Group Tests:
As a group we visited the Green Screen studio and had a taster into green screen technology. Above is a video I edited of this session, with each of the elements practised written in the bottom right corner. As this was only a short session we did not have much time to fully refine the perspective or lighting of each experiment.
Perspective is extremely important when using green screen. It is very easy for the people to appear either too large or small in the frame, which we discovered and resolved by adjusting the camera. The background is also vital in this, for example, if an aerial photograph was used, we would have appeared to be sitting on top of the buildings, which would not have been a convincing composition. For this reason, when selecting each image (both the tree and the clouds) I made sure that the ground was visible in each, with the clouds being a more fun example, as if we were sitting on clouds. Lighting is also very important in creating a convincing image, which we did not have enough time to really refine.
By using Chroma Key to key out the shade of green from the screen, turning it transparent, this also meant that everything with that shade of green would also become transparent. As you can see above, I handed out various items in this green colour, including swatches of fabric, a bag, and a phone case, which all appear invisible. This could be interesting to integrate with masking the image, such as a headless person as demonstrated by Alex above.
After changing the background, we experimented with using multiple video channels, utilising three of the possible 4 (main camera, background, second camera) evident from the extra rectangle in the top image. This gives the possibility for the repetition and overlaying of footage, as well as allowing split screen and a second camera all in real time.
Effects and Transitions can also be added within the green screen technology, here is an example of a vignette placed around the main camera, causing Lewis and I to fade around the edges, creating a more seamless edge.
The aforementioned utilisation of multiple video channels is evident here, with the same main camera channel repeated behind the original footage. The green screen has already been keyed out, leaving everything that green colour transparent. As the background and green screen footage are on separate channels, this meant that the two green screen layers can be overlaid with no change to the background. I have illustrated this below:
As James and I intend to use green screen for our final music videos, we privately booked the TV studio so we could learn more about the software involved and gain some footage which we can alter. We spent around 2 hours in the studio, and I've edited this down in the clip above to some sequences which I could use when experimenting with double exposure. Within the video, the use of multiple video channels is evidenced, as is the manipulation of these. Also, the variation of cinematography (including close up and long shot) as well as the both of us in the frame, offering a range of footage which I can develop upon at this stage.
Also in this session we looked at: varying backgrounds, the limitations of the available video channels, exporting the recording, changing lighting, how lighting effects the keying of the background, and adding motion clips. All of which could prove useful in future sessions.
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