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Best way to get good green screen effect?

Other than lighting?

I can get a clean key using After Effects or even Premiere. However, it still looks "cut out" not like it's in the scene. The lighting matches well but I see this clear distinction between my subject and the plate/background

Feels like I have to round the edges but it seems Premiere or after effects doesn't do that too well
 
The best thing you can do is shoot your green screen footage to match the lighting of the background plate, ensure correct lighting and exposure of green screen and as much distance as possible (and flagging) between subject and green screen to eliminate spill as much as possible.

Then, you should be able to play around with the Keylight settings to get a pretty good key.

If you've done all that, then colour correcting all the layers will help sell the effect.
 
LAaction,
Which keyer are you using: Ultimatte, Primatte,...?
SD, HD, or 4K resolution?
What kind of compression?

There's more to pulling a good matte from a green screen than lighting. The software companies make it look like all you have to do is press a button for flawless mattes. Most of the time that just isn't true. Another thing to consider is that a green screen composite that looks good for a single image might look bad when you play the entire shot. Always play the entire shot from the timeline to check it.

Give us some specifics and post an image if you can.
 
Of course. But getting the lighting and exposure as best you can makes the job significantly quicker and easier.

That is obvious but even with the best lighting (which doesn't always happen), there will be issued to be dealt with. Let LAactionfilmmaker give us some specifics then we can address them properly.
 
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I mentioned in the first post, besides lighting.

Lighting is 70% of it.

But I'm talking, how do you guys in Premiere (harder) or After Effects (easier) composite the subject into the background to make it look professional.

I'm imagining this for fantasy landscapes, bringing a person into a location with vfx, and not the YouTube blog / tutorial / review / interview with someone talking into the camera.

More specifically, it feels like the edges of the subject are too "clean cut." Like theyve been cut out. I tried edge blur in Premiere a few times, but it doesn't seem to produce the result I want. It only blurs the edges slightly.
 
Sorry LAaction. Without specific information (see above) the best anyone can do is give you general information.

If edges appear too clean cut then soften them up. There is a slider for that. If you look, you'll find it.

but like jax said, you also have to color correct.... You have to adjust the foreground so that its overall values match the background plate.
 
I don't agree that lighting is 70% of it. Yes, you want to match your green screen elements to your plate elements, but green screen separation is in my opinion just as important. If you have everything spilling everywhere you might as well not set up a green screen in the first place and just roto it.

Color correction is extremely important. Where you apply lightwrap (And where you don't) will really sell the composite.

Matching the grain (or noise) will help.

Environmental elements- dust, light leaks, chromatic aberration will also help.

Edge blur and pixel spreading helps.

Truthfully if you are doing this in premiere and are expecting a decent result you should probably just find a compositor now. Nuke or Flame will do a much better job than AE ever will.
 
green screen separation is in my opinion just as important.

... which is mostly helped by lighting and lighting modifiers (as well as distance, but there are few studios where you’d be able to get far enough away from the green screen to be able to shoot full coverage and have no spill).

Nuke or Flame will do a much better job than AE ever will

Nuke and Flame are both great pieces of software and some may find them easier to pull a key in, but AE is perfectly serviceable - you can get a great key, and indeed many Hollywood Films and TV series use AE in their workflows for compositing, including pulling keys.
 
If you have your green screen right up on talent, it will not ever look right no matter how you light it. The green screen distance from subject is a very valuable part of any composite, as is compositing. You said lighting is 70% of it and that is incorrect.

At the end of the day can you do a final composite in after effects? Yes. You can, but not without plenty of third party support. You want insight into how to do it best? Or do you want me to say "sure you know everything"?

A good matte does not equal a good composite.
 
Of course. I'm not suggesting having little distance between your green screen and subject.

Lighting to match your background plate is extremely important to getting your key to sell. Lighting your screen is extremely important to getting a good key. Creating distance and using light modifiers and grip equipment to eliminate green spill as much as possible, as well as creating some separation through lighting is also extremely important. Of course, this is of little use once you've already shot (and cannot re-shoot if there are problems), but all important to keep in mind for when you're approaching shooting and comping green screen. I never gave a specific number as to how important lighting is for green screen work, but it is extremely important. The worse your capture, the harder your compositor has to work, the better their skills need to be, and the more likely the output is to be sub-par.

Lighting to match, exposing the screen correctly, and eliminating spill are pretty much the three most important things you need to concern yourself with when shooting green screen.

Personally, I would have thought that suggesting you're unlikely to ever get a key to work in Premiere or AE (despite much evidence to the contrary) is not particularly helpful or insightful in a thread specifically asking for tips on Premiere and AE, though you're right - both Fusion and Nuke are perhaps better suited to, and more widely used on professional compositing work.

As for advice for the OP, this is good general advice:

Color correction is extremely important. Where you apply lightwrap (And where you don't) will really sell the composite.

Matching the grain (or noise) will help.

Environmental elements- dust, light leaks, chromatic aberration will also help.

Edge blur and pixel spreading helps.


If we can get a screen grab, we will be much better placed to provide specific advice.
 
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I shot a scene, where everyone was in the street, that had miniature cars that had to be blown up to lifescale. To control the situation better, I put everyone in front of my garage. The greenscreen was being blown and was wrinkled, but no one who watched the movie would ever guess it was green screen.

I used Ultrakey, within Premiere. Under SETTING, I selected AGGRESSIVE, which usually works best for me.

ROADsmallcomp.jpg


ROADsmallgreen.jpg


ROADsmallgarage.jpg




Here are links to bigger pics, if you're looking for more detail:

http://www.midnightsunent.com/ROADgreen.jpg

http://www.midnightsunent.com/ROADcomp.jpg

http://www.midnightsunent.com/ROADgarage.jpg
 
Nice Scoopic. Do you have any footage so we can see how it sells in the cut?

Sure, here's the shot.

https://youtu.be/_vnutcUalIE


Some of my favorite greenscreen shots involved shooting indoors, with roaches. I turned them into canine-sized monsters. I used After Effects' Keylight for these shots.

To make the roach hopping on the man's chest, I had my finger under the green cloth, tapping the roach up and down. I bought 3 roaches, for $4 each, at an exotic pets store. So, yeah, you can do interactive green screen, as opposed to just a static background.

https://youtu.be/CuMrFuNNYCc


Lighting is 70% of it.

Are you using a cloth, like the one I have pictured in my previous post? You don't want something that is too reflective. Avoiding spill, right off the bat, is key. (No pun intended!)
 
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If you showed me just a screenshot, I would've never guessed it was a green screen. I would've been fooled by the wide shot. The mid shot, yes, looks more green screen but that's more has to do with the placement of the cars.
 
The wide shot is actually in the street. As for the mid shot, filmmakers are more apt to spot the effect. The roach moving between the living room furniture is more convincing.

I've done green screen models a few times. You may have seen the cop car pics I posted.

copcar.jpg


copcar2.jpg


copcar3.jpg


copcar5.jpg


If you want to see the video, it worked really well. It's called "Cops at IndieMeet!" on Youtube.


I like that one, but I've done some terrible green screen shots. It's not that easy.
 
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