Green Screen

[Soap Talk]

I am one of those people who have plenty of idea's but do not put them to the test a lot of the time. I have been looking at green screen and wondering what can you achieve using it.

Is it best for a fixed background or can you have live action going on behind you. I would like to know how it works and what are its limits.

[Steve Crook]

I am one of those people who have plenty of idea's but do not put them to the test a lot of the time. I have been looking at green screen and wondering what can you achieve using it.

Is it best for a fixed background or can you have live action going on behind you. I would like to know how it works and what are its limits.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_key

Steve

[BritMovieHoncho]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0h_BVLRSeI

Pretty much every super hero movie these days is shot almost entirely on green screen, so the sky is not in fact the limit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji3IDa0sewk

but for the latter it helps to have the special effects genius of say ILM working for you

[alan gowdy]

Not to mention Blue Screen!

[Soap Talk]

Has anyone used it for themselves on here.

[StoneAgeMan]

There's no better way to appreciate what the experts do, than attempting to do it yourself and failing miserably. Green screen as a technique is, I believe, something that grew from television, then made it's way into movies. Before that, there were other processes (travelling matte, matte paintings, multiple exposure, back projection and front projection etc.), which worked for movies for decades, having been created/discovered as early as George Meliere. As a teenager I read all the books about special effects shots and could usually see a "trick shot" from a mile away. Nowadays the CGI has developed so much that I honestly can't see any clues on screen - mind you, the old effects used to take a half dozen skilled technicians, whereas the CGI has literally hundreds of programmers, digital artists and technicians working on a single movie for months after principal shooting is over. They still use miniatures and make-up, lighting techniques and stunt doubles... so there are still some jobs out there for people who don't sit at a keyboard... but the enormous expense of hiring all those CGI people really adds to the budget of a movie. The audience is more choosy now, so failed CGI is mocked mercilessly.

[Judge Foozle]

Sorry to be picky, but George MELIES is one of my specialist areas. Anyone who looks up Meliere for more info will probably be redirected to Moliere and be none the wiser. With the friendliest possible intentions!

[StoneAgeMan]

Eek! I'm so sorry. And grateful for the correction. My biggest mistake was not checking my post first. I had originally written Meliers, then Melieres, then settled for Meliere. Of course, it should have been Georges Méliès

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s

[Nick Dando]

Or George Melly.

[StoneAgeMan]

My sister was at school with a George Melly heir, his son Patrick.

[alan gowdy]

My goodness, that's tangential.

[Judge Foozle]

Or George Melly.

Now THERE's a man who could have made some interesting films!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxlz0q1uwEQ