Chroma Key: Difference between revisions
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More commonly known as ''green screen'' or ''blue screen'' (though that one also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSOD has a different meaning]), the process by which a subject filmed on a camera can be seamlessly inserted into a scene generated by other means. It relies on filming the subject in front of a solid-color background -- any color will do, so long as it's not used in the foreground -- and adjusting the editing system to replace that color with the background signal.▼
▲More commonly known as ''green screen'' or ''blue screen'' (though that one also [
The main methods of controlling the background for live-action shots are, in increasing order of technological sophistication:
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* Double-exposing the film, which results in a slightly transparent foreground but is cheap.
* The old analog [[Matte Shot]], done with precise blocking of the camera frame.
*
The background inserted via Chroma Key can be any visual image. CGI is the most common today, but it can be other live action footage, models, stop motion or cel animation just as easily.
The color used is now entirely arbitrary. Blue was a popular choice in the early days of color motion pictures, because it is [[Orange-Blue Contrast|complementary to the
If any part of an actor or prop is colored the same as the background, that part will disappear. Thus, sometimes the background color is chosen because of the colors to be used in the foreground action. The original run of ''[[
The invisibility effect can be used intentionally to allow a performer, or part of his body, to interact with props while remaining unseen. A garment that can be used for this purpose is a one-piece jumpsuit in the background color, with a full-face mask, and a mesh eye piece, called a "gimp suit" or, in the case of a blue background, a "blueberry" in the trade. Performers in recent [[Jim Henson]] Productions shows have used these suits to perform with puppets without having to raise them above their heads. The suit looks like a Ninja outfit, and that is not a coincidence, as it serves the same purpose as the black outfits traditionally worn by Japanese stagehands. See notes at [[Ninja]].
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Almost all productions use Chroma Key at some point, but there are some standout examples. Also notable for causing occasional [[Narm|unintentional hilarity]] - when background and foreground are poorly matched, or the SFX budget is low, [[Special Effect Failure|the effect is anything but seamless]].
It can be fairly tricky to create a viable Chroma-Key effect, especially with amateur
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Commercials ==
* Used in Nike's ''[[The Lebrons (
== Film ==
* The first film to use the chroma key process was ''[[
* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' (2004) had almost no real sets or props, relying on
* As did the film adaptation of ''[[Sin City]]'', in order to re-create all those stylistic comic-book-style angles.
* ''[[Mirror Mask]]'' does the same, in a very ''very'' trippy way.
* [[The Movie]] adaptation of Frank Miller's ''[[
* The live-action movie of ''[[Speed Racer (
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels helped pioneer the idea of minimal set design through
** The fact that only blue screen was available for ''A New Hope'' caused Luke's squadron to be changed from Blue to Red to avoid problems with blue markings.
*** Also in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', the only reason Luke's new lightsaber is green is because the battle that takes place on Tatooine happens to have a bright blue sky. In some early trailers, Luke's saber is blue, but they chose to change it to green so it would show up against the sky properly.
*** In the original editions of the original trilogy, you'll notice that whenever R2-D2 is in space, his panels are painted black instead of blue to accommodate the chroma key effect. This was digitally fixed years later for the special edition versions.
* In filming the first ''[[Superman]]'' movie, the costume had to be teal in blue screen effects, and then color corrected after the shots were composited.
* The opening scenes of ''[[
* Quite possibly the best use of chroma key occurs throughout [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Darby O
* ''[[Puma Man]]'' has some very unconvincing green screen work, but [[So Bad
* Bad chroma key is deliberately invoked in ''[[Cloudy
* [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (
* The body-suit version was memorably used in ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' to erase half of the actress playing the Borg Queen during her entrance-in-two-parts.
* At the Walt Disney Studios, [[Ub Iwerks]] developed the sodium vapor process, in which the actors were filmed against a white backdrop lit with powerful sodium lights. A special prism in the camera separated the image and exposed it simultaneously on two different film stocks: regular color film, which did not pick up the sodium light, and black and white film sensitive to sodium light, which created the matte. The process was used for most Disney productions, including ''[[Song of the South]]'', ''[[Mary Poppins]]'' and ''[[The Black Hole]]'', and was also used for ''[[The Birds]]'' and a number of [[Ray Harryhausen
* Used a bit in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', as you can see [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_VnHAy1Vdc here].
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (
* As mentioned above, [[Ray Harryhausen]] used the sodium vapor process on a number of
* In ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]'', blue screen was obviously used for the [[Flying Car]] scenes. Obvious because [[Special Effects Failure|you can see blue matte lines around the actors in several shots]].
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* [[
* ''Drew Carey's Green Screen'' was an improv comedy show that expanded on the green screen antics used on ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway
* E!'s ''[[The Soup]]'' (and its predecessor ''Talk Soup'') is videotaped entirely in front of a green screen. This led to a particularly memorable incident when a guest wore a pair of Italian flag briefs, which made it appear as if a portion of his pelvis was missing.
** This is also used by a number of networks instead of sets for each of their programs, to save money; instead they just leave one camera rolling and change the background. Game Network and Friendly TV spring immediately to mind.
* During one Academy Award ceremony, Ben Stiller came out on a full-body green suit to present the Best Visual Effects award, claiming that it made him invisible.
** In an earlier ceremony, [[Steve Martin]] presented the same award wearing a blue mask and his trademark fake arrow through the head. That time the effect was done properly, and the audience saw a headless Martin with an arrow floating over him.
* This is the method behind Shadow-Rama of [[
* Used in just about every 'field report' on ''[[The Daily Show]]'' to relocate correspondents to Baghdad, London or outer space.
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Jon hung a lantern]] on this in the [[Crossover]] with [[The Colbert Report]], Indicision 2008. After Obama won, a Correspondent who was supposed to be in the Middle East appeared in the Studio. His answer was along the lines of "Who cares; Obama won!"
