hearts of viewers every time. The most memorable cinematic worlds are brought to life through technology. Let's look at not the newest, but perhaps the most important. And we’ll tell you what the green background for shooting photos and videos is called. What is it for and how does it all work? Why choose a green background for video shooting?

The green background on which the shooting takes place is called chromakey. This is not its only name. Sometimes the names used are keying and rear projection. Green is the most popular, but not the only color for the background on set. Sometimes they use blue. Below, we will explain why.

Why do you need a green background for video and who uses it?

The main purpose of chromakey is to superimpose another background onto the actual photo. This background allows you to combine two (or more) video sequences: real shooting objects (people, objects) and the desired picture or video background.

Backdrops for filming are popular not only in the film industry, but also in numerous television projects. The simplest and most popular example is filming a weather forecast. When the presenter stands near a green background, a map with the forecast is applied through a video editing program. The combined result is displayed on the television screen.

Chroma key is also popular and actively used by various bloggers. All these cute, funny backgrounds, special effects and captions in video blogs are made using editing and video shooting on a green background. But unlike filmmakers, an inexpensive, miniature chromakey is enough for them to shoot at close range.

Why choose a green background for chrome key? How it works?

Why is green used? Everything is extremely simple! People with it do not have natural color matches (skin, hair). When compositing (the process of replacing the background), the program easily cuts out everything that is not green (people, shooting objects) and inserts the desired background photo or video sequence.

It is only important that your clothes do not contain green. Otherwise, the program will “cut out” a fragment of the body with clothes of a similar color.

Note. Presenters working on a green background will never have green or blue clothes or green makeup.

Most often, chromakey allows you to:

• visually change the shooting location (to a real one or a technically created one);
• create special effects;
• combine a real person with a computer graphics character on the screen.

Chroma key definitely helps to make the result of shooting more spectacular, interesting and at the same time much cheaper.

], lit. “chroma key”) is a technology for combining two or more images or frames in one composition, color electronic key projection (or key projection), used on television and in modern digital film production technology. Using chromakey, you can “remove” the background and “add” an image or video through a video editor. Also in everyday life chromakey they call the screen itself, against which they are filming.

Some sources in Russian use the following names: key projection, key projection, chroma key, color keying, teleinlay, chromakey, chroma key, sometimes in Russian transliteration "chroma key". Another name for the technology is keying(eng. keying, color keying).

Story

Origin

In cinema, before the advent of television technologies and digital methods of film production, methods were used to combine the actor's scene with the background, known as “rear projection”, “front projection” and “wandering mask”, giving a pictorial effect similar to chromakey.

Blue screen

Blue screen technology was created in the 1930s by the film studio RKO Pictures.

Technology

Example of technology use

The most common colors used in projection are green and blue (cyan), because such colors are not found in human skin tones. The most popular background color for combined filming in film production is green (which gave the technology its name “ Green screen"), for television programs a blue background is more often used (" Blue screen"), although the color of the fabric for “keying” depends on the creative task set by the director and the characteristics of the equipment on which the projection is made, as well as the color of clothing and objects present in the frame.

The use of computers makes it easier to combine several images with each other, even if the shooting is done handheld.

The main subject is photographed against a background of one color or against a background with a relatively small difference in colors. Usually blue or green backgrounds are used, since human skin does not have such colors. The process of replacing the original background with another is called compositing or keying.

Blue chromakey

Shooting with blue chromakey

Blue chromakey was widely used when shooting on film. The color negative was printed on high-contrast black-and-white film using a color filter that eliminated the blue channel. This area became completely black, creating an alpha channel. Then another image was superimposed using double exposure.

Green chromakey

Virtual TV studio with green chromakey. Reflections on the surface of a glass table are difficult to remove when compositing.

Currently, the green background is used most often, since digital cameras are most sensitive to green tones due to the Bayer filter matrices they use. The image in the green channel contains less noise, is cleaner and is easier to process with high quality during compositing. The green background became more widely used due to the widespread use of blue jeans, as well as the presence of blue eyes in people.

Basic conditions

The main factor is the significant color difference between the foreground (subject being photographed) and the background (green screen). For example, a blue box on a green background.

