Hello, it's me again. I am an amatuer film maker and I need help. I need to have a few green screen scenes in my movie and I don't know how. Here is what I know:
I need a screen that is green.
Does anyone know hwo to put images ontot that greenscreen? If i need a special program, does anyone know where I can get a free or cheap one? Thanks it would be really helpful. If anyone has any other tips, that would also be very much appriciated. Thanks!
-Nick 
Last edited by polly-gone on Fri May 23, 2008 12:53 am; edited 1 time in total i think yout talking about keying..... well there are a lot of software that you can use,,, to achieve the effect... one of my favorite is adobe primiere and adobe after effects.......after effects has more option to have a nice chroma key effect..... though this two are not free this are the best tools to achieve what you want... 
I agree, Adobe and Final Cut pretty much are the best you can get for money, but as far as a free chroma keyer (green screen effect), the only free prgram I found was this one:
http://digg.com/software/Free_Video_Editor_Compositor_Chroma_Keyer
I haven't tried it out yet, but it seems reliable. If that doesn't work well, I'll see if I can find another one. | polly-gone wrote: |
Hello, it's me again. I am an amatuer film maker and I need help. I need to have a few green screen scenes in my movie and I don't know how. Here is what I know:
I need a screen that is green.
Does anyone know hwo to put images ontot that greenscreen? If i need a special program, does anyone know where I can get a free or cheap one? Thanks it would be really helpful. If anyone has any other tips, that would also be very much appriciated. Thanks!
President,
Atomic Dingo Productions
Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooowl |
Yeah in adobe premier, you shoudl be able to select the transparency color... in this case Green. and then add your background of whatever in its place.Thanks guys! That really helped!
Yes Adobe Premiere is probably the easiest, I believe there's a trial at http://adobe.com I think the first version of software that is accessible that could do this was on Amiga computers in the late 1980s. You may be interested in searching for information on these packages, like Toast(er) which became big hits in the 1990s~!
I use Sony Vegas for my video editing and it has some very effective chromakeying (greenscreening) tools. I'm pretty sure its more basic than adobe and final cut but its advanced enough for me and cheaper as far as I know.
If you wan't a cheap greenscreen, buy some bright green cloth, just look up pictures of green screens. Buy as big sheets as possible, shouldn't cost over 30$. Then you can just staple, glue, tape, it up to a wall and use that.
Blue also works, of course, and blue sheets are more common than green ones.
Myself I use a blue sheet I've had from before.
If you are using mini DV (as many people do) it's usually better to use a greenscreen than a bluescreen (as long as your actors don't wear green, if there are green things in the shot, of course you should use blue.) Not to get too technical here, but the reason is that DV compresses color information...there is only one color sample for every four luminance samples (DV is a 4:1:1 system). That's what makes it hard to get a good key in DV. But, DV retains more color information in the green channel, so if you are using DV, you will get a little better key using green than using blue....it still won't be as good as using an uncompressed or even a 4:2:2 format but it will be a little better than using a bluescreen.
| Jaan wrote: |
| If you wan't a cheap greenscreen, buy some bright green cloth, just look up pictures of green screens. Buy as big sheets as possible, shouldn't cost over 30$. Then you can just staple, glue, tape, it up to a wall and use that. |
hes askin' for a software not how to do greenscreenComposite Lab or Vision Lab, click on the picture on my signature to get to the page. Those programs are pretty cheap and very good!!!!
Try them! 
Check out pinnacle studios since their 129 dollar version also has chroma key, i use version 9.0 and it has chroma key, but make sure you buy 11.0 since 9.0 was buggy and 10 was a complete rebuild and very stable so is 11.
http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Home+Video/Studio+Family/Studio+Ultimate+11.htm
If you don't have a small budget then check out Premier like all the others said. Premiere and After Effects are still aimed at 'amateurs'. If you want professional compositing software then have a look at Apple Shake, or Fusion.
Actually it doesnt matter at all what colour you use. But yes, Blue and Green are the most common.
When Keying just remember to keep the light on one side the same as the other.
Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere and After Effects can do green screening
Watch these 2 videos....they will help you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6brdwY-dvU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5GsbrgmUV8 Good tips by Alaskacameradude.
Don't matter how good is your video application, if the chroma wasn't shot properly.
As you probably going to shoot on Mini DV, remember to get a good distance of your subject from the background and, if possible and adequate, try to hit him with a orange backlight (not much), so you can mask it easier.
Or try to shoot on Betacam or DVCProHD (Panasonic AG-HVX200).