** The "field report" green screens have been lampshaded a ''lot'' ("You see, I'm in [[London Town|Jolly Old England]], as you can tell by Big Ben behind me -- ''[looks over shoulder]'' sorry, the Houses of Parliament..."/"You know what I love about Sacramento? Their beautiful, [[Matte Shot|stationary]] sky"), but the best instance is probably the inevitable aversion, where Jason Jones proved he really was in Denmark by... walking over and shoving some guy who was passing by.
** In another a correspondent who had actually gone to the location had an argument with another, who interrupted their broadcast using Chroma Key to claim to be there as well.
*''[[The Colbert Report]]'' uses it for Formidable Opponent, in which Colbert debates himself; to create the other Colbert, in addition to mirroring the shot, the
** Colbert also makes liberal use of the chroma key in his Green Screen Challenges. The first one involved him fighting whatever the contestants edited in with a lightsaber, the second one was an attempt to make John McCain interesting.
*** The first GSC became awesome when one of the entries was a professional ''[[Star Wars]]'' job from a "George L." Stephen then had George L make an appearance: [[George Lucas|The L stood for Lucas]]. His entry ''lost'' to a cheap appeal to patriotism, in keeping with the spirit of the show.
* Spoofed in an early episode ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. Andy Richter was invited to a news set as guest weatherman. Taking off his jacket, he becomes an [[Oracular Head]] as his blue shirt disappears into the chroma keyed backdrop.
** Continues to be subverted in more recent episodes, with guest commentators doing "remotes." When they inevitably anger him, Conan walks over and [[Slapstick|clobbers them with a chair]], revealing the ruse as he "leaves" the studio and appears in the "remote" location, all within the same splitscreen.
* As mentioned above, old-school ''[[
** In an interview, [[Jon Pertwee|Pertwee-era]] producer Barry Letts said that while the rest of the world calls it
*** You'll hear this a lot on 70s ''Doctor Who'' DVDs. It's also referred to in an episode of [[Monty Python's Flying Circus]], in a shot where the frame is split between live action and a [[
{{quote|
'''[[
* ''[[Sanctuary]]'' is shot almost entirely in Chroma Key.
* Seen from time to time on the [[Show Within a Show]] segments of ''[[
* ''[[Lost]]'' has used green screens on occasion. In particular, most of the helicopter scenes in season 4 were done this way.
* Green screens are, of course, commonly used in TV weather forecasts. Woe be to the weatherman who [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0CghAKgY4E#t=1m10s wears a green tie and finds Toronto on his chest], though it can be done for a joke too.
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* Used extensively and to great effect (sometimes) in [[Filmation]]'s ''The Ghost Busters'' for the Ghost Dematerializer visual effects.
* The British version of [[MTV 2]] has a flagship show called Gonzo, consisting entirely of host Zane Lowe sat on a brown couch in front of a blue screen. The show is "as live" and therefore no corrections are made when items like guests' clothing match the background and disappear.
* The PBS astronomy show ''[[
* The Irish political debate show "Tonight with Vincent Browne" uses a ridiculously obvious blue screen. It shines on to the faces of guests or, in the case of the host, gives him a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzVLSn-96tE very strange blue afro.]
* While a lot of the scenes actually were filmed on location, in some of the cosmic calendar and Library of Alexandria scenes in [[Cosmos]], you can see this effect around [[Carl Sagan]]. It's combined with
* When [[My Name Is Earl|Earl]]'s list item of the week involved a television news anchor, he and Randy went down to the studio. Randy wandered into the green corner, wondering why it was there, when he noticed himself on the monitor, standing in front of a weather map. When he unzipped his jacket to reveal a green shirt, he freaked out, seeing himself as just a floating head and hands. He later figures it out enough to do a [[
* ''[[Super Sentai]]'' suffers this in some of the early series, particularly ''[[Dengeki Sentai Changeman]]'' at the end and sporadically throughout ''[[Choushinsei Flashman]]''. By the time ''[[Hikari Sentai Maskman]]'' aired, the production staff no longer use it.
** More recent ''Sentai'' series abuse this for finisher attacks to give off that anime effect. Most of the explosions and sparks are overlayed through
* ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' uses
* ''[[Shining Time Station]]'' used this for Mister Conductor, keying him in at a smaller scale to give the effect of a miniature man. It worked quite well, too.
* ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' used to use it: an overhead shot of the Wheel, spinning automatically, would have hosts Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford (and of course, successors Pat Sajak and Vanna White) chroma-keyed into its green center at the end of the show. Although this shot was long retired, the center of the Wheel is still green.
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== Music ==
* The music video ''[[Shine
** Or, as the page puts it, abuses it "like a free bag of heroin."
* [[Yes]]'s video for [http://youtu.be/Gz0s7-uGWJ8 "Leave It"], while groundbreaking for its time has some notable Chroma Key issues with the white shirts on the white background. (Most notably at 2:58 in the video)
* Used in "[[Friday (
* The video made to promote Strawbs' album ''Grave New World'' makes extensive use of
* [[Tori Amos]]'s videos tend to use a lot of Chroma Key effects, to the point where she once quipped "I seem to live my life on green screen."[http://www.toriamosmaze.com/site/caught-a-lite-sneeze,1528.html\]
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The FMV for ''[[Wing Commander (
== [[Web Animation]] ==
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* How the no-budget spoof series ''[[The Jerry Seinfeld Program]]'' manages to take place in the apartment from the show.
* [[The Angry Joe Show
* [[The Spoony Experiment
* ''[[User Friendly]]'' has [https://web.archive.org/web/20190505202611/http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20051211 a blue screen joke]. Ouch.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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