Master the Art of DIY Green Screen for Personal Media
27 May 2024Amanda J. Brook Senior Product Manager
Summary Learn how to achieve a professionnel movies in a simple way. Discover the secrets of DIY green screen technology. Find out more information in this article.
Green screen technology has become increasingly popular in recent years and has evolved significantly. It originated in the 1930s with hand-crafted film compositions. The advent of computers later simplified the creation of special effects using green screen technology.
Green screen technology, or “green screen subtraction technology”, is an imaging technique that separates actors or objects from the background. It is widely used in shooting unrealistic scenes in science fiction, fantasy, action films, and martial arts dramas.
II. What is the working principle of green screen technology?
In video or movie production, a green screen is typically used as the background for special effects shots. The green background is removed and replaced with a scene-related image required by the plot to separate the actors.
The reason for choosing a green screen is its high saturation. Since movies primarily feature people (actors) and events, green’s chromatic aberration makes it easier to track objects and locate them compared to other colors.
After filming, the green background was digitally removed and replaced with other materials, such as exotic destinations. This technique allows you to place actors in any environment and add effects like animated characters or alter actors’ appearances. Green screen enables seamless blending of animation and live-action footage, reducing constraints typical in high-budget films.
III. How to DIY green screen?
Here are a few things you need to implement green screen techniques: a piece of green or blue cloth/fabric, a camera, and the necessary lighting equipment.
1. Select the background
First, buy a thin green cloth (blue is also acceptable). Ensure actors do not wear green or blue clothing during shooting to avoid affecting the green screen effect and post-production. The size of the background cloth should cover the entire body of the person being shot; any part extending beyond the green screen will be removed in post-production.
Of course, if you have a studio or room in your home, painting the walls green can create a green screen in no time.
2. Select camera
Needless to say, the camera can be prepared according to your personal budget, or you can use an iPhone, after all, the pixels of the current mobile phone are also very good.
3. Set up the lights
When shooting with a green screen, remove shadows. A flatter green background simplifies background removal and replacement in post-production. If shadows persist or there’s a slight halo around characters, upgrade your lights. More even lighting yields better results.
Also, three-point lighting is the industry standard, which requires lights to be placed in a triangle around the subject, providing lighting from the sides and back. The purpose of this is to reduce the amount of shadows cast onto the green screen.
The above are the essential elements of a DIY green screen. After using the self-made green screen to shoot, it can be imported into professional video editing and production software such as AE or Premiere for editing or effects.
If you want to add simple editing or special effects to your self-made videos, I recommend a video editing software suitable for novice users – Renee Video Editor Pro.
4. Use Renee Video Editor Pro to add special effects to the video
Whether you are a video self-media worker or a novice user, if you need to add some special effects to some personal videos, you can use this simple and easy-to-operate Renee Video Editor Pro to achieve it.
What is Renee Video Editor Pro?
Renee Video Editor Pro is a multi-functional video recording and editing tool that combines screen recording, video post-production, and conversion. It meets multimedia recording needs such as PC screen, playback video, and sound source, while enabling extensive video editing. Users can add watermarks during recording and enhance videos later with transition effects, filter styles, and exclusive subtitles.
Hot Topic - ADsRenee Video Editor Pro– Multi-function Video Editing Software
Multiple edit tools Edit videos with tools like cut, crop, merge and rotate.
Multiple effects Users can add effects, watermark, subtitle, background music, and even remove watermarks.
Support multiple formats It can edit videos / audios in different formats.
Format Conversion Support to convert videos and audios into different formats.
Output formats recommendation Provide output format recommendation on the basis of different models.
Different Effects Effects, watermark, background music and subtitle can be added to videos.
Multiple Edit Tools Merge, crop, rotate, cut and transform video easily.
Convert Convert videos and audios into different formats.
How to use the video effects function of Renee Video Editor Pro?
Step 1: After downloading the software to the computer, open it and select the “Video Toolbox” button.
Step 2: Click the “Add Files” button and you can import the videos to the software.
Step 3: After the video is added, select the “Effects” option button in the header menu bar.
Step 4: There are three effect options under the playback scroll bar, the leftmost one is the “Filter Effect” function, you can change the color and shape of the video content with effects.
The middle button is the “zoom special effect” function, you can make special effect changes to the size of the video screen.
The button on the far right is labeled “Add Volume Effect.” You can also apply effects to the audio of the original video.
Step 5: After adding special effects, return to the main page to change the output video format and storage location. If no further actions are needed, click Start to begin processing the video with special effects. Wait for the loading to complete.
To perform additional video edits like adding watermarks, subtitles, or opening/closing titles, select the function button in the header menu of Renee Video Editor Pro.
Amanda J. Brook : Master storytelling with our tutorial on using speech bubble templates to create engaging comic-style videos that captivate audiences.
