This video shows how to make the magic happen in post production for green screen footage. In it, I demonstrate the fundamental steps of keying the green, adjusting the matte, and so on. Also, I show common problem areas and how to deal with them. I even posted the exact footage I use for you to download, so you can practice with the green screen techniques on the same footage I’m working with.

Although I use Final Cut Pro in this example, the principles are the same regardless of the software you’re using for your work.

I introduce three powerful filters in Final Cut Pro:

1. Color Smoothing
2. Chroma Keyer
3. Matte Choker

I also briefly touch on other concerns like noticing light source direction and color, and how to make them match for both the background and foreground clips.

This video is available only to Izzy Video Members. If you’d like to watch it, please visit the membership information page to see how you can become a member and gain access to all of the past Izzy Video archives as well as this episode.

Of course you can also watch several of the free sample episodes to see if a membership might be for you.

At long last, I have responded to the zillions of requests I have received from Paid Members and Free subscribers alike: “Izzy, will you please make an episode about shooting Green Screens?”

Not only am I answering this request, but I’m taking it a step further! I’m doing two episodes on Green Screens. Part one is all about shooting and lighting for green screens. Part two will come out in a couple days, and it will be about making the magic happen in post-production, keying out the green, and creating the final composite. Part one is free to everyone. Part two will be members-only. (It’s the last few days of the month, and I still need to release the second members-only episode for October.)

Some of the topics I cover in this episode are:

• Choosing a green screen
• The two highest priorities for chroma key work
• Reducing spill light
• Working in zones
• How different cameras impact the quality of the key
• Choosing colors

Between the two different episodes, I cover most of the mysteries regarding this difficult topic. I hope you find them useful.

You can watch the free version of the video here.

As always, the paid members can download an HD version of this video in the member’s area. To learn more about becoming an Izzy Video Member, please visit the membership information page.

Thank you, Izzy Video Members!

All of you who are paid members, I can’t thank you enough. Because of you, I have now been full time for three weeks, and it’s off to a great start. I have received many emails from members letting me know that they have noticed a difference in the production quality of the episodes I released. Thank you for noticing! I have certainly been devoting more time to the content.

Podcamp AZ is next weekend, Nov. 1-2

I’m doing two sessions at Podcamp AZ this year, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. I’m not sure how the sessions are scheduled yet, but I know one session will be a hands-on workshop on lighting for video, and the other session will be about how you can improve your online video. Both sessions will be one hour long, and the entire two day event is free (although donations are highly encouraged because the event is far from free to host). For more details on Podcamp AZ, check out the website.

A Quick Update: I added a promo to a separate page for anyone who might like to help us advertise Podcamp AZ. Check out the page at http://www.izzyvideo.com/podcamp.

Some Minor Changes to the Website

I read a book last week about optimizing websites for navigation among other things. Based on some of the ideas I picked up from the book, I made a few changes to the website. For example, there’s now a sitemap in the navigation menu that gives you one-click access to anywhere in the website. Another change is that every page has a “breadcrumb” at the top which tells you where you are in the overall website. Other changes include minor aesthetic changes for simplicity, testimonials, and some additional links to the membership information page.

Phew, that’s a lot of updating for one week! But I think I’m done. Thanks again for watching! And I’ll see you next time on… Izzy Video!

This week’s video tutorial is on the subject of color grading. Specifically, you get to see my entire workflow as I grade a casual video clip in Apple’s Color. Don’t worry about the specific application, though. Many of the concepts in this video should be universal among most color grading tools.

Some of the topics I cover are:

• Principles of Cropping
• Waveform Monitors
• Vectorscopes
• Primary and Secondary Color Grades
• HSL Keys
• Vignettes

This might be one of the single most educational episodes I’ve made so far. It certainly strays from the short, focused structure I typically use — it’s more than 20 minutes long. But I still tried to make sure it was packed with good, useful information.

And to top it all off, I’m releasing it under a Creative Commons License, so you can pass it around and share it as much as you would like.

You can get Izzy Video 105 here.

Because it’s a screencast, it only seems appropriate that I should also release it in a higher resolution to make the screen easier to see.

By the way, both of these are huge downloads, but I didn’t want to compromise too much on the picture quality, so I settled for big file sizes.

In Other News

I created a few buttons and badges (and the appropriate code) for you to post on a website, social network page, or whatever. For those of you who are fans of Izzy Video, please feel free to post them anywhere you would like. Here are some samples:

When you post these badges, you’re helping me spread the word regarding Izzy Video — Obviously that’s something I truly appreciate!

This installment of Izzy Video answers many of the questions I had when I originally researched wireless microphones. My assumption is that some of you have similar questions. In this video, I review the strengths and weaknesses of a wireless microphone system.

* This installment of Izzy Video is in the archives and is available to premium subscribers only. If you’d like to watch it, please visit the membership information page to see how you can become a member and gain access to all of the past Izzy Video archives.

* This episode is available in iPod/iPhone format and in a Higher Quality format.

Of course you can also watch several of the free sample episodes to see if a premium subscription might be for you.

This video bucks the typical Izzy Video style by being an epic 9 minutes long! But hopefully you’ll find it very useful information.

In this installment of Izzy Video, Noell and I cover the six steps of doing makeup for video (specifically for men). Because I wanted to make sure we covered several of the necessary topics, it was difficult to keep it short. I considered breaking this up into two episodes, but I think it works better as one, even though it’s a little long. What do you think?

For those of you with hands-on experience working with makeup for video, what additional comments and tips would you add? Please let me know in the comments…

You can get Izzy Video 103 here.

Once you’re done watching this video, you can also watch other free sample episodes.