2. What is Green Screen
Technology?
o Green Screen, or Chroma key technology, first
became know and favoured in the 1970s.
o Chroma key technology was recognized to be one
of the most inventive as well as imaginative
techniques of creating effects when it came to
filmmaking and photo modifying.
o The use of a green screen is a special effects/postproduction technique for layering two images or
video footage together
o A solid color screen is made clear and is replaced
with an actual background
3. The History of Green
Screens
o In early filmmaking, a complex and time-
consuming process known as ‘travelling matte’
was used prior to the introduction of digital
composition
o Travelling Matte - a process that was used to
superimpose backdrops with actors performing
against a blank wall
o In the 1930s, the blue screen method was
developed at RKO Radio Pictures to make
more effective films
4. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
The Thief of Bagdad
(1940), was the first
film to use the blue
screen method and
won the Academy
Award for Visual
Effects that year.
5. Green Screen Revolution
o As filmmaking progressed it was discovered
that green was a more effective colour for the
screens.
o In 1970, the colour blue in Chroma key was
finally transformed to the colour green.
o In the same year, the green screen process
became famous when it was applied to video
editing as well as photography.
6. Why did blue screens
change to green?
o Green became the colour of the screens when
technological advancements became
accessible
o Green was chosen because modernised
cameras were more sensitive to this colour.
o Digital cameras are widely used in todays
industry whilst the normal cameras film makers
used to use that favoured the color blue, are
rarely used.
7. Green Screens in Films
o Green screens are effective in establishing the
genre of a film.
o For example, modern sci-fi films cannot be
filmed in space, so the use of a green screen
means that the action can be filmed in the
studio and the space background can be edited
in later.
o Also, backgrounds that are not easily
accessible to film scenes in front of can also be
superimposed after filming.
8. Impact of Green Screen
o The use of green screen meant that film
production costs saw a decline.
o Actors can film in the studio in front of the
green screen then backgrounds can be
superimposed into the shot.
o This means that the production company do not
have to spend as much on locating and
shooting the scene in front of the backdrop that
matches the writers description.
o Instead, the effect can be added during editing.
