Asessment 3C How to guide on chroma key

For this task, I had to create test footage for my music video to help enhance our understanding on chroma key. The video is a 10 second video including the track that I am using from my unsigned artist which is called Two Wolves by Johnny Hutchinson who is my client for my music video. This will be a guide informing you on how achieve an effective chroma key effect.

To start off, I had to film myself in a green screen performing and lip syncing 10 seconds of the track which belongs to my client. Before that we had to position the lights so that there will be no shadows seen when it comes to the editing stage. After correctly positioning the lighting we were then ready to record. One person had to do the playback, one person had to film it using the camera and to record using the microphone. We had two takes consisting of one medium close up and a close up. The microphone wasn't turned on during the recording but that didn't stop me from syncing the performance and lip-syncing to the correct time stamp.

After acquiring the footage, we had to use stock footage to make it look like we were there when we filmed the video. My mistake was I kept on using footage showing wolves because the name of the track was two wolves so instead I used stock footage of the woods in the night. In order to make it look like I was in the audience, I had to go into effects and use the keyer effect and drag it into both the test footage. So that when I placed in the stock footage it would appear transparent. In other words, you could see the performer and the clip the performer is performing in.

The keyer effect automatically removes the green colour that may remain on the performer but it can be adjusted if it does not suit your preferences. There were bits of green which was surrounding mme so I refined the edges and used the spill contrast to darken the outline so that I blend in with the stock footage. The settings below were the ones I used in order to achieve the look.

Saturation  and exposure was used to darken the performer by modifying the shadows, midtones, and highlights to ensure I blended in with the clip. In order to decided the refined edges were correct is that I looked at the edges of my shoulders and looked at the outline. The exposure tool was used to expose the performer to the darkness . 

The focus effect also known as the Gaussian was used to give the stock footage a depth of field so that the exposure effect applied on to the performer blended in. Another reason as to why I blurred out the clip is because it was too high quality and it wouldn't make sense for the performer to be blurred whilst the clip wasn't.

To conclude my editing session I think I used the green screen effectively for my first attempt because in comparison to the green screening seen in old music videos there was hardly any effort made to get rid off the green and blue edges on the performer. Also the beat of my track was very sombre so I had to have footage which made the link between the music and visuals since I had to use to seconds of the track so the music gave me more to work with when I was editing.

Purpose of Chroma Key

Now I will be talking about how other music use green screen and whether they have done it poorly or they used it creatively and I will be pointing out why it is terrible.

Chroma key is a special effects technique which allows you to change the background the performer is performing in to a more fitting location depending on the genre of the track. The purpose of using special effects is to create a sense of hyperreality, reinforce the mood of the song. Upon reinforcing the mood of the song, it is easier to establish the relationship between the music and visuals or lyrics and visuals. 

 Good use of Chroma Key

The reason as to why you want to use chroma key to reinforce the image and performance is because the artists performance and image are the two main things that he or she is advertising to the target audience to make them want to buy tickets to see the show live. An example music video is FOALS- Mountain at my gates. Mountain at my gates is a performance music video which used chroma key in order to make the footage of the avalanche transparent. It was used creatively because it is relatable to the song. Also it was an interactive music video; when you move your phone you can see the band performing as if you are actually there. 4 Spherical GoPros were positioned at opposite poles so you could do a 360 degree rotation with your phone and you could still see the band perform. Which was an innovative way of advertising their live performance.

Poor use of Chroma Key

However music video demonstrate a poor use of green screen such as Kanye west but however the music video was successful in terms of popularity so in other words he got away with it. The flaw in his music video was that none of the visuals made a proper link to what the song was about. Also, it shows us that his image is arrogant and selfish because it is clear that these visuals are for his enjoyment not for the audience but the audience still enjoy it. He didn't use it to reinforce image because that doesn't make sense since the visuals of the wild west give him the image of a cowboy, or a sheriff but the visuals of the mountains do not have any correlation with the visuals. He has intentionally done this to make a viral video to grab everyones attention.