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02.03 Green Screen Ultra Key Adobe Premiere

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In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Ultra Key effect in Adobe Premiere Pro to key out green screen footage.

Steps for Basic Keying with Ultra Key

  1. Import your green screen footage into Premiere Pro.
  2. Use the garbage matte to mask out any areas of the footage that you don’t want to be keyed out.
  3. Apply the Ultra Key effect to the footage.
  4. Select the key color. This is the color of the green screen. Hold the Control or Command key to select a larger area of color. It is a good idea to select the green as close to the subject as possible.
  5. Select “Alpha” for the output so you can see the effect of the settings and adjustments clearly. Anything white is kept, anything black is keyed out or transparent, and anything grey is still a problem.
  6. Adjust the settings of the Ultra Key effect.
    • Transparency: This controls how transparent the entire image becomes. Use it as little as possible since it controls the entire image.
    • Highlight adjustment: This controls the opacity of the bright areas of the source image.
    • Shadow adjustment: This controls the opacity of the dark areas of the source image.
    • Tolerance: This controls the range of the green color that is selected. Best to use as little as possible so you do not key out other colors on the video you want to keep.
    • Pedestal: This helps removes noise from the the white or “keyed” areas.
  7. Adjust the settings of the matte cleanup section only if needed. Try to have a good key by using the matte clean up as little as possible.
    • Choke: This shrinks the matte from the outside edges. Be careful since this will eat away at the video you want to keep.
    • Soften: This softens the edges of the matte. This acts like a feather and too much of it can look bad.
    • Contrast: This makes the matte more contrasty but if used too much can ruin the key of things like hair that should retain some transparency.
    • Midpoint: This changes the midpoint of the gray that is transparent and effect the contrast setting above.
  8. Use the spill suppression settings to remove any green spill from the edges of the footage.
    • Desaturation: This desaturates the edge pixels.
    • Range: This controls the range of pixels that are desaturated.
    • Amount: This controls how much spill is removed.
    • Luma: This controls the luminance of the edge pixels.
  9. Adjust the color correction settings if desired.

Tips

  • Use a good quality green screen. A poor quality green screen will make it more difficult to get a good key.
  • Use a high shutter speed on the camera when shooting to reduce motion blur and make a better key.
  • Use a low ISO to reduce digital noise and difficult to key artifacts.
  • Set up green screen well. A poorly lit or wrinkled green screen will make it more difficult to get a clean key.
  • Make sure the green screen is evenly lit. Uneven lighting can cause problems with the key.
  • Use a garbage matte to mask out any areas of the footage that you don’t want to be keyed out. This can help to improve the quality of the key.
  • Make sure that your subject is not wearing any green clothing or accessories.
  • Experiment with the settings of the Ultra Key effect until you get a good result.
  • Adjust the settings in Ultra Key as little as possible but just enough to get a good key.