Achieving even lighting can be more difficult than you might think. Any variation in lighting will read as gradient coloring and will complicate your key in post. The goal is to light the set as evenly as possible using soft light. If there is a secret technique to getting good keys, it is in lighting the wall. Light it smoothlyĮven a professional-quality cyc wall won’t key well without proper lighting. However, it doesn’t take much more effort to stretch a sheet of green fabric between two step ladders or paint a small section of wall. You can quickly create a functional miniature table-top set with an action figure and a sheet of posterboard. If you need to chromakey a full-body shot of an adult actor, you will need a much larger background.Īnything that’s bright green will work as a green screen, just be aware of texturesĪlso, if you are experimenting with chroma keying for the first time, you can test the process on a small scale before you build a big set. If you intend to chromakey a sock puppet your backdrop may be relatively small. The only requirements are that your background is large enough to fill your screen, smooth enough to take light evenly without showing wrinkles or casting shadows, and bright enough to contrast well with your subject. Texture causes shadows.) What do you need to look for when buying or making a green screen? (NOTE: Be sure to avoid textured walls if you’re painting it green. I’ve produced professional green screen scenes using giant dedicated sets, large professional fabric chromakey backdrops, sheets of material purchased by the yard from a fabric store, smooth walls or pieces of paneling painted with a gallon of dinosaur-green paint from the kids section of the hardware store, even sheets of green poster board taped together. In short, anything that’s bright green will work, and anything that works is valid. Fortunately, there are many options, and many of them are inexpensive. The most obvious need is for the background itself. We’ll cover each of these elements in detail. In order to shoot footage that will key cleanly, you need a green background, a source of bright, even lighting, and a tripod to lock your camera in place. You can erect a simple chromakey setup almost anywhere with just a few basic tools. Fortunately, we quickly pointed out the problem and he was able to find a change of clothes before he went live. Patrick’s Day our wacky weatherman showed up to work dressed head-to-toe in a bright green leprechaun suit. We narrowly escaped a chroma key crisis years ago when I was working at a Northern California TV station.

Chromakey movie studio