Exploring the Better Alternatives of the Green Screen Technology
Whenever we think of great visual effects, we think of popular movie franchises such as Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, or Star Wars. While a lot of those movies used a significant amount of practical effects to do unbelievable things, we cannot deny the contribution of the green screen in modern-day filmmaking. But things are about to change.
From the spectacular games of Quidditch in the Harry Potter films to Danaerys' dragons in the Game of Thrones – all are then built based on the green screen technology. However, we now have the technology that has the potential to replace green screen technology. If you have been following the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian”, you have already witnessed the results.
What Is This New Technology?
If you have watched “The Mandalorian or any of the Star Wars live-action movies, you must have noticed how they create the environment of different planets in those scenes. While a majority of those things used to be done with the help of a green screen, they have adopted the new approach of the virtual set from the Star Wars live-action series – The Mandalorian.
Instead of having green screens in the set, they have high resolution LED panels on the walls of the set. Imagine a huge TV screen wrapping around the stage. It is similar to that. The set design matches with the LED panels. Thus you have the visual aesthetic of the planet right in the set.
And the best part about the technology is that the background in the LED panels can move with the camera to create a more realistic effect. How cool is that?
How Does This New Technology Work?
The virtual background produced for the set is based on the same technology used in the most advanced games of today’s generation. The background responds to the camera movement to simulate a real-world. For actors, it feels like they are on the location and not on a set. In fact, the background seems like the extension of the set.
It is actually a lot more complex than it looks. To make the background feel more realistic, a team of visual effect artists needs to work relentlessly on each of those scenes. While one person may adjust the 3D models such as a spaceship or a rock in the background panel, others may work on the live animations like a shimmering fire.
The visual effects artists also often need to adjust the colour tone of the background to match as same as the set. The LED background helps create an illusion of depth as well as natural lighting.
With green screens, the filmmakers had to work extra to remove the green screen frame-by-frame, and then replace the background. But they lacked the perspective shift that the virtual set brings to the table.
How Is This New Technology Better than Green Screen? (H2)
The virtual background on the LED panels allows you to adjust the light as well as the moving objects on the go. And most importantly, the reflections of the virtual background on the shiny objects on the set actually work similarly to the real reflections. With green screens, the visual effects artists would have to create the reflection artificially on the computer.
The virtual set was particularly useful for the show “The Mandalorian since the protagonist of the show always dons the shiny helmet and armour which work almost like a mirror. Having the LED background all around the stage, relieved the makers of the show from working on the reflection on almost every scene.
Lighting is most certainly one of the key benefits of working with virtual sets. The light
coming from the LEDs provides realistic colours and reflections on the actor and the props. This was not achievable with a green screen.
Apart from not providing any realistic lighting and reflection, the green screens also put a lot of green light on the actors and the objects on the set. The green light is called “spill” in the visual effect terminology. With the virtual set, the visual effect artists do not need to worry about that.
While the initial setup cost of the virtual set can be expensive, it can save a lot of money in
production once it is set. It not only eliminates the cost of travelling to locations for shooting, but it also reduces the cost of set design as a majority of the props and objects can be embedded in the scene by incorporating them in the LED screens.
For the actors, it is also easier to perform, knowing what to react to instead of imagining the objects and things like they used to do for sets with green screen.
In conclusion,
The green screen is not necessarily dead. In fact, it is still the most common technology used in most of the movies that need visual effects. However, with the emergence of the virtual background, filmmakers will soon start to prefer it over the green screen as it produces a more practical impact on the set.
Author bio:
Suhana is a passionate blogger and digital marketing enthusiast. Suhana Williams is one of the most talented assignment experts who also provide assignment help through Assignmenthelp.us. She enjoys the ever-evolving world of digital marketing and loves to share her opinion on every possible update with her audience. When not creating magic with her words, you can find her sky-diving or trekking in the most bizarre locations.
