Ransom Riggs
The Many Uses of Greenscreen
by Ransom Riggs - January 8, 2010 - 7:06 AM

Also known as chromakey (or bluescreen), it used to be something that was reserved mainly for high-flying, blockbuster effects films. For the uninitiated, in theory it works quite simply: you paint parts of a scene you are photographing — usually the background — a consistent color that isn’t found anywhere else in the frame (like a super crazy unnatural shade of green, AKA chromakey green), and in post-production you “key out” that color and replace it with whatever you like (like 1930s Taipei in the case of a period film, or an alien landscape in a sci-fi movie). As the technology and software have gotten easier and cheaper to use, however, greenscreen has been popping up in the most unlikely of places, from low-budget comedies to television shows, and the effect is often so seamless that many of these shots go unnoticed and unheralded (unlike in the old days). If you’ve ever watched Ugly Betty, for instance, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a greenscreen shot without realizing it.

The following is a great little video clip that reveals how greenscreen and bluescreen are used in all sorts of productions, some of which are pretty surprising. It’s amazing how often it’s cheaper to do an effects shot than just shoot outdoors on the steps of some courthouse.

What do you think — is it like eating lab-grown meat? Should we shoot everything in front of a greenscreen in a studio just because we can?

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Comments (11)

  1. My thought is that if I can’t tell if it was greenscreened, then I’m fine with it. For example, the Ugly Betty clips here — I never would have guessed.

    I guess it only makes sense from a studio perspective. Think of what it would cost to stage the Grey’s Anatomy scene at 1:00 — the burning barge, the fireboat in the water, etc.

    What I don’t like is when something is so obviously fabulous that you know it’s fake. It pulls you out of the movie.

    posted by EV on 1-8-2010 at 8:37 am

  2. It’s entertainment, not reality, so why not use a green screen. As long as the newscasters don’t use it and call it \on location,\ it’s ok with me.

    posted by Raina on 1-8-2010 at 9:35 am

  3. Last year, a company started marketing a product that allowed you to use green screen technology to insert yourself into various famous movie scenes. I know the Blues Brothers was one of the options.

    posted by Steven on 1-8-2010 at 9:38 am

  4. i suppose it cuts production costs. EV is right that staging that scene in Grey’s Anatomy would have cost a pretty penny. But at the same time i think it take some of the organic feel and magic out of imagining a scene being shot on location somewhere. Imagine if you saw your own neighborhood as the setting for a movie and the most production action you saw out of it was some guy with a camera taking stock shots.

    posted by jen on 1-8-2010 at 10:43 am

  5. As corny as this will be – it’s also more green. If you’re using computer generated images rather than actually burning a huge barge – that’s a lot friendlier on natural resources

    posted by Hastings on 1-8-2010 at 12:47 pm

  6. I love it. I think it’s fantastic technology that allows for a richer experience. Film and television have always been more of a director’s medium, and this allows directors more control over their overall vision. My 11 year old son painted one wall in his bedroom chromakey blue, and he’s been making some amazingly creative movies with just a camera and some software.

    Now if there was only a way to keep this technology away from George Lucas…

    posted by Kristin on 1-8-2010 at 1:03 pm

  7. I agree with EV. If you can’t tell, then by golly, keep on keepin on. I had no idea that Ugly Betty was green screen a lot of the time.

    posted by Hannibal Schlechter on 1-8-2010 at 1:11 pm

  8. The Sci-fi channel has a series called Sanctuary that almost solely uses greenscreen. They even have commercials boasting the use of greenscreen as a way of being “green”. I.E. Not having to build a bunch of different sets and such.

    posted by Lordstoli on 1-8-2010 at 7:27 pm

  9. What tv show is the music from? I can’t quite put my finger on it.

    posted by Randy on 1-9-2010 at 12:18 am

  10. The music is the theme song to Cold Case.

    posted by KM on 1-9-2010 at 12:56 pm

  11. I’m not big on the idea. For stuff like the burning boat, where doing it for real would cost a lot, I’m sure it’s reasonable. But it seems like a lot of work to do it for a scene where someone walks into a glass pane; it almost seems like they’re putting more work into it through the computer guys than it might take just to go out and shoot it for real.

    On the other hand, to do so, they’d likely need a permit, and they’d need to set up lights and divert people from the shooting location, and they’d only have so much time to do it, etc.

    posted by Sillstaw on 1-11-2010 at 4:01 pm

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