Green Screen for Less "Green"

Working with green screens or blue screens is pretty fun and enables you to do just about anything for video. As you can see from the setup pictured on the left, it's not a cake walk to do a good job at it, but with experience it gets easier. The real key to getting a good key for video work is spending a lot of time with the lighting. Although professional lights make it much easier, there are ways for people with a tighter budget to make the most of green screening.

Buying an actual chroma key green screen can be expensive, but making one can be pocket change comparatively. Go to your local hardware store or paint shop and ask them to mix you a color of paint that is as close as possible to what chroma key green looks like. At my other job at BYU, we have about three different green screens—and all of them are different colors! In my opinion, it's not vital you get a true "chroma key" color green, unless you like spending quadruple on your paint.

When you get your paint, paint some drywall that has no texture or make a backdrop that can be painted this color. Your primary focus should be a texture-free surface that can be lit evenly. Don't use hard corners or seams. Notice in the green screen I helped setup in the picture here that it has a smooth bend instead of a corner as it reaches the ground to be walked on. This is because we wanted it lit fairly evenly throughout the entire part. Corners and seems create uneven lighting that is harder to key on the computer.

Remember, a better key is worth the time spent on set, because it will save you hours in post-production. If you ever want advice on building your own green screen set, please feel free to contact me. I would love to help.