Lighting

If the subject being photographed is close to the green screen, then re-reflected light may fall on it. In such cases, human skin acquires a green tint or green shades appear in glossy metal and glass surfaces. This effect is called spill. :p20 The solution is to use a larger green screen and increase the distance from the subject to the background.

Camera

Cloth

Clothes should be different in color from chromakey

You should avoid clothing that contains shades close to the background colors, because clothing can be removed in a video editor along with the background.

However, sometimes clothes of the same colors are specifically used. This is how the scene in the Harry Potter film with the invisibility cloak was filmed. The foreground distorts the background and creates the desired effect.

In this case, difficulties may arise when there must be two objects in the frame at once, one of which is blue and the other green. So in the movie Spider-Man there is a fight scene between the main character and the Green Goblin. Each character had to be shot separately against a contrasting background.

To facilitate the compositing process, the boundaries between the main subject and the background should be clearly separated. The greatest difficulties are caused by translucent objects, such as individual locks of hair, transparent raincoats or umbrellas, and glass.

Background color

Demonstration of techniques for creating special effects using chromakey

The blue background was most often used when shooting on film.

The green background is more often used outdoors, in shots where the sky is visible. Digital cameras perceive green tones better and record them with less noise.

A red background is used for scenes where objects are being photographed rather than people, since red skin tones do not allow such a background to be used.

When shooting on film, a yellow screen is also used. :16

One of the most modern techniques is the use of reflectors. The background is illuminated by LED lamps located as close as possible to the camera lens, the light from which is returned to the lens. This technology allows the use of lamps with minimal power and much smaller sizes compared to standard solutions.

Thermo-Key technology uses light in the infrared spectrum, invisible to the human eye.

It is also possible to use ultraviolet light. These special fluorescent lamps were used during the filming of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In addition, instead of a single-color background, any colored static image can be used for keying. To do this, first the background used as chromakey is shot from a tripod without any actors or objects in the foreground. Then, without moving the camera, the main subject is shot against the same background. And then in the video editor, using the subtraction method, only the main object is left. However, it is extremely important that the objects in the background do not move. And also so that there is no noise in the image. A textured background is most often used when the main subject has many different colors.

Additional requirements

Light uniformity

For chromakey photography, it is necessary to illuminate the green background more evenly

To make it easier to separate the subject from the background, it is necessary to avoid shadows and highlights in chromakey and illuminate it as evenly as possible. The matte surface of the background reflects light more evenly and there are no bright reflections on it.

In this case, sometimes they deliberately leave a shadow from the object being photographed on the background in order to use it when combining layers.

Exposition

To obtain a high-quality result, it is important to set the exposure correctly in the camera. A background that is too dark or too light will have insufficient color saturation. If the image is too dark, it will contain noise, which will also negatively affect the quality of the material.

Criticism

Advantages

Thanks to the use of chromakey, you can significantly reduce the cost of the production process. And also create or combine objects that cannot exist in reality.

Flaws

The disadvantage of chromakey is that if a person’s clothing has a color similar to the background color, then the person begins to “shine through” (“glow”). Therefore, when choosing a costume for an actor or TV presenter, avoid colors that match the background. Although this problem can be solved by applying masks in a video editor.

Compositing programs

• Adobe After Effects is the most popular keying and compositing program in Russia
• The Foundry Nuke - used for production at Walt Disney Studios
• en:Blackmagic Fusion - used for painting, rotoscoping, keying, titling and animation
• en:Apple Shake - last update released in 2008

see also

• Rear projection - combined filming technique
• CGI (graphics) - images generated using three-dimensional computer graphics
• Combined photography is a type of special effects in cinematography
• Filmmaking - the process of creating films
• Kashe - an opaque valve in the form of some geometric figure
• Exposure - the amount of actinic radiation received by a photosensitive element

Notes

1. Felix Voroisky. Computer science. Encyclopedic dictionary-reference book. - Litres, 2016-01-28. - P. 413. - 769 p. - ISBN 9785457966338.
2. Make a movie. DIY chromakey. snimikino.com articles. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
3. Dictionary Lingvo Electronics (En-Ru) chromakey - color electronic key projection
4. Sergey Orlov. English - Russian dictionary on computer technology and information technology. - P. 139.
5. Mastering 3ds max 5. - Williams Publishing House, 2004. - P. 37. - 771 p. - ISBN 9785845905499.
6. Team of authors. Adobe Premiere Pro CC. - Litres, 2014. - P. 444. - 543 p. - ISBN 9785457592391.
7. Television and radio broadcasting. - 1990. - P. 190. - 776 p.
8. Eduard Efimov. Television yesterday, today, tomorrow. - Art, 1983. - P. 141. - 248 p.
9. Directory of licenses of the Federal Service for Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation. . - 625, 1995. - P. 193. - 200 p.
10. Kiryanova E.

