New Guide: How to Add Green Screen in Premier Pro

Green screens are used everywhere, from big-budget films, educational videos, YouTube vlogs, and even on the shortest TikTok reel. It lets you be creative in the editing room without the hassle of reshooting and the logistical nightmare of shooting a scene. With green screens, you can exercise flexibility while still delivering professional-grade content. While it may look complicated and technical, green screen editing has never been more accessible using a highly reliable tool such as Premier Pro. Aside from the usual video editing techniques, you can also learn how to add a video to green screen in Premier Pro, even as a first-timer. If you’re looking at where and how to start, you’ve come to the right place, as this article will show you how.

Part 1. Why Use a Green Screen in Your Video Projects

You may have seen behind-the-scenes videos of blockbuster sci-fi movies where actors act with a huge green backdrop in a studio. Think of Avatar, Game of Thrones, or Transformers. It may be all green during shooting. In cinemas, however, it all comes to life with fantastic and out-of-this-world backgrounds of dragons, robots, galaxies, and outstanding nature.

It’s all been made possible with green screen technology and the process behind it, which is chroma keying. With green being the least color found in human skins, it's easy to remove and replace it with another video. Aside from movies, you see this mostly in newsrooms, especially on the weather update portion. Some YouTube videos also use green screens as part of their content appeal. Here are some reasons why using a green screen is beneficial:

• Saves you time, money, and logistical requirements
• Gives you flexibility and extends the usage of a video
• Helps you to maintain consistent branding

Most importantly, learning how to add a video to the green screen in Premier Pro or any other tool gives you the advantage of being more creative and versatile in your projects.

Part 2. How to Add a Green Screen in Premier Pro [Recommended for Professionals]

When it comes to video editing, the name Premier Pro has become a staple in the area of post-production. Professional editors from businesses, movie studios, and even freelancers use this powerful video editor in small and big-budget projects. The main advantage of using Premier Pro lies in its rich editing suite, filled with an extensive array of tools at your disposal. In it, you can:

• Find a complete set of basic and advanced editing tools to create stunning content, do seamless video color correction, and integrate incredible video effects and transitions.
• Work on different video formats from MP4, AVI, WEBM, MPEG, GIF and more. It also supports various formats in audio, like MP3, M4A, and WAV, to name a few.
• Integrate conveniently with other Adobe products in the Adobe Creative Suite, such as Adobe After Effects.

With these features, it’s no surprise that Premier Pro is one of the industry-leading software in video editing. You can do a lot with this tool, like green screen editing. As such, you’ll have to learn how to add a chroma key in Premier Pro. Before going through the process, ensure you have the Premier Pro installed on your PC, a video with a green screen ready, and the video clip you want to use as a background to replace the green screen.

Once done, head over the steps below to add a green screen to the video in Premier Pro:

• Step 1: Open your Premier Pro software and go to New Project.
• Step 2: Once in the timeline, go to File, then Import. Select the video with the green screen and the background clip. Drag your background clip to the timeline first, then stack your green screen video over it.

• Step 3: Select the clip with the green screen and go to your Effects panel. From here, choose Video Effects, then go to Keying. Look for the Ultra Key effect, then drag and drop it to your green screen clip.

• Step 4: After that, go to Effects Controls and head to Ultra Key. From here, select the Eyedropper tool and select the green color in your video clip. You can instantly see the background change from a green screen to your chosen clip.

Bonus Tip: You may still see some leftover green colors on the edges of your original clip. This would depend on the shadows and lighting combination of your two videos. To fix this, choose videos with the same or closer lighting quality or use the Matte Correction and Matte Cleanup effects to remove any green color left.

Part 3. Add a Green Screen in Filmora [Best for Any Users]

While Premier Pro remains a top choice for most, it can still have disadvantages. Premier Pro is known to have high system requirements, so you will need higher computer memory and desktop specs. Although its interface is easy to use and navigate, it can take a longer learning curve for beginners to familiarize themselves. Lastly, the use of the software is subscription-based, so unless you are a frequent user, it could be costlier down the line.

Luckily, you can opt for Wondershare Filmora – an incredible software editing tool that caters to any user. Whether a beginner or professional video editor, you can use Filmora to create stunning video projects and deliver the best content to your target audience. The tool can give you a superb editing experience and lets you:

• Work with a comprehensive editing library equipped with a chroma key feature for easy green screen editing.
• Have the ability to adjust your chroma key settings like the tolerance, edge thickness, edge feather, and alpha channel to get a natural and seamless green screen removal.
• Access a diverse portfolio of unique background footage for your green screen, audio tracks to complement your video, and other video effects to enhance your entire presentation.
• Conveniently import media files in different video and audio formats from MP4, MPEG, AVI, GIF, and more.
• Gain flexibility in editing on multiple platforms from Windows, Mac, tablet, or even mobile.

Similar to the guide above on add green screen video in Premier Pro, you can also do the same with Filmora. To start, go to the Filmora website and download the latest version to your desktop. Once done, follow the steps below:

• Step 1: Open Filmora and go to New Project. Then, go to Import and select two videos: one with a green screen and the other with your background clip. The latter is the video clip you want to replace your green screen background with. Once imported, drag the background clip to your timeline first, then stack your green screen video over it.

• Step 2: Go to AI Tools and enable the Chroma Key. You can instantly see the green screen removed and changed with your background clip. Tip: You can use the Eyedropper tool to match the green color in your clip and have a green screen removal result. You can adjust the Tolerance, Edge Thickness, and Edge Feather accordingly.

After going through these steps, you can use other editing tools in Filmora, such as adding transitions, effects, or color correction. You can even go to the Stock Media panel and select an audio track for your content. However, if you’re satisfied with the output, go to Export and select the output settings to your preference before ultimately saving your project.

Part 4. Best Practices in Preparing Your Green Screen Footage

Although both Premier Pro and Filmora are advanced tools with highly-regarded capabilities, the pre-editing quality of your video can still make or break the entire content. A well-shot footage makes the editing work so much easier and better. Before you add video to green screen in Premier Pro, Filmora, or any other editing software, here are some recommended tips to achieve optimal results:

• Ensure your subject is evenly lit. Lessen shadows on the background, as this can be difficult to remove or blend with another video later during editing. You can use lights on each side of your subject’s angles to minimize dark spots.
• Avoid wearing green clothing or any hue of color. In the editing room, the tool will pick up all areas in your footage with the color green and run the risk of washing out everything in it, even if not intended. For example, if you’re wearing a green shirt, it will disappear along with your background.
• If you have to wear green screen clothing, ensure proper distancing
• Remove reflective surfaces as they can reflect green, causing possible spills to the subject or other parts of your video. These include shiny clothing, jewelry, glasses, and any glossy materials.

Conclusion

Now that you know how toadd chroma key in Premier Pro, you can try it out on your projects. You now also have a working knowledge how green screen contents work, like in movies, YouTube videos, weather broadcasts, or any other type of content that uses the same technique. While Premier Pro is a highly-regarded tool, it has its disadvantages. In this case, you can try Filmora’s powerful editing software. It’s a comprehensive tool that’s perfect for any user. Beginners and professionals alike will find its intuitive interface, advanced features, and diverse resources a handy tool in video editing. Aside from green screens, you can also explore the rest of its features and discover more tools to be creative with.