Beginner's Guide to Green Screen Equipment
No matter if you are creating videos to try and be the next YouTube influencer or you are making online courses, green screen is a really cool way to shoot videos and come up with very creative outcomes. Although I named this section the beginner’s guide to green screen equipment, creating green screen videos are not for beginner videographer and I would recommend that if you are just getting started in video that you step back and get a few standard non-green screen videos under your belt before attempting to create green screen videos.
Check out this blog on Ridiculously Inexpensive Online Course Creation Gear List for Beginners.
As you will notice you will need more equipment to do green screen then to do basic beginner videos with a smartphone. You will need to have a slightly bigger budget to put together a green screen recording studio then you will doing basic videos.
The Basics
The most important part of your green screen studio is the green back ground and the lists. There are many different types of background from large green sheets to pop-out portable panels, to even chroma-key green paint to paint whole walls. And for best results you will want four lights two to shine on the background and two to shine on the subject (you).
The cool part is they make kits that will give you most of this stuff all in one kit, so you buy one item and you get it all. This is a great way for a beginner to gather most of the equipment they need for a reasonable price.
Green Screen Kits
There are many options for green screen back ground options, here are a few more outside of the full kit format.
Neewer 2.6M x 3M/8.5ft x 10ft Background Support System and 800W 5500K Umbrellas Softbox Continuous Lighting Kit for Photo Studio Product, Portrait and Video Shoot Photography
Green Screen Back Ground Options
There are many options for green screen back ground options, here are a few more outside of the full kit format.
ChromaKey Green Paint 1 Gallon Green Screen Equivalent
LimoStudio AGG779 Chromakey Body Suit for Photo Video Photography Effect (Spandex Stretch Unisex One Size Fits All, Green)
Seymour 20-602 Grass and Shrub Renew, Pristine Green
LS LIMO STUDIO LIMOSTUDIO 5 x 7 ft. Green Screen Chromakey Backdrop Background Fabric Muslin for Streaming Photo Video Studio Photography, AGG3066
Emart 5 x 6.5ft Portable Green Screen Chromakey Collapsible Background, Pop up Greenscreen 2-in-1 Blue Screen Backdrop for Zoom Virtual Background, Video Photography (Chroma-Key Blue/Green Foldable)
Lights
If you decide to not buy a kit or you just need extra lights there are many light options out there on the market, here are a few to look at.
Neewer 700W Professional Photography 24×24 inches/60×60 Centimeters Softbox with E27 Socket Light Lighting Kit
Neewer 2 Packs Dimmable 5600K USB LED Video Light with Adjustable Tripod Stand/Color Filters for Tabletop/Low Angle Shooting, Colorful LED Lighting, Product Portrait YouTube Video Photography
LED Video Light, SAMTIAN 600 Photography Lighting Kit 3200-5600K Camera Studio Light with 4 NP-F Batteries Barndoors 75 Inches Light Stand and Remote Photo Panel Light for Livestreaming Tiktok Youtube
Microphones
When you go with a green screen studio you will need a good microphone because chances are you will be some distance from the recording devices such as the camera and microphone. If you only use the microphones in your computer or phone you will get very poor audio since they will be a few feet or more away from you.
There are many ways to mic yourself up. You could use a lavalier microphone which is the little microphone that you clip to your shirt. These microphones can be wired or wireless depending on your need and budget.
Here are a couple of Lavalier microphones to get you started.
Wireless Microphone System,KIMAFUN 2.4G Wireless Lavalier Microphone with Lavalier Lapel Mics,Wireless Transmitter & Receiver for Computer,Speaker,Phone,Camera,Teaching and Public Speaking,G130
Paul's Preferred Green Screen Microphone
Myself personally I don’t like to have a Lavalier microphone clipped to my shirt, and I really hate those headset microphones, so I prefer what is called a shot gun microphone. Shot gun microphones are made to pick up in a very narrow listening field at a much longer distance. To use a shot gun microphone you will need a little bit more skill then just plugging in a microphone and recording. Most shot gun microphones need to have a power source and they get that from a device that provides Phantom power, this device is usually a small USB mixer. You will also need a special microphone cable with XLR connectors and this cable will provide the sound and the power.
You will also need a microphone stand, and depending on your recording situation will determined what microphone stand you need. I have three microphone stands a small desk stand, I folding arm stand that attaches to the desk and I have a very large boom stand for large rooms or outside.
Below you will see some of this gear that I use, and in my course “Creating, Publishing, and Promoting an Online Course for Beginners” you will learn how to do many different types of recording including green screen recording.
Gearlux XLR Microphone Cable Male to Female 25 Ft Fully Balanced Premium Mic Cable – 2 Pack
I chose 2 pack so you can connect them together and get 50 feet if needed.
AxcessAbles MB-W Professional Studio Microphone Boom Stand with Locking Wheels – Max 8ft Long Extension, 6ft8″ in Height
InnoGear Adjustable Mic Stand for Blue Snowball and Blue Snowball iCE Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand with Microphone Windscreen and Dual Layered Mic Pop Filter, Max Load 1.5 KG
Audio-Technica AT875R Line/Gradient Shotgun Condenser Microphone
Alesis MultiMix 4 USB FX | 4 Channel Compact Studio Mixer with Built In Effects & USB Audio Interface for Home Studio Recording
Amazon Basics Tripod Boom Microphone Stand
Video Software
The final touches of your green screen studio is the software. You will need the a software package that will do what is called Chroma-Key, which essentially is nothing more then having the computer being able to remove the background since it is all one color “Green”. This makes the background invisible allowing you to add your own backgrounds in.
I use two pieces of software, one to do the recording with and one to do the editing with.
- I use a open source (meaning free) software called OBS to record my green screen videos. This software is free, works great, used by millions, and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux Operating Systems (OS).
- And I use Camtasia software by TechSmith for all my editing no matter what kind of video I am making. Camtasia is also used by millions, and can be purchased for Mac or Windows.
Paul's Green Screen Studio
Just so you can see what a finished green screen studio looks like here are three pictures of my green screen studio. I had an extra 10×10 closet that I was not using and it had a window facing the street in it, so when I moved in I figured it would make a good office since my master bed room had two closets. My green screen is a huge thing that looks and feels like a bed sheet but more like two king bed size.
I put two rivets in the sheet on each end and then put hooks in my ceiling and hung the sheet from the hooks. I’m only using two lights and it is working but would be much better with lights facing the screen and lights facing me, but was limited on room.
I use a shot gun microphone and a three channel USB mixer with phantom power to power up the microphone. This brings the cost of the green studio up significantly but I don’t like to have to clip on a lavalire microphone to make videos so I spent the extra money.
Digital Course Warrior's Green Screen Studio Tour
Check out this video which is a quick tour of my green screen studio and some of the equipment I use in my studio.
Check out our new course called “Creating, Publishing, & Promoting a Online Course for Beginners” where we will teach you everything needed to build your online course as well as how to record in a green screen studio.