This is not a raging debate, but maybe it should be. There’s so much that goes into green screen videos shot in a small room, that much of it we take for granted.
One of the main decisions is what resolution you’re going to shoot in. The reason that’s so important is that it affects everything down the line, like graphics, rendering, jump cuts and story.
This weekend I made a series of surprising discoveries about shooting resolution.
The answers I found could release you to make your best green screen videos ever…just by making the right choice of shooting resolution.
This may be the first easy button solution I’ve ever encountered. It isn’t really, but it will probably feel like it. 🙂
8 replies to "Best Resolution for Shooting Green Screen Videos"
I have been saying this for years. Especially for non-cinemgraphic work, 1080p at 25 or 50FPS is the best way to go. I do a lot of journalism, documentary, conferences. The sort of thing that is normally viewed on-line through a phone, tablet, laptop or a computer screen. Studies have shown that people can not tell the difference between 1080 and higher resolutions. 1080/4k (or higher) only becomes an issue if you are sitting in the first 10 rows of a full size cinema screen, or within 2m of a 72inch TV screen at home.
Getting geeky… 4K from, for example, Netflix or YouTube is compressed and then expanded at the viewing device. Then you get artefacts due to this compression. 1080P doesn’t get compressed, and the 1080-4K upscaling built in to the devices will give you a better picture than decompressed 4K on the same screens. (it’s all due to the maths and algorithms)
Thanks for the additional backup! I would only add that for the US, 60fps is not the panacea many think for shooting green screen because it destroys the look of natural motion. If you know what you’re doing, a good keying tool will give you excellent results at 29.97 or 30p.
Interesting tech information we all can use … and GREAT preview of the next magical teaching tool in our future!
The elves and I are tapping away as we speak. 🙂
Another amazing video, Steven!! It’s good to know that you don’t have to shoot in 4K to get a good key. I’ve been hyper focusing on the hardware and specs and all that that I haven’t actually been making videos. So I plan to do more work on the most important part: actually making a good video. Thanks again for all your hard work and for sharing your expertise.
Hey Oscar, it’s good to hear you moving from the research to the action stage. I have found that can consume whatever time it’s given! 🙂
Hey Steven, thank you for the great and inspiring video! What do you recommend as the “good keying tool”?
It depends on your platform. If on a Mac I would use Hawaiki Keyer. If on a PC, Premiere Pro has a native keyer we’ve used to get very clean keys.