How to Green Screen in Premiere Pro

Ever wondered how they get the effects behind the weather reporter? Have you ever wondered how they get those epic effects in one of your favourite action movies? Well, it’s courtesy of the green screen! Here we show you how to green screen in Premiere Pro.

The green screen is an essential part of the world of special effects, and today we’re going to delve into it. Green screens are an incredible part of the TV and film world, so we want to break down to you how they work and how you can utilise them in Premiere Pro.

What is a green screen?

A green screen is essentially a huge green backdrop propped up in the background that will allow you to shoot the scene and then implement special effects later in post-production.

If you’re part of a large TV or film production, the special effects department will then manipulate the green background to whatever they want to using computer-generated imagery (CGI) or using background footage, also known as “Plates”. 

Depending on what you need for the background can be the entire backdrop of your shot or just a small part of it.

Either way, in post-production, the CGI specialists will work wonders. It’s incredible what you can achieve.

How does a green screen work?

As touched upon above. The green screen works as a backdrop with a subject placed in front of it. You film the scene with the green screen at the back, and then in post-production add your effects. 

Your video editing software will read where all the green lines are and remove the green parts of your frame. Premiere Pro, for instance (Or any video editing software) will read all of the green within your frame and will delete these. Leaving your special effects team (Or you) to add the remaining footage. 

What is a chroma key?

Chroma key is the actual technique of layering. This is based on colour hues and is the compositing of the two images based on their hue. Every colour has a chroma range.

The chroma key will be the part Premiere Pro uses to understand the whereabouts of the image it deletes around based on the chroma key. I.e. it will focus on every green pixel and remove that. Allowing you to add in the special effects on top.

How to edit green screen footage in Premiere Pro?

Here’s how to edit green screen footage in Premiere Pro.

Import your footage and find the Ultra Key, and set up your edit.

You will need to firstly:

1. Import the green screen footage into your sequence on the timeline. 
2. Find the Ultra Key effect by going to Video Effects > Keying > Ultra Key.
3. Select the Ultra Key and drop it onto your clip on your Timeline. 

Use the Eyedropper Tool to edit.

Now go to the Effects tab again and choose the Eyedropper tool. 

4. Select a green colour pixel with the Eyedropper tool on your screen.
5. Use the setting option on the Eyedropper Tool to decide how you want the Eyedropper to work. 
6. Experiment with the numbers until all of the green noise has gone.

Clean up your image.

7. Use the Matte Generation options to help clean up the last specs of green. 
8. Under Matte Cleanup, use the choke slider. Go to about 25 maximum, never over that.
9. Now use the Soften slider until the blending looks perfect. 
10. Once you’ve done that, review your image and ensure there are no signs of green seeping into your subject’s hair or clothing.

There it is; that’s how to green screen in Premiere Pro. 

We hope this article on how to green screen in Premiere Pro was useful. Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments; we’d love to hear what you want from us next. 

Happy editing!