Since 1898, photographers and filmmakers have been super-imposing landscapes, life, and experiences to enhance, enrich and enliven our viewing experiences past what was set in front of the camera. From double exposure to traveling mattes, to Disney’s coveted camera, to CGI, and the virtual cinematography of today, we have been taken to an unbelievable level of immersion into worlds not of our own where anything is possible. When it comes to captivation, utilizing a green screen can unlock a world of possibilities that will enhance your production to it’s fullest potential. Here we will cover our post production process of infiltrating our advanced compositing technology into a range of undertakings designed to set the stage for inspiration into your own creative genius.
Download a Trial of Chroma Key Pro now: Win | Mac
There is something extra special, clean, powerful, and versatile about NewBlue’s Chroma Key Pro. Not only is it easy to use but it can have an amazing impact on your post production keying endeavors. Lighting not perfect? Not a problem. Spill on all sides? Not a problem. Masking necessary? Not a problem. In fact, there may be footage you have that could be deemed unusable and NewBlue’s Chroma Key Pro compositing knows exactly how to handle the situation. Chroma Key is a major player within the Elements Plugin family, also a member of the TotalFX Suite. Seeing is believing, so here are a couple examples showcasing how you can utilize Chroma Key for a variety of settings truly proving to be King.
Presentation.
Invite maximum engagement by implementing inviting or entertaining backgrounds to stimulate your audience in your Webinar Presentations. Add a dynamic effect by layering lower thirds or adding an infiltration of Social Media comments to entice audience participation and engagement.
Here’s how we did it:
- We utilized our Green Chroma Key Preset, then grabbed the dropper to select the darkest area of the green screen to ensure we covered the shadows.
- Increased the Smooth Key control to 100% to correct any jagged edging that may have developed from being heavily compressed.
- Set Erase Spill to 100% to remove any chroma color bleeding from the background onto our subject that was occurring.
- Next we Enabled our Garbage Matte to remove the boom mic as trash, set the four corner settings to surround the object, Inverted the Matte to delete the object from view, and added a 10 percent feather to soften the edges.
Special Effects.
Take the inspiration of Hollywood’s VFX combined with your vision as a filmmaker/storyteller and employ Chroma Key Pro to make both a reality. From explosions, to major fight scenes, flying superheroes, supernatural effects, fantasy, space, settings unreachable, or being chased by a T-Rex in your mansion could all be incorporated into your production with ease.
Here’s how we did it:
- First, we tested the preset of Green Screen only Center and it was close to what we were looking for. However, once we started customizing, small adjustments started to exemplify and override in the best way possible.
- With the dropper, we selected one of the darker shades of green on my canvas. Then we slid the Color Range down to 85.3 to create consistency in the composite.
- We selected the Show Mask Option and brought the Sensitivity down to 21.7 in order to lighten the T-Rex to as white as possible to best separate from the background.
- To further highlight the dinosaur and really catch your eye, we added a drop shadow at an angle of 25 degrees with a blur of 75 to keep it more natural with the shadows.
- Without going into too much detail, we accentuated the scene by adding additional effects to color correct and really blend the footage. Added effects included Film grain, Duochrome, Film Color, Soft Focus, Edge Smoother, and Selective Focus.
That is what makes NewBlue’s Chroma Key top shelf. Take your production to wherever you deem it needs to go and illicite the captivation in each and every one of your audience’s eyes, smiles, and quite possibly tears.
Chroma Key is available in the Elements Ultimate collection all included within TotalFX.