Chromakey(English chroma key - literal translation "color key") is a technology for combining two or more images or chroma key, which is used in cinema and television.

Actress Marcy Williams in front of the blue wall, which will later turn into a beautiful harbor in the TV series Game of Thrones

During filming, the object is placed on a single-color background, which allows you to place another image in place of the background during editing. Also in the bypass, chromakey refers to the color key screen itself, against which the shooting is performed. Another common name for the technology is keying (color keying).

Scene from the movie "Deadly Honeymoon" before and after special effects

The most common colors used in key projection are green and blue (cyan). This is due to the fact that these colors do not contain human skin tones. However, in practice, you can use any other colors, in particular black or white.

Most often, a green screen is used for combined filming in films (which gives the technology the name “Green screen”). On television, blue color (“Blue screen”) is more often used. Although in each individual case the color of the rear screen may depend on the artistic task at hand and the characteristics of the equipment used.

Scene from the series "The Walking Dead"

Chroma key technology allows you to save a lot of money and time when shooting films or TV shows. The only downside is that if the person being photographed’s clothes contains a color similar to the background color, the person begins to “shine through” (“glow”). In this connection, when choosing a costume for actors or TV presenters, avoid colors that match the background.

A few examples of “before and after” - the shooting of famous films and the result after processing and editing.

How to use chromakey in action

"The Secret is in His Eyes"

Film "Ugly" - interview

Filming of the film "Paranoia" - street cafe

Abandoned military camp near the hospital from The Walking Dead

Of course, the use of chromakey is far, far from being limited to these scenes! Below are a few more pairs of photographs from the filming of famous films and TV series of recent times.

"Life of Pi" and special effects with a boat and a tiger

Every video blogger or person who creates photos is faced with the fact that sometimes he has to change the background of the shooting. I really want to perform not against the backdrop of an ordinary room, but against the backdrop of a beautiful meadow, near the Statue of Liberty, and even in the cold Antarctica. And chromakey can help with this!

What is chromekey?

When they say “green screen” or “blue screen”, they mean chromakey. In simple words, chromakey is shooting on one background and subsequently replacing it with another. It works like this: a shooting process is carried out in which the subject is placed on a solid colored background (blue or green), and when editing, another image is placed in place of this background. The color of such a screen depends on the operator’s goals and creative tasks, as well as the characteristics of the equipment. For example, in very dark scenes, bright orange is used, but the most popular color for combined filming and photography is green. It is used primarily because digital video camera sensors are most sensitive to green tones.

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What are the advantages of chromakey?

Why is chromakey better than scenery? Isn’t it better to decorate the room with the necessary stands and place a photo of the same Statue of Liberty in the entire size of the wall? Of course, the decoration looks more real and clearer than chromakey. You can lean on the decoration, for example, put a table, or take a glass. And besides, when shooting with scenery, you can use clothes of any shade, but when using chroma key, you cannot wear certain colors, and yet why is chroma key better? Chromakey saves time and money, is easy to store and allows you to use your imagination. With its help, you will broadcast from the depths of the ocean, against the backdrop of a house in a village, from the desert or a spaceship. In general, you can use whatever you want, but with the decorations you can’t run away. In general, if you make custom videos or run a video blog, feel free to use chromakey while filming!

Chromakey was first used in the 40s of the 20th century, and the Americans were the pioneers. At first, chromakey was just a way to change the background, but over time they began to use special chromakey pavilions. Such chromakey pavilions cover the room on three sides, creating amazing textured, voluminous and rhythmic photography. Still, how chromakey has simplified and made life easier for the creators of spectacular film scenes, and we wish you the same!