Greenscreen Compositing is Hard

My latest, soon to be released project, titled Santa Barbara Isn’t Real is a three minute short where almost every shot was done on greenscreen and keyed out using After Effects and Keylight. I was originally aiming for ultra realistic compositing, but in this case, I refuse to let perfect be the enemy of pretty good. I’ve decided it’s ok that this short “looks greenscreened” for the following reasons:

1. I’m sticking to my goal of completing two videos per month.
2. The short’s theme is that the world you live in isn’t real.
3. I’m sick of editing it.

I was able to get clean edges on most of the shots. In hindsight, color and skin tone consistency throughout the short could have been better. This is my first time using the filmconvert plugin on a short. Filmconvert helped blend the color scheme across the foreground and background elements.

The wider shots where all three actors are shown head to toe didn’t key so well and required additional work. Perhaps a 4K camera would have preserved some of the edge detail lost on wider shots.

This was a very challenging project. I have no doubt that the experience will make me more efficient for my next greenscreen shoot. I’ll likely try a light wrap plugin on the next one. I wish After Effects/Keylight had one built in.

Here are some stills from the short: