Recently I’ve been speaking to a few people who are starting out to record their own videos and they have laboured to get their own chroma key (green screen) studio space set up for their filming.
They have shot a couple of videos, found out that Chroma keying doesn’t just work (especially when using a phone as a camera). They bought more lights, tried again but still they were having problems because they haven’t got the exposure right between the subject and the background. When lit well a good chroma key shouldn’t be obvious. It should just make people accept that you were standing in that place at the time.
And then I asked them a simple question – why are you using a green screen?
Following a second or two of blank looks and awkward silence the answer was along the lines of, umm someone told me to and they sold me this stuff.
Green screen is for special effects. To create a background or an environment that you wouldn’t normally be able to achieve.
The point of the background is to help tell the story. What do you already have around you that is part of your business or your message that you can simply put in the background to help connect the audience with what you are talking about?
For one of my friends it was to make use of a huge touch screen TV that’s in his office. He is in the tech industry and this will serve as a background for his branding and he can also interact with it during his presentation. Another works in the ski business and lives in the mountains. He has plenty of options – mountains, skis, parkas, boots, gloves, helmets – all of which reinforce the space in which he is speaking about.
So when planning your filming space think about a background which adds value or credibility to your message and save the green screen for when it’s really needed. And then get the pros in to shoot it with the right lighting and broadcast cameras that can record the high quality information you need so it will work when you add the special effects.
Keep it simple stupid xx
Geoff Anderson is the owner of Sonic Sight, a video production facility in Sydney.He is an author, presenter and a video producer.
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