How To Use a Green Screen

It’s been a hectic time at DAKONA, with all shapes and sizes of exciting video projects in the pipeline. But, there was one particular challenge we encountered recently that really stood out above the others – not just for its technical complexity, but for how we solved a big logistics problem with a simple and often overlooked solution: how to use a green screen.

People are quite fearful of green screen when on a smaller video production as it brings an added element of uncertainty when you’re editing in post-production. You aren’t completely confident with the end result until you can see it with your own two eyes after you’ve applied a key, and finally see what the finished video looks like.

But we think that fear is a bit misplaced, especially if you spend time thinking about how to get the best results for you. Let’s take a deeper dive!

What is a green screen?

The term green screen is pretty much what the name implies; it’s a green fabric that video productions use to remove any background in a clip. More specifically, you’re using the green to create separation between the subject and the background, allowing editors and VFX teams to use a bit of magic and completely removing the green behind the subjects. Then you have a clear shot of the actor, and no background behind them!

We use the term “green screen” as it’s the most common phrase used in video production, however, there are lots of others similar to it. If green isn’t a suitable colour, then other productions might use a “blue screen” to achieve the same result. The film Dune actually used a “sand screen” as it was a better colour for that particular film.

What’s the benefit of using one?

Green screen can get a bad reputation when done poorly, especially when you see clips of dodgy floating heads, or a cutout of someone with some horrible green light cast all over their face. However, when it’s done correctly, it can be an absolute game changer.

If you have a particular video shoot that requires you to be in a particular location that isn’t nearby, too expensive to hire, or doesn’t exist so you need to build it yourself, that could rack up costs into tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. Yikes!

With the benefit of green screen, you can avoid all the additional expenses of hiring or building that set, and instead, opt for a visual effects solution for a fraction of the price. Now, that’s not to say that’s the most practical or best solution to the problem, but it can often be the cheapest.

With the development of the virtual productions in recent times, such as ILM’s StageCraft, video productions are opting to use the benefits of green screen but with projections that can be display in real-time, rather than figuring out what it looks like in post-production. It’s far more expensive than green screen, but hopefully you get the idea!

How we used it to our advantage

We were tasked with the challenge of filming multiple senior executives for Whitbread’s internal video, which required each of them to be in a unique hotel or eatery as they give their piece to camera. Doesn’t sound too complicated, right?

Well if you factor in everyone’s schedule, especially at a c-suite level where time is incredibly valuable, that becomes far more challenging than you’d think! Lost of moving parts, limited time, and maintaining expectations of a high-quality video output. A logistical nightmare.

Traditional filming methods of taking each of them to a new venue wasn’t really a possible solution, so we needed an alternative. Instead of chasing schedules, we brought the venues to them through the magic of green screen.

Methods to make green screen look great

Using a green screen isn’t simply about standing in front of a green wall and hoping for the best – that would end in disappointment for everyone involved! It’s about precision and planning to make sure the end result meets expectations. It’s about tricking viewers into thinking there was no green screen at all.

Here’s how we pulled it off:

1. Film real backgrounds first

We knew that we had flexibility in our schedule, but not for those being interviewed. Rather than relying on any stock footage or generic renders, we went to different venues near us and captures high-resolution “plates” for authenticity.

When you do something like this, you need to make sure that the camera settings are exactly the same as the studio shoot later on. That means we need the same focal length, distance to the subjection, and aperture. That way, the plate footage and studio footage would match perfectly. If you don’t you might find some inconsistencies like the background being too blurry, or feel more uncanny valley than real.

2. Remember to match the lighting

Lighting is everything when selling a green screen illusion. If you don’t make the two shots match, it will clearly tell your audience that you’ve been cutting some corners, and some visual trickery is being used. That’s not what you want!

After capturing the background footage, we studied the lighting conditions on the day – the direction of light, whether it was hard or soft lighting, the colour temperature, and even small ambient details like screen and signage. All of which has an impact on how the scene, and ultimately, the subject is lit if they were in that scene.

Then you take that information, and use your best judgement to replicate it as best as possible. That might not include some additional lights to make it look more professional, but the most you replicate the background light, the more authentic it looks.

3. Keep the camera still

This isn’t a rule of thumb, but we would definitely recommend keeping the camera static. Movement is a deal-breaker if it isn’t handled correctly, and there are a lot of complexities when trying to mesh different perspectives together.

We knew this wasn’t a thread we wanted to pull at, and doing it would make the illusion harder to sell, especially given the time restraints. Instead of this, we locked the camera down and made sure it didn’t move an inch! By doing this, everything could remain consisntent.

If you fancy adding any movement, leave it to post-production!

4. Check you’re not making any mistakes

Even with all the careful planning, you never really know if it works until you start editing. By that points, it’s far too late to fix any mistakes, and you’re left explaining to the client why you messed up. No thanks!

To remove any niggling doubt, we tested every shot immediately afterwards. After the first take of a new person (and new background), we quickly popped the footage into Premiere Pro, keyed out the green, and slotted the background plate into the shot to make sure that it matched well. We didn’t try to make it look perfect as that wasn’t the point – we just wanted to make sure that we knew it would work.

If anything looked off, we could adjust the lighting right there and then.

5. Refine it in post-production

When we’re finished shooting and everything has gone to plan, the hard work is done. We begin importing our footage into Premiere Pro, with a few extra details we look at to really sell it:

• Blend the subjects naturally with light wraps and shadows.
• Colour match everything to make sure it’s consistent.
• Add subtle depth cues to integrate the subjects more convincingly.

The results? A seamless, high-quality finish that would fool anyone! It looks like it was filmed on location, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve.

Green Screen: Not a Trick, But a Tool

Green screen isn’t a cheap gimmick — it’s an incredibly powerful tool when used correctly. Done right, it makes video production faster, smoother, and more flexible, especially when dealing with tight schedules and logistical challenges.

Need a creative video solution that works around busy schedules? Let’s chat.