Good luck on your project.
| Jaan wrote: |
| Premiere and After Effects are still aimed at 'amateurs'. If you want professional compositing software then have a look at Apple Shake, or Fusion. |
Do you even know what you're talking about? a lot of professionals use After effects. and besides, you can't compare premiere to shake or fusion, but to Final Cut, which is indeed better. | Magicman wrote: |
| I use Sony Vegas for my video editing and it has some very effective chromakeying (greenscreening) tools. I'm pretty sure its more basic than adobe and final cut but its advanced enough for me and cheaper as far as I know. |
i use vegas, and have used adobe, and i find that vegas is better than adobe, and easily covers all the functions that i have ever needed. | Tom7 wrote: |
| Magicman wrote: | | I use Sony Vegas for my video editing and it has some very effective chromakeying (greenscreening) tools. I'm pretty sure its more basic than adobe and final cut but its advanced enough for me and cheaper as far as I know. |
i use vegas, and have used adobe, and i find that vegas is better than adobe, and easily covers all the functions that i have ever needed. |
I've never used Vegas, but Adobe's products are absolutely fantastic. I don't know much about premiere elements, but premier pro is great. If you buy something like Production Studio or these kind of packages you get really great stuff for all sorts of video graphical needs! premiere pro works great and it renders fine. I like it cause it easy to use. I also like after effects because you can do more. I recommend getting the plugin for a more advanced keying program though. This way you can optimize the picture. I have also found that a high-def camera is quite a advantage because it key's better due to more pixles and it give a sharper key.
| polly-gone wrote: |
Hello, it's me again. I am an amatuer film maker and I need help. I need to have a few green screen scenes in my movie and I don't know how. Here is what I know:
I need a screen that is green.
Does anyone know hwo to put images ontot that greenscreen? If i need a special program, does anyone know where I can get a free or cheap one? Thanks it would be really helpful. If anyone has any other tips, that would also be very much appriciated. Thanks!
President,
Atomic Dingo Productions
Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooowl |
Alright, for a school project we used the greenest construction paper we could find and taped it to a wall. Then we filmed the greenscreen part of the movie. Then I got the video off my camera and used Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0 to take away the green background in the movie and place a fake background in its place. It wasn't the hard, I suggest you get that program.If you shoot in a proper manner, any of those applications will work.
Some are better, some are not (that doesn't mean they are bad).
Shake indeed is the best (my opinion, of course), but After Effects is really awesome too.
Last edited by pudovkin on Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:06 pm; edited 1 time in total | Jaan wrote: |
| Premiere and After Effects are still aimed at 'amateurs'. |
That is utter rubbish! in fact its complete bull. Speaking as a professional editor, I use After Effects constantly. Alot of my colleagues also use it so i dont know where you got that idea from!
The trick with good greenscreening is Lighting. If you get your lighting right it will make the post process muh easier.
Most editing applications have chroma keying features. Some are more easy top use while others are a lil more comlicated. I have used After Effects, Premier, Media100 and Sony Vegas to do this. The best results came from Afetr Effects and surprisingly, Vegas. Inface Vegas was alot easier and quicker and also more accurate.
Whatever you use remember that its always a combination of effects to achieve the best results. You will end up using not only the chroma key effects but also you will end up adjustng colour curves and contrast too.the most important thing to do is to LIGHT EVENLY....so all the parst of the green screen are the same brightness, or close too it. you can use your zebra stripes and exposure settings to ensure this.also, get far away from the person, and zoom in, instread of being close and zoomed out, so the background is out of focus, which will make the key easier as well.
go to digitaljuice.com
and look at the DJTV episode on greenscreen
Yeah the tricks is to have the right program I guess...
THE easiest is Ulead Video Studio 10. All you do is have the footage and put the dropper tool on the greenscreen background (it can be any colour in reality.) Then you choose the film you want to be in the background. You position it, and render. Easy as that!
| teknotom wrote: |
| THE easiest is Ulead Video Studio 10. All you do is have the footage and put the dropper tool on the greenscreen background (it can be any colour in reality.) Then you choose the film you want to be in the background. You position it, and render. Easy as that! |
yes, ulead video studio is really good. i using ulead video studioThink of the features you need most.
Most likely, all you'll ever need is Sony Vegas. It offers basic everything.
basically any program can do green screen. some progs just have more options. like Keylight in After Effects
| videoguy wrote: |
| the most important thing to do is to LIGHT EVENLY....so all the parst of the green screen are the same brightness, or close too it |
Definitely, specially on the "borders" of your subject, where your video application will automatically make the masks.
