Resub// The History of Chroma Key

I stumbled across a really interesting video on YouTube about the history of Chroma keying, it was very informative about how green screening came to be. Initially when this technique was developed it was called a travelling map which would mean that a static image, like the one of the aeroplane below, and then layering it onto a moving image to give the appearance that the plane was flying.

It looks almost ridiculous now but for the 1930s this was pretty good. The technique was pioneered by Linwood Dunn, who was sort of the godfather of special/visual effects as he had a hand in inventing them himself. He worked on Citizen Kane and the original King Kong.

Larry Butler, another grandfather of special effects, invented a way of compositing images with a blue screen. 

Butler did this by splitting up the image into RED, GREEN and BLUE each with their own respective postive and negative cuts, and he the used the GREEN positive and the BLUE negative to form a solid matte which then could be composited onto blue screen footage. 

Even with today's standards the compositing in this film is pretty good. Its not a perfect key but I imagine it would have been far more difficult without editing software, so in this respect its a really good achievement. You can almost see the footage of the horse riding on the ground. but who images a flying horse without moving its legs, it would just look stupid. This was also how they got some of their flying carpet effects which I think is really well done even BY today's standards.

But as technology improved and we got smarter it was realised that green screens were better for filmmaking that blue screens. Even though blue screens were better for the skin tones of people, due to needing less light, capturing more detail and having a better luminosity than blue, green screens became the predominant screen used in the motion picture industries. 

The two images above show that iconic scene in the matrix where Trinity jumps into that pose and the camera freezes. The first image illustrates that when the camera circles her, all of the background that you have seen was composited into the shot where she's jumping. This could not have been done with blue screen as it wouldnt have picked up all the detail in the environment as green screen does

However for my piece it might be wise to consider using blue screen instead of green screen to see if the results I get are any different to the green screen. This information I have gained by watching the video has given me a greater understanding and respect for these special effects. I still maintain that when used poorly can ruin a film but in 'The Matrix's case it only enhanced our film viewing experience by making the world that bit more fantastic.