So you want to go green? Green screen studios; when and how to use them. Using a green screen studio is going to be for the more advance video marketer. You may have heard using a green screen is a good idea because then you could put anything in the background, however should you really do a green screen video?
Planning Your Green Screen Set
First of all you should only do a green screen video if you have the right equipment and space. You’re going to want an area space of at least 10ft by 10ft and that will still feel fairly tight. You’re going to want to make sure you have a high quality camera with a decent bit rate. We personally use the Lumix GH5s that’s 10 bit for the green screen shoots we do. You’re also going to want to make sure you have enough lighting in order to fully and evenly light the background, as well as yourself. This is where the space of the studio is crucial because the speaker needs to be a couple feet away from the green screen in order to not cast any shadows onto the green screen, and not to get any green reflected onto them. For audio we always use a wireless lapel microphone however some people will set up a boom microphone in their studio. This is going to depend on what you prefer, what you want to invest in, and how much space you have in your studio.
Video Editing Software
Once your studio is all set up and you’re able to capture the green screen performance correctly, then you’ll need to make sure that you have quality editing software, or at least a quality editor who can key out your background. We personally use the Adobe Creative Cloud and After Effects to key out our green screen. This is a year subscription of about $55 a month. Yes there are cheaper consumer editing softwares, however they aren’t going to give you as much control and many times the green screen key does not look good.
Lastly, really think about your background, is it somewhere you could record on location with sound control? If so that honestly may be a better idea that trying to get more technical with the green screen. If the sound can’t be controlled, or you physically can’t be there, then the green screen is a great option! Some of our most common green screen shoots will be when we want to have a branded solid background, or a large graphic behind them. Watch a few of the following videos to get an idea for great reasons to create a green screen video:
- Blue Dot wealth management (example green screen studio)
- Winter Weather Report (example green screen studio)
- How to Use your Tax Refund (example green screen studio)
If you’re ready to get started with your green screen video, visit our video recommendation page and get the starting kit. Feeling hot when you’re recording? Read why you’ll LED lights in our post, “It’s so hot under these lights!” Well, not really when you use LEDs”.
