← Animation Glossary

Blue Screen

A blue screen is a special type of background used in film. It's a bright blue color that helps animators add different images and characters to a scene. When they're done, the blue color can be easily removed or replaced with another background. This makes it easier for animators to create cool and exciting animations!

Please note that Blue Screen is not directly applicable to Brush Ninja.

Blue screen, also known as Chroma Keying or Green Screen (and sometimes other clours), is a technique commonly used in stop-motion animation and filmmaking to create scenes that would normally be impossible or too expensive to shoot in real life. The technique involves replacing a specific color (usually blue or green) in the background with a different image or footage. This allows animators and filmmakers to composite different layers of animation and create special effects.

In animation, blue screen is often used when animating characters that need to interact with real-life objects or people. By filming the scene with a blue screen background, animators can easily select and remove the background and replace it with a different background. This process requires careful planning and attention to detail to ensure that the final product looks seamless and realistic.

## Why Blue Screen?

The blue colour is used because it is not a common colour in nature, making it easier to remove from the background. It also contrasts well with most other colours, making it easier to replace with a different background. The different colours are selected based upon the scene being filmed and the colours it contains. If the characters or environment uses a lot of blue then a green screen may be used instead.

How is Blue Screen Used in Animation?

One example of blue screen being used in animation is in the popular children’s show Sesame Street. The show uses blue screen technology to create scenes where the human actors interact with animated characters such as Elmo or Cookie Monster. By using blue screen, the show’s producers are able to seamlessly blend live action footage with animated characters, creating a magical world for children.

Another example of blue screen being used in animation is in the 2009 film Avatar. The film used a combination of live-action footage and computer-generated imagery (CGI) to create its lush alien world of Pandora. To achieve this, the filmmakers used blue screen technology extensively throughout production. By filming actors against a blue screen, they were able to replace the background with CGI environments that perfectly matched the performance.

Using blue screen in animation requires both technical and creative skills. Animators must plan their shots and lighting carefully to ensure that the characters match the background that will be inserted.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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