GLCA News February Second

I have been working very hard on making newscasts for my school. I learned a lot  and I am excited about the results.

This first video is my first official attempt at a green-screen video. We had a special chapel speaker and this video introduced him. We enjoyed listening to him speak, and learning more about him.

As I made the video, I encountered a few problems. I used curtains as the "green screens" in the background. The curtains were supposed to be the same color, but when we took them out of the package, they were different colors. With the app I am using I can only replace one color with chroma key technology. This made one side of the screen have less quality then the other. Another thing that affected the quality of the screen was the smoothness of the curtains. I did not iron the curtains, so you can see the folds. I also need to be careful of the lighting, fair skin, and blonde hair.

I loved discovering how green screens work, and using that knowledge to make my first green screen video. I hope to make more videos like this in the future, but improving the quality, of course!


If you have any questions about the video, please comment below.

4 Tips on Using Green Screen Technology

Since discovering how green screens work, I have been experimenting with them.

I recently purchased the Do ink green screen and animation apps. I watched the introduction videos and played around with the features. I made one of my friends appear as if she was a monkey on the tower of Pisa. I made my sister have an identical twin and the twins high-fived each other. It was a lot of fun.

While I was doing this I made some observations:

1. The technology works a whole lot better if the screen is smooth. So if you are going to use chromo key, then make sure that your material is wrinkle free and pulled tight.

2. Be careful with the clothing you wear. When using this technology do not wear clothing that is the same color (or close to the same color) as the background you are using. Be careful not to wear sparkly clothing or anything that will reflect light. By paying careful attention to the clothes you wear, you are making your videos even better.

3. Do not move! While Do ink does work with motion, the video turns out better if you hold still. If you can, limit the motion of the video without limiting your creative expression.

4. Use the animations to take your video to the next level. Do ink has an app called Do ink Animations , that allows you to create your own animations and drawings. If you use Do ink Green Screen and Do ink Animations together, then you can put one of your amazing animations into your green screen video! There are endless possibilities!

Green Screens

Why they work and how to use them

Green screens have taken film-making to the next level. They enable actors and characters to travel to places without actually being there. So how do these magical time machines work?

Green screens work because of amazing technology invented by Larry Butler. This technology is able to detect the green of the screen, and replace it with an image of your choice. If a camera can detect many colors, then why does the screen have to be green?

Well, the truth is that it does not have to be green! Green is used because it is the color that is the farthest away from natural skin color.(Unless you have seen someone with green skin.) It is not a very common clothing color, so therefore it is used for a wide variety of projects. Green screens are great, but say you are the hulk or Oscar the grouch, then can you use this technology?

 "Green screens" do not have to be green, they can also be blue, or any color for that matter. Filmmakers use blue screens for filming when green screens do not work. Green and blue screens are very common, but most other colors are not used. 

In reality, neither the material used for the green screen nor the camera is the time machine. The use of a green screen, or chroma key has to do with what you do after you film. After filming an action-filled scene, you use chroma key technology to replace the green(or blue) with you favorite background.

 To try out green screens on your own, you can use apps such as Stop Motion Studio ( http://appcrawlr.com/ios/stop-motion-studio ), or Do Ink (https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/green-screen-by-do-ink/id730091131?mt=8). There are a plethora of other apps that range in prices; so just explore! Although there are many different apps that you can use with green screens, they all have one thing in common: filters. The technology filters colors, which allows it to take the green, and only the green out.

For more information about green screens, check out the links below.

The science behind green screen                                                                                                        Who Invented the Green Screen?
                                                                                                                                                                Do you need a special camera for green screen?                                                                                                                                               Difference Between Chroma Key and Green Screen
What is Green Screen?