Green screen: A short history and uses

Chroma key was created in 1959 by Petro Vlahos, who excited Walt Disney with this novel technique of image composition on a blue background. 

The current technology was developed in the 1980s, thanks to the need for special effects. Green screen, also known as chroma key, is a technique used in photography, film and video production to replace the background of an image or recording with a different one by digital editing.

How does green screen work?

The chroma key technique consists of filming a subject or object in front of a background of a uniform color (usually green or blue) and then, using editing software, removing that color and replacing it with another background, be it an image, a video or even a 3D animation. 

Green is the most commonly used color because: 

It is a color that is not usually present in human skin, preventing parts of the subject from being removed. Digital cameras capture green better, making it easier to remove the background accurately. It is brighter than other colors, making it easier to separate subject and background. When the character or object being filmed has green elements in its costume or props, blue screen is used as an alternative. 

Examples of green screen use Movies and special effects (VFX) 

In movies like Avengers or Star Wars, actors film many scenes on a set with green screens and, in post-production, digital backgrounds, creatures and environments impossible to build physically are added. In Harry Potter, Quidditch is filmed with actors riding brooms in front of a green backdrop, and then the sets and stadium are added in CGI. 

News and weather broadcasts 

In newscasts, weather presenters are in front of a green screen, and in the live broadcast the background is replaced by moving weather maps. 

Streaming and digital content 

Content creators on YouTube or Twitch use green screens to insert custom backgrounds or make it look like they are somewhere else. In video games, streamers remove their background so that only their silhouette is visible above the gameplay. 

Tools for using green screen: 

 

Some popular programs that allow you to edit and replace the background of a green screen are: 

Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects (for film and television). 

 DaVinci Resolve (professional video editing) OBS Studio (for streaming on Twitch or YouTube) 

 Zoom and Microsoft Teams (for virtual meetings with customized backgrounds)

The green screen is a powerful tool that has revolutionized the way of making film, television and digital content, allowing the creation of incredible worlds and amazing effects. In film, the chroma key is a widely used resource in scenes involving computer-created scenarios or scenarios that are practically impossible to shoot in reality.

Three steps for a good character design.

There is no basic rule that helps to achieve a good character design. Actually, each creator has his own process, but there are some tips that can be applied when making a character. In this occasion, I will talk about the three steps that are necessary for the creation of characters, from the idea to the final design.

First Step 

Pre-drawing is jotting down ideas, making a list of what we have in mind, but we should not use any part of the drawing yet. 

This first phase is more about precision and thinking. Now, what we have to think about is: Who is our character? -We have to think about what he looks like physically (is he human, is he an animal, is he a robot, is he an alien, etc.). -We must also consider his psychological qualities (his attitude, his personality, all the attributes we want to add to the character, we must go deep into creating a story for him).

Second Step 

Concept art is based on dropping ideas, the more ideas the better. In this phase we must draw a variety of sketches and gradually select and improve that idea that we like. 

Basically we must try and improve things, until we get to the final design. It's better to make different characters to see the variety of designs that we can use, than just make one or to leave it like that. Here the most important thing is not to look for the final design of our character, on the contrary, it is better to just make simple and dirty sketches.

It is important to pay attention to the shapes and construction of our characters, most of the characters we know have geometric shapes and volumes. 

The interesting thing here is to know how to disproportion and use simple shapes. We must also take into account that all characters have an internal construction. 

We try to see how it is constructed, both in a simple character or with a single volume, up to a defined character with realistic proportions. Knowing the construction helps to maintain the size and that it will never deform (keep it in “model”).

Also keep in mind that our character must have a clear and characteristic silhouette. Without any characteristics, or texts, we can know who the character is and identify him quickly. For this reason, when we have our character ready we must do the silhouette test to see if it really stands out. 

Here we want our character to be legible and clear, making it extremely attractive.We must remember that the simpler the shape, the clearer it will be to read.

Third Step

It's the most delicate step, since we must make a study of the character, a guide so that our character will never go out of model. 

Here we already make our character in clean with all the details that it will have, but always taking into account all the above, such as: its structure, its silhouette, its way of being, its clothing, etc.

We must also take into account the color palette that we are going to use, (flat color, textures, gradient, etc). 

Here in this phase the “Turn around” is developed, which is to turn the character with the same pose and so we see it from all angles.

Another part that is advisable is to make a sheet of poses and expressions of the character. For example see how our character runs, how he/she jumps, how tired he/she looks, how happy he/she looks, etc. 

We must define all the key poses and expressions so that the character feels like a living being, that way our character is ready to be used in different applications such as: animation, advertising, comics, etc. Creating an expression sheet is a great way to provide your animators with a basic guide on how a character expresses different emotions. 

Try to include a combination of extreme and subtle expressions in your illustrations for these model sheets. Expression sheets are super fun to sketch, as you can really explore a range of personalities for your character.

And finally we have the pose sheet. Similar to expression sheets, pose sheets are used to show the kind of gestures a character is likely to make. They can be very important in providing your animators with information about the way a character moves according to their personality. 

 While traditional character turning sheets can be a bit stiff, pose sheets allow you to express a much wider range of movement.