The green screen shooting is useful when a project needs to integrate a set, special effects, or an image that does not yet exist at the time of filming. It allows filming a subject in a controlled environment, then replacing the background in post-production with precision. But to achieve a credible result, it is not enough to have a uniform background in the studio: one must also think about lighting, color, shadows, the future set, and the constraints of compositing well before the day of filming.

It is in this context that Shogun Pictures intervened with the second-year students of Objectif 3D Montpellier, continuing our previous collaboration with the school around the basics of 3D integration. Their goal: to produce a live short film of about 1 minute and 30 seconds, with real staging challenges and future visual effects. The project was initially conceived and developed by the students with their professor Thibault Deltour. Our role came in a second phase, at the end of pre-production, to refine certain aspects of the project, anticipate upcoming technical challenges, and discuss with them lighting, artistic direction, and visual coherence.

Live video production: an ambitious project for Objectif 3D Montpellier students

The principle of the second-year project

This type of project is particularly interesting, as it forces students to step out of a purely academic logic to enter a much more concrete production dynamic. In 1 minute and 30 seconds, they must establish a universe, create an atmosphere, direct a scene, anticipate future editing, and prepare shots that will be reworked later in compositing.

Even though Objectif 3D trains many students in image professions and various digital finishing specialties, it is essential for them to understand how a real shoot works. Seeing a set, understanding the constraints of the camera, lighting, background, costumes, or makeup allows them to anticipate their compositing work much better and approach their future projects with a more complete vision.

Why this type of project is educational

A live subject like this confronts them with multiple levels of difficulty at the same time:

• building a credible visual universe

• creating coherent stagings

• anticipating future special effects

• linking the needs of the shoot to those of compositing

• understanding how each detail influences the quality of the final result

This is what makes the richness, but also the difficulty, of live projects. As you can see, students must be able to link filming, set, lighting, and software early on to produce a coherent video.

Shooting on green screen: our intervention from pre-production to the studio

Support over 10 days

Our support was spread over 10 days. The project having already been launched by the students and their professor, we intervened to refine what had been conceived, challenge certain points, and help better anticipate the upcoming steps.

Specifically, our intervention focused on:

• the end of pre-production

• 1 full day of filming at L'Espiguette

• 1 full day of green screen shooting

• help with rushes, selection of shots, and pre-editing

• anticipating challenges related to future live compositing

This intervention had a dual interest: to support the project in its visual success, but also to provide students with a more concrete understanding of the link between shooting and compositing, in a logic close to our approach to professional video capture.

Pre-production: laying the groundwork for a successful shoot

A large part of the work took place before arriving on set. We helped to think about:

• future special effects shots

• the coherence of lighting

• the artistic direction of the project

• the constraints of shooting

• how the actual shoot would interact with future digital additions

On a project blending live action and VFX, green screen shooting is never thought of in isolation. It must be linked to the future set, future movements, expected shadows, the general color of the shot, and the different types of images that students will later need to process.

Outdoor shooting at L'Espiguette

The day at L'Espiguette served to anchor the film in a strong visual reality. This outdoor shoot allowed students to create a credible base for their universe while confronting real constraints:

• management of natural light

• reading the space

• placement of characters within the frame

• coherence with future videos

This step is important because it reminds us that a live project is not built solely in front of a neutral background. Reality remains the basis for reading the film, and it is also what makes integration more effective later.

Shooting in our premises

The day in our premises marked a key stage of the project. It allowed for setting up green screen shots while taking into account, from the shoot itself, future integration needs, lighting coherence, and visual credibility.

In this context, several points require genuine attention:

• a sufficiently smooth and homogeneous background

• a clean and well-distributed lighting

• a good separation between the subject and the background

• controlled shadows

• lighting consistent with the future universe

The green screen offers tremendous possibilities, but it also makes the project more demanding. The cleaner the base footage is, the smoother the subsequent work becomes. In some cases, a blue background may be a better choice depending on the costume color or the presence of green in the image. Here, green remained the most relevant choice, but it is important for students to also understand when to use blue.

Compositing, lighting, and effects: the main challenges of the project

Building a credible character

For their character, students had to create a costume themselves from a suit, back piece, boots, and various found or adapted items. This creative work has a direct impact on the reading of the image, how the light reacts, and the credibility of the character once integrated into its final universe.

Makeup also received thorough preparatory work. Students attended classes to recreate an appearance coherent with their universe. Skin, tones, textures, and contrasts all play a role in the success of the compositing.

Anticipating visual effects from the shoot

The major challenge of the project is the vessel that must emerge from the water over several shots. This type of video requires early anticipation of:

• the direction of light

• the presence of caustics

• the realism of the future set

• the behavior of shadows

• the coherence between actual shots and future special effects

In other words, the set must already contain visual cues of the world that will be created later. That is exactly why preparation is so important. In this type of scene, a good result depends as much on the quality of the shoot as on future choices of software, editing, and compositing.

A useful intervention for compositing/light students

During the shooting day, some students specializing in compositing and light also followed a targeted intervention on concepts directly useful to their project:

• 2D tracking

• smart vectors

• texture projection

The idea was not to multiply software demonstrations or delve into overly complex methodologies, but to give them solid foundations, simple guidelines, and advice directly applicable to their own film. As you can see, the objective was to impart a clear method, usable immediately, with both technical and practical insights.

Choice of background, lighting, and quality: what this project demonstrates

The green screen starts before the studio

This project shows that a good shoot does not limit itself to filming a subject in front of a uniform background. It begins in pre-production, in how to think about the project, anticipate difficulties, and connect the shooting to the future digital workflow.

A live project demands a global vision

Production, shooting, and compositing are not three separate blocks. They are continually interrelated. If the background is poorly lit, if the shadows are incoherent, if the color of the set does not correspond to the future universe, then the quality of the compositing suffers.

Our role with Objectif 3D Montpellier

In supporting the students of Objectif 3D Montpellier, our aim was not to take the place of their approach, but to provide an external, professional perspective, and to help them better connect their artistic intentions to the technical reality of live shooting.

This project is a good illustration of our expertise at Shogun Pictures in audiovisual production and VFX: intervening at the right time, helping to anticipate, securing certain key decisions, and imparting a way of thinking about a VFX project as a whole. This is also why this collaboration with Objectif 3D is long-term.