How to Change the Background Using Premiere

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A green screen often is used in the chroma-key process.

Adobe Premiere is a video editing program that can be used to arrange raw footage and add effects. If your footage has a static, colored background that you would like to change, use the chroma-key effect. This tool identifies the color of the background and makes it transparent so any image or video placed underneath will be shown as the background of your video.

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Step 1

Open Adobe Premiere. Select "File," then "Open" and navigate to your current Premiere project. Click the file and select "Open." Drag any tracks whose background you wish to remove into the timeline from the top left browser.

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Step 2

Select "Video Effects" under the "Effects" tab to the left of the timeline. Find "Chroma Key" and drag it onto the first track on your timeline you would like to change. This opens the Chroma Key Effect window.

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Step 3

Select the eyedropper icon next to "Color," then move your mouse over a portion of the background you want to remove. Click any spot on this background that is well lit. Premiere will take any part of the image that has that color and remove it.

Step 4

Drag the clip or image that you would like to make the new background of your video into the timeline's second video track, underneath your chroma-key track. This will replace the old background, because the image now has a transparent background.

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Step 5

Increase the "Similarity" setting in your chroma-key effect to remove a broader range of the color, such as darker or lighter shades if there are shadows in your image. Use the "Blend" key to blend together your old colored background and new background image. You most likely will want to leave this at "0." Select "Threshold," "Smoothing" and "Cutoff" to increase or decrease the effect's sensitivity and response to the colored background. Choose "Mask" to mask out any colors that still show through from the colored background.

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