This video is brought to you by Storyblocks
A green screen is a very popular tool in films
to composite different shots together and create an illusion or visual effect.
However, you don't always need an actual green screen
to create one of these effects.
[Cinecom’s intro music]
Hey folks, Jordy here for cinecom.net and it is Creative Tuesday.
A weekly series where we think outside of the box
and share some exciting filmmaking tips.
We work a lot with green screens on the channel,
sometimes it's a huge fabric to cover an entire car.
Other times it's a simple piece of green paper,
which fits in a cabinet to create the illusion that a camera flies through a mirror.
And that's where we are gonna take a look at further.
We are going to use all kinds of materials to create a fun editing illusion.
But you know what is not an illusion, our sponsor, Storyblocks.
Which is an online library packed with real studio quality stock footage.
You can find interesting backgrounds for green screen presentations,
overlays such as muzzle flashes,
cinematic shots that could work as B-roll in your films and so much more.
And the best part of it all is that you only have to pay a single price per year,
which allows you to download unlimited video assets.
To check it out yourself, click the first link in the description below.
Starting off with the first green screen trick.
For this you're gonna need a phone or a tablet.
Download an all green image and set it to full screen on your device.
Important now is that you’re gonna film from a tripod,
as we're gonna put two shots on top of each other later on.
Film yourself taking a specific pose and try to remember that.
Then you or a friend can wave that tablet in front of you.
After that, keep the camera rolling and remove your clothes.
You could also wear something different or put a doll or skeleton where you stand.
And that's the only thing you'll need.
Jumping into Premiere Pro, you simply place your normal shot on track number 2.
From the Effects Library, search for the Ultra Key and apply that to the clip.
Use the Color Picker to remove the green from the tablet.
This will leave an empty black hole, since there're no layers underneath.
So next up, simply take out your naked shot and place that in track number 1.
And since you've filmed everything from a tripod, these two shots line up perfectly.
And there is your ‘see-through clothes device'.
[Music]
-Yannick?
What are you doing?
Yannick, damn it!
You sick bastard!
I'm sorry you had to see that.
Yannick could have also picked out a pretty girl,
but we thought about our female audience today.
Last year we showed you guys how to mind-control objects
and make them float through the air.
We're gonna do something similar, which is actually gonna be a whole lot easier,
which we should have thought about back then.
Anyways, take a green straw and stick that to the back of your desired object.
In our case, a €10 bill.
Again, film that from a tripod and let someone else pick up that bill
and make it float to you while you are making mind control movements.
When you're done, step away from the shot and let it capture an empty space.
Then in Premiere Pro, you put the empty shot in the bottom
and the floating object clip on top.
With the top clip selected, head over to the Effects Controls, Opacity
and from there click on the Pen tool.
You can then mask around your body, who’s holding that bill,
and when you’re done, go back into your mask Properties
and click on Invert.
Then enable animation for the mask path and adjust it over time
to make it follow your object.
And since we're working with that green straw,
you can do this pretty rough and quick.
When you're done, apply the Ultra Key effect like before
and select the green straw to remove it.
[Music]
Moving on to the third green screen effect!
For this one you wanna print out a green piece of paper.
Of course you can also buy green paper or use anything else that is green.
First film a monitor, again from a tripod.
Then remove that monitor and change your background.
You can also hang a fabric behind you.
As for that green paper, stick it to a box
that is as high as the bottom of your monitor.
Then place a mug or a glass in front of that green screen.
You now wanna sit behind that table and act like you're in that monitor,
but suddenly you decide to drink with a long straw from that mug.
And this is by the way inspired by Zach King,
who does tons of these editing illusions.
Going back into Premiere, place your monitor shot on the bottom
and on top of there, the green screen clip.
Select the clip on top and go into the Opacity property,
I'm going to lower it to 50%, and this allows me to see through the clip.
Now you wanna reposition that clip,
then align your green screen to the bottom edge of the monitor.
Next, I click on the Pen tool from the Opacity property
and draw a mask around the edge of that monitor
and roughly inside of the green screen.
When you reach the muck you want to be more specific and draw around it.
Then change the opacity back to 100,
apply the Ultra Key effect to the clip and remove the green.
And that’s it.
-Hey Jordy! -Hey Yannick!
-I’m working on a cool new app, you have to see this.
But first, let me get my iPad.
-No, Yannick, I know which kind of apps you develop.
-Damn it!
You know what?…
…gonna steal your drink.
And this brings me to the last trick,
which is inspired by the Apple iPhone XS commercial.
Like before, film yourself from a tripod,
but pay attention to the height of the camera.
It's currently at my eye level.
Then take out your desired pet, baby or anything else that is small.
Now I'm using a blue shirt, which I’m taping to a small bench.
Which I can now put my cat on.
From a smaller height I'm also filming the cat at eye level.
And now it seems like the green key -or the blue key in this example-
is gonna be pretty straight forward.
But we're gonna run into some complications which we're gonna fix.
But first the easy part, you take your normal shot
which goes into the bottom of your timeline.
Then on top of there goes the cat.
With it selected, head over to the Opacity property,
click on the Pen tool and draw inside of your green or blue t-shirt.
Then apply the Ultra Key effect and remove the blue, in this case.
Now, simply reposition or scale your pet onto the right spot,
and if you payed attention to filming at eye level, the perspective should match.
And here comes the issue, we’re missing an important thing, which is the shadow.
For that I'm gonna move my cat one track higher.
From my Project window, I’m gonna create a black solid
and drag that underneath the cat.
With it selected, go to the Opacity and take the mask Pen tool.
You wanna draw on the floor, now just underneath your pet.
The reason I'm not using a Drop Shadow effect
is because we don't want shadow behind the cat, only underneath.
When you're done, feather the mask a bunch
and play around with the mask expansion and the opacity of the layer itself.
Find something that looks natural.
[Music]
And that was it again for this week's Creative Tuesday!
Now a little reminder,
we've recently created a brand new class about lighting for video.
And the responses that we've already received so far are incredibly positive,
which we are very happy about.
If you'd like to check that out too, you can try that yourself,
two months for free at Skillshare
through a link which you can find in the description below.
Now thank you so much for watching, thank you Storyblocks for the support.
Make sure to check those guys out as well!
But the most important thing of all:
Stay Creative!
-We can’t get the cat to sit on the blue t-shirt.
-I got him!
Now the trick is to make him sit still on the blue t-shirt.
Are we going to cooperate?
I don’t think so.