RCA Home Theater System

Utilizing green or blue screen (chroma key) in your video projects is a great way to introduce a professional and stylish look to your video productions. Since you will have the ability to alter the background of your production at any time in post production, there are no limits to the creative direction of your final composition. There are a wide variety of chroma key backgrounds to choose from that will give your video production a polished look similar to larger video productions.

The basic idea of green screen production is simple: setup a green screen, shoot your talent in front of it, then remove the green in your video editing software and replace it with your chosen background in post production. However, getting a clean key from your video can be a trial and error process that could cause frustration if the original videois not shot correctly.

Here are a few simple tips you can use to help make your green screen background production as troublefree as possible:

1. Choosing your backdrop

   a. A chroma key background can be any color as long as it is not contained within the foreground elements you would like to keep in the scene. Most video productions utilize either a green or blue screen. A clean key can be achieved with either color, but you will want to take into account the color of clothing your talent will be wearing and also make sure nothing in your scene closely matches the color of the background color you are trying to remove.

   b. The more consistent and true your color is, the better you will be able to key the color out of your background footage. If you are using a linen or fabric backdrop, try to minimize the wrinkles and shadows in the cloth.

2. Illumination

   a. This is probably THE most important aspect of a good green screen video production. Having a well lit, consistent background color is key (no pun intended) to being able to remove the background seamlessly from your shot.

   b. Setup a series of lights that illuminate your backdrop consistently and try to reduce the number of hotspots on the backdrop. Outdoor or fluorescent lighting is a good option because it is a diffused light that spreads evenly across your backdrop.

   c. Illuminate your subject fully with soft lighting. You may also want to try to add a spotlight pointing at the back of your subject. This will help to cleanly “cut” your subject from the background and will result in a cleaner key.

3. Setting up Your Scene

   a. Make sure your talent is at least 4 steps in front of your chroma key backdrop. This will help minimize shadows falling onto the green screen and will minimize color spill. Color spill occurs when the reflected green from your backdrop “spills” onto your subject and causes the color of clothing or skin to change hue to match the backdrop . This can cause problems for your color key software and results in rough edges on the final production.

4. Video Camera Settings

   a. Try to shoot your video with the best HD camera you have available. If possible, use a camera that allows you to make manual adjustments to the ISO/Gain, shutter speed and white balance. The ISO/Gain controls should be set to a low setting. This will require more light, but will give you cleaner video with less noise and artifacts.

If you follow these few simple rules, you can create high quality green screen footage that will allow you to easily remove the background in your video editing software.Now you can replace the green screen with a virtual background or other video background. Have fun!

This week NBC broadcasted the first episode of Breakthrough with motivational expert and personal life coach Tony Robbins during which he takes ordinary people on a thirty day journey of personal transformation. Finally a reality show with a positive life changing message of possibility, hope and the goodness of the human spirit.

Tony Robbins defines a breakthrough as a moment in time when the impossible becomes possible. When something happens that changes your life, that moves you. Maybe you meet someone that inspires you. Maybe it’s a skill or a strategy that you learn.  Maybe you finally get so fed up you won’t settle for the life that you have any more.  It’s when something inside of you clicks and everything changes. You take massive action and you transform your life.

We all can create our personal breakthrough and re-write our own story, not in accordance to the rules of expectations of others, but based on what we really want. According to Robbins, in order to manifest our own personal breakthrough, we need to confront our reality, re-discover our inner power, and redefine what we believe is possible.

Watching this new show made me realize that there are so many people out there struggling with things much worse than what I have been experiencing during these challenging economic times. I also realized how we can overcome many heartbreaking struggles in life with belief,courage and strength.

With this new TV show, bestselling author Tony Robbins will inspire people to find the tools to change their own lives, and also to reach out and help others as well.

I believe this was an outstanding show and a testimonial for the human potential.  Watching this show reinforced the power of living in a world of possibility.

If you missed the premier show of Breakthrough, no problem.This was only the first in a series of 6 episodes.

All stories that will be featured on this new NBC program will be empowering, touching and humbling, encouraging each and everyone to create their own breakthroughs in life. 

There are several nonprofits across the nation that host media sales through out the year. These books sales offer the community discounted pricing on media items and help raise much needed money for nonprofits.

Libraries are commonly the largest category of nonprofit to host an used book fair. This is commonly a result of that they receive numerous used media donations they cannot use and need to sell them to make room . They also run them to be able to generate some money from books removed from the collection . By doing this , they make space for new books and media items, while generating generates money to afford for the new books and media items they would like to buy.

AAUW organizations also host books sales . They do this to help generate funds for scholarships for women at the local college . They can usually raise a lot of donated books and media items as a result to working with a school. These media sales ordinarily have better condition books than libraries, since AAUW’s will not receive as many used library books and media items for sale.

Several schools and universities will also hold books sales . This allows them to offer for sale older edition textbooks and library books . Educational institutions also have the capacity to have media drives with their students to gather a lot of media items to sell.

Finally churches will frequently have book and media sales . These sales rely on parishioners for contributions. These book and media sales will commonly be a little smaller but have great quality (sometimes gift quality ) items for sale.

Do you know what time it is? That’s right, the annual auditions for next season’s 2011 American Idol are coming soon! If you are thinking of auditioning for this extremely popular show there are some things you can do to prepare.

Some things are just basic common sense – like take singing lessons to beef up your voice and technique. But you also need to understand how the auditions really work. You need to do your research if you’re going to make it past the very first auditions.

Doing your homework isn’t just practicing your music, it’s really knowing what to wear, what to say to the judges, how to package yourself, how to pick your song, etc, etc…, basically how to guaranty that you do  it all the right way.  There’s a lot more to these initial auditions than just singing.  Understand what the judges look for and also what’s going to get you cut.

You also have to understand the fact that the auditions are not really just about “talent.” So many of the individuals who never even get close to being chosen for the TV part of the show  have lots of talent, but despite their talent, for some reason they don’t make it .

You must win the judges over and you have to prepare in advance to win the judges over. So how do you do this? The American Idol Advantage is an e-book  full of secret techniques and information about auditioning for one of America’s favorite shows. The company that putsout this book, The Information Association, specializes in audition training and preparation. They are the experts in this area. They prepare students with the information they need to succeed.

Read more about this book or order your copy of The American Idol Advantage today! Those auditions are just around the corner.