It’s been a crazy period at DAKONA, where we’ve been involved with all sorts of interesting gigs. But there was one in particular that was a bit more unusual and technical. What might that be? Green screen.
Filming busy executives in multiple locations sounds great in theory. In practice? It’s a logistical nightmare.
Whitbread needed to showcase senior members of their team inside their branded hospitality venues, but diaries were packed, deadlines were super tight, and travel wasn’t an option. So instead of chasings schedules, we brought the venues to them — with a little green screen magic.
Why Green Screen?
Green screen gets a bad rep when it’s done badly (think awkward floating heads and dodgy keying). But when used properly, it’s a game-changer — saving time, cutting costs, and making the impossible possible. For Whitbread, it meant their team could film everything in one efficient studio session while appearing in multiple locations across their hospitality brands. It meant that we could shoot everything within a single day, whereas travelling and filming could have taken multiple days.
How We Pulled It Off
Green screen isn’t just about standing in front of a green wall and hoping for the best. It’s about careful planning so you know what environment you’re filming in, and how best to replicate it again so it feels seamless. Then when you put the two clips together, you wouldn’t be any the wiser!
Here’s what we did to make sure everything looked natural and high-end:
1. Shoot Real Backgrounds
No stock images or generic renders were used here! We captured high-resolution plates from different Whitbread locations using the same camera settings we would use in the studio. That includes focal length, focal distance, and aperture (so the distortion is consistent!).
2. Matching the Lighting
Lighting will absolutely sell the illusion. After we grabbed the different plates, we studied the light sources so we could replicate it in the studio, and the lighting setup felt motivated and natural. Whether it was a hard or soft light, colour temperatures, or simply a TV playing in the background, we knew we needed to mimic it as best as possible.
3. Keep the Camera Still
We know that green screen is challenging at the best of times, but adding any dynamic moment into the mix would make it much harder. Yes, it would look great, but the difficulty in replicating the exact moment twice is not worth it!
So we knew, keeping the camera static is the best choice. Maybe using a subtle zoom effect in post would help sell it, but definitely not when filming!
4. Double-check everything!
We did all of our careful planning, but you never really know what the final piece is going to look like until you start editing. That seems way too risky when you only have one shot to get it right!
After each piece to camera, we quickly popped the footage into an already made sequence with the presets necessary to key out the green, and we could give the thumbs up that we knew it was going to work. We already knew it was going to work, but it’s best to double-check in case there’s a hiccup along the way!
5. Refining Everything in Post
Once the green was keyed out, we fine-tuned every detail — adding shadows, adjusting light wraps, and colour grading to blend the subjects naturally into their backgrounds.
The Final Result? Seamless and Stress-Free
The Whitbread team got polished, high-quality videos that looked like they were filmed inside their venues — without ever leaving the studio. No location hassles, no rescheduling headaches, just a slick and efficient production process.
Green screen isn’t a cheap trick. Done right, it’s an incredibly powerful tool that makes video production faster, smoother, and more flexible.
Need a creative video solution that works around busy schedules? Let’s chat.
