How to assemble and light a green screen at home

green screen kits come in several pieces so you can customize the height and the width to your space i suggest assembling your green screen to be as tall and as wide as your space allows this will allow you to stand farther away from your green screen you're going to want to stand as far away from the green screen as possible because that will help you reduce shadows which will create different shades of green and those will be harder to edit another thing that makes your green screen harder to edit is wrinkles in your green screen if you have a steamer you're going to want to remove the wrinkles after you set up your green screen if you don't have a steamer you'll want to iron the fabric before you go through all the trouble of setting it up before you start lighting your green screen you'll want to frame up your shot to make sure that your green screen is tall enough if your green screen doesn't go above your head like this you're going to have a hard time editing i suggest setting your camera up at eye level and then slightly adjusting the height angle or distance of your camera if you've already raised your green screen to the maximum height that your space allows you can also try standing different distances away from your camera just remember to stand as far away from your green screen as you can if you stand too close to your green screen you'll create shadows that will be harder for you to edit out you'll also want to make sure that your green screen isn't right in front of a light source like a window if light is shining behind your green screen like this it will change the color of the green which will make it harder for you to edit you can also move the green screen to a different spot and if that's not possible you can fold the green screen fabric that will make it less likely that the light will shine through the fabric or you can cover the light source up by hanging a sheet or something in front of it it's helpful to know what you plan on putting in the background before you shoot for example if you plan on editing yourself into a space where you'll want to show your feet you'll need to lay the green screen on the floor but if you don't need to show your feet it's easier to edit if you shoot a tighter shot in this case you won't need to put the green screen on the floor so it's best just to fold it up so you're not stepping on it unnecessarily eventually this material will get worn and the less you step on it the longer it lasts if you're in a tv studio you'll have lots of controlled lighting but if you're recording yourself on a green screen at home chances are you don't have a ton of lights so you'll want to use natural light to your advantage and shoot your video during daylight hours where you set up your green screen depends on the location of your windows and glass doors and where the sun is coming from the goal is to get as much diffused light on your face as possible so try to face the largest light source in your home the glass from a window or sliding glass door will help diffuse or soften the light a bit these led lights are easy to assemble and small enough to maneuver around your space if you only have one light you should place it directly above your camera around eye level avoid putting the light too high or too low because it may cast unflattering shadows on your face if you have two lights you can put one on either side of your camera these led lights have dimming switches that you want to experiment with so the light isn't too dim or too bright you can also try moving them farther away which will help make them less harsh they also have these small diffusers on them which can make a big difference the more you can diffuse light the better you're going to look i suggest recording several test videos to figure out the best setup for your home while lighting your face is important it's also crucial that you like the green screen if you only have one light it's easiest to only shoot yourself waist up that way no one will see the light right behind you i recommend setting it up in the center of the green screen as far away from the green screen as possible that will let the light disperse if you set it up too close to the green screen you'll get a circle of light that won't be spread far out enough it will make a harsh contrast behind you that may make it harder to edit out because the green screen will look like it's different shades you want to record a few test shots to make sure the light is angled correctly in a separate video i'll walk you through how to edit the background but it really is a lot easier to set up your green screen if you understand how it's going to be edited here's why when you edit your green screen out you can actually crop or mask yourself so that the only green that's actually being keyed out is the green that's closest to your body this way you can focus on lighting the area that needs it the most and not waste your time lighting parts of the green screen that you're just gonna mask out anyways if you have enough lights to put two lights on your green screen you're going to want to put one light off the left and the other off to the right this way you'll have the choice of shooting a medium shot from the waist up or a wide shot that includes your feet a common error most people make here is that they raise the lights to eye level green screen lights should be in the middle of the screen and usually your eyes are going to be at the top of the screen this will make the green darker around the bottom of the screen if you're shooting a mid-shot this may make it harder to key out the green screen around your elbows for a mid shot i recommend that your lights are about chest high if you're shooting a wide shot lights that are set up at eye level will make it much harder to key out your feet the goal here is to try to make green screen light as even as possible sometimes it's hard to see the uneven light until after you record that's why you should always build in enough time to get some test shots because it's a lot easier to see lighting mistakes after you've recorded if you really want to do a good job on your lighting test you can import the video clips into your editing software and look at the alpha channel this makes it a lot easier to see where your light needs to be adjusted you may need to adjust the height angle intensity or distance of your light some green screens are green and others are bright blue both work the same way you're basically telling your editing software to remove that specific color from the shot so the last tip for shooting on a green screen is to not wear green if you wear a color that's similar to the green behind you the editing software will key you out when it keys out the background sometimes it may not look noticeable if you're wearing a different shade if you look at your editing software you may think it looks fine but when you hit play you'll notice what looks like some flickering this may or may not be possible to fix so rule of thumb just avoid wearing any shade of green when you're shooting on a green screen

Channel: Jeanette Abrahamsen

Views: 5,913

Rating: 4.9166665 out of 5

Keywords: green screen, lighting, tv, video, tutorial, green, studio, at home, remote, virtual

Id: --4yF3FpnCI

Length: 6min 34sec (394 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 29 2021