Creating the Perfect Scene

“Green Screen” (referred to technically as chroma key), is a technique used in filmmaking for blending two images together, in which a color, or a particular color range from one image is removed, exposing another image behind it. With this technological advancement in filmmaking the director is able to manipulate space, time and reality, without the use of a live set, or physically built set. With the use of both the green screen and computer generated images, the director is able to control all aspects of the visual components of the film, such as the overall look and feel of the film. By using Green Screen technology, the background set can be created meticulously using CGI, without the aid of man-made sets. The director can create and control all elements which create the setting for the film, leaving the actors nothing to work but their own skill. They are no longer bound by the limitations physical sets carry. Performances by the actors from different takes can be merged together. This allows actors to be filmed separately and then placed together in the same scene, which was a technique often used in the making of the film “Sin City”. The Green Screen Technique allows performers to appear to be in any location created by the vision of the director without even leaving the studio.

With use of Green Screens, space can be manipulated, as the reference points of the camera can be used to alter the position of the background to match that of an object in the foreground. For instance the motion of a car driving along a road can be created, even though in reality the car which is the foreground is stationary in front of a green screen, by altering the motion of the camera and the imagery replacing the empty green screen.