Do I need a Green Screen for this?

newbierose wrote on 2/5/2010, 6:04 PM

I want to make a video for Youtube. I want to be able to change my background to a media I imported. Do I have to have a Green Screen to change my background on my video that I recorded with my camera?

Comments

gogiants wrote on 2/6/2010, 9:39 PM

Good question...

Typically you would have needed to record the original video on a green screen beforehand to be able to switch the background.

To understand it a bit further, all you are doing with a green screen is telling the computer to switch everything that is green on the original video to show the background instead.

So, given that you didn't use a green screen on your recording, your choices are:
1) Reshoot with a green screen. Word of warning: If you don't have a professional setup with a great green screen and very good consistent lighting, it still might not work very well.
2) Try to "fake" a green screen: If the video you shot has a nearly-consistent colored background you might be able to get close to what you want. At least close enough for YouTube.

If you want further advice you might try posting your original video to YouTube, linking it here, and letting people offer opinions on techniques to try to swap backgrounds.