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Anyone who has ever watched TV has more than likely seen these technological wonders known as a green screen. Only thing is, they probably don't know it. The purpose of a green screen is to change a background or wall into something it's really not. Video producers, news producers, and even TV shows such as Tosh.0 make use of the technology, bringing us their information in viewer friendly formats. But how do they do it?
In order for the screen to work, it needs to be kept under a specific set of conditions. What are these conditions? What needs to be done in order to produce those flawless images we see every day on TV? How does the screen work, what is it that allows us to see the images and videos in the background? Research green screens and try to answer these questions.
Great topic! I've often thought it would be fun to experiment with using green screen techniques. When I was a youngster, this was called "blue screen" instead of "green screen." What revolution in photography/videography is responsible for the transition from blue to green?
ReplyDeleteTo answer Austin's question: Usually programs like Adobe After Effects and Sony Vegas how an option to cancel out a color to replace it with an editable screen for posting pictures and mostly movies. Now, to answer Mr. Bearss's question: I believe that the change between blue to green has happened because of what the green screen cancels out, for example, clothing. If you were to wear a blue shirt in font of the blue screen your shirt would become an editable object, since it is blue. But, if you were to wear that same blue shirt in front of a green screen you would still be able to see the blue and not have the shirt blend into the background.
ReplyDeleteThen wouldnt the same thing with a green shirt in a green screen?
ReplyDelete...my thoughts exactly!
ReplyDeleteSo a big part in the picture of the screen is the way light will hit it. Without full adequet lighting the image will seam to look morefake from the egde on the object. Itl be more visiblle. This makes the image look more old school. And wat makes the image is a computer and whatever effect program there is. Photo shop. Adobe effect. Allll sorts of stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments this week.
ReplyDeleteThe "revolution" I was talking about was the switch from film to digital.
ReplyDeleteAs sniper says, a big thing to watch for when using a green screen effect is even lighting on the screen itself. You want the entire background to be the same color (with no highlights, shadows, wrinkles, or reflections). This makes it easy for the processor (either hardware or software) to select just that specific color "key" and delete it from the picture.
ReplyDeleteWell, to answer the thing about what the major difference between a blue shirt cancelling out and a green shirt canelling out, is that blue is a much more common color to wear. You see many more people wearing blue than that green color. That is (probably) why the transition was made.
ReplyDeleteThe green screen needs to be as flat as humanly possible. If there are rinkles in it then the image will apear off. A tremendous amount of light is also needed, if there are shadows then the image will also turn out bad. The proper lights needed for this is either a halogen light or a very powerful stage light. You need multiple lights to eliminate any shadows. Like on the TV show Tosh.0 the host(Daniel Tosh) works on a huge green screen. As you can see when the camera pans out at the end the screen is about 50 ft wide by 75 ft long. Green screens are very useful when you want something extrodinary. Just make sure you are using the right software.
ReplyDeleteTo go with Mr. Bearss' answer about the shift to digital, digital cameras hold more information in the green channel, and require less light to operate effectively. However, I have read that green screen colors aren't as "complementary" to human skin as blue screens are. I guess both come with their pros and cons.
ReplyDelete