The Future is Green Screen Shorts
by Jodie Manning & Sanne Butterfield
10 reasons to make a Green Screen short film in 2021
It’s hard to believe it has only been a decade, but smartphones, video sharing platforms (YouTube, Vimeo), streaming services (Netflix) online gaming (X-Box, PlayStation) and social media apps (TikTok) have completely changed our entertainment industry landscape. Competition to get viewer attention has never been so fierce. The global pandemic has changed life as we know it, forcing us to work and think differently, to re-evaluate our priorities and assumptions. The decline in cinema visits has been heartbreaking and rapid.
But through crisis comes innovation, with Green Screen enjoying a timely renaissance. Amid the competition, turmoil and uncertainty, there are unique opportunities for filmmakers to ‘lean in’. GreenScreen Film Fest (GSFF) predicts a future where Green Screen shorts play a key role to showcase talent, champion our stories and encourage creative collaboration. Want to know why there has never been a better time to create a Green Screen short? Ride the new wave of filmmaking and read on...
1. Immediacy and Relevance
In contrast to full length-features, short films can be produced and distributed quickly, offering instantaneous response to current affairs and social issues. Things are changing fast, the element of immediacy is key. Nothing like the present, right?
2. Experimentation
2021 is the year to experiment with restricted locations, smaller budgets and versatile solutions. Did someone say small cast, garage location, Green Screen wall and a smartphone camera? With big budget releases like James Bond’s ‘No Time To Die’ pushed out until October 2021 now might be the moment to take the plunge, enter GSFF2 …and break in!
3. Future Foreword
Compositing software is known to be costly and complex, but with the arrival of free VFX software like Unreal Engine and Blender, filmmakers of all levels now have access to tap into the future of VFX possibilities. Visual effects, post-production and editing have never been more affordable, accessible, with such high-end results. We can’t wait to see the continued impact of these technologies, especially the impact LED tech is going to make across the board. Phone tech also affords the budget-conscious filmmaker with an endless array of accessible technology and high-quality apps to aid filmmaking talent, including Chromavid, Kinemaster, PowerDirector and Green Screen by Do Ink.
4. Global Collaboration and Connectivity
Green Screen provides flexibility in dealing with multiple locations. Despite being locked down, the world has been more connected than ever with broadcast and live-streaming tech directly accessible to everyone. We are not just talking about Zoom. We loved how Oprah interviewed Obama in front of a Green Screen, making it look like they were in the same living room when in reality they were miles apart. In 2020, the inaugural GreenScreen Film Fest allowed creatives on opposite sides of the globe to collaborate to create films and music videos that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. More recently, we saw television hosts based in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth covering the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
5. Environment & Budget Friendly
Forget about delayed time schedules to faraway tricky locations, unpredictable weather forecasts, outrageous travel costs and blown budgets. A diverse range of high-quality scenery can be found at home, with Green Screen at hand. Green Screen not only drastically reduces location fees, it is safer, faster and therefore better for the environment too.
6. Portfolio Building
For an emerging filmmaker, shorts are the gateway to enter festivals, gain exposure and build a portfolio. A solid portfolio with award-winning shorts can be the springboard to accelerating both creative and/or commercial work. As an actor wanting to break into directing, it can be a powerful demonstration of additional skill and talent.
7. Harness your Social Conscience
Our ability to march the streets may be limited (with lockdown and 1.5m restrictions) but this doesn’t mean change is not needed and happening. From a sociological point of view, short stories are a proven, powerful trigger for social change. Some stories are not easy to tell, but need to be told (#BlackLivesMatter #MeToo #ClimateChange). Combine creative storytelling with a hunger for social justice and the filmmaker holds the power to engage and inform a global audience overnight. Shorts are an effective way to directly address important social justice issues, big, small, local and global.
8. Portability
Roll it up, roll it out, pop it in the back of your car. Once you steam out the creases and get the hang of lighting the Green Screen (and the subject – always the trickiest part!) it’s a quick and easy set up. You can take it anywhere… provided the space you work in is big enough.
9. Snackable
Engaging an overstimulated audience on the go, with attention spans often lasting as long as a TikTok video, bite-sized stories are undeniably on the rise. Beyond the usual short film awards (Oscars, BAFTAs), Netflix and other streaming providers have embraced shorts too. Michael Govier and Will McCormack’s animated short ‘If Anything Happens I Love You’ (2020) was only 13 minutes long, with 19 festival wins, eight nominations and an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2021.
10. Limitless Creative Storytelling
It’s no surprise that music videos and advertisements, both known for their impactful creativity, have for decades been using Green Screen tech. But have we tapped the full potential of this tool in our short film world? Use of Green Screen opens up a world of fantasy impossible to achieve on a budget, with only a camera and set. Suspend your disbelief and journey into imagination - we know when using Green Screen that we are not really on an Arctic battlefield or in a space time vortex, but our conscience can be wonderfully deceived if the creative mastery is right!
Whatever the future, we know the entertainment industry will never be the same. What lies ahead is a unique opportunity for filmmakers to have an unparalleled level of creative exploration, expression and say. As we like to say at GSFF ‘the only limit is your Green Screen imagination!’