What are the benefits of using Green Screen in Video Production? Green screen production offers a multitude of benefits for most productions. Let’s first talk about the cost and time savings of VR production verse the traditional way. The typical cost of building a set starts in the thousands of dollars for a basic hard set and can easily go into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the scope and size of the set. The cost of a virtual set is usually a small percentage of the cost of a hard set. These virtual sets today are 3 dimensional photo realistic sets that render in real time. The cost of materials has gone up exponentially in recent years and can often prevent aproduction from getting a green light due to the increased costs on a production budget. A hardset design and build may also not make sense when the production is a one off with a singleday or more of shooting. After a shoot these hard sets are typically thrown away which is nowseen as a waste of resources. If not, storage in a facility would be necessary not to mention ateam of people to build and break it down. In addition, a hard set requires weeks of planning, a crew for building, install, paint, possibletouch ups before a lighting designer gets in to put up lights, light the set etc. This is all arduous,time consuming and costly. A virtual set requires much less cost, planning, no crew for building,no storage and set changes are typically simple. A virtual set can be purchased from a marketplace and prepared in a week or two prior toproduction day. It can also be chosen from an existing library. It doesn’t need to be built out as atraditional set would need to be. Set changes can happen immediately between the client anddesigner and live compositing removes the need for post work. Creatively speaking, virtual sets offer endless possibilities. They are typically 360 degreeenvironments unlike traditional sets that are simple flats connected to one another. Hard setsare usually no more than 180 degrees with a beginning and end to them. Camera people needto be aware of where a hard set begins and ends. This isn’t a concern in VR productions sincethey are complete environments. Green screen productions (VR productions) also allow for the use of real set pieces in theforeground such as chairs, tables, props. This often adds to the experience and further blurs theline between what’s real and what’s virtual. We often use real props or practical’s in ourproductions such as a real desk for the talent. Feel free to reach out to us for further details onwhat makes virtual production the best choice for any production.
