Creating a home video studio is something that everyone thinks about once they start to shoot a lot of video – whether for business, personal or professional use.  There are expensive kits you can purchase online to convert an area of your home into a studio but, being ever-frugal, I wanted to find a cheaper way to do it.  This post covers both the equipment you’ll need for the actual studio plus the software and gadgets you’ll want / need for shooting the videos.

STEP #1 — SHOPPING FOR EQUIPMENT

You’ll need to do a teeny bit of shopping first so to make it really easy, I’ve created a shopping list for you!

Studio Equipment

• Green Screen
  • Lusy Bed Spread from Ikea ($12.99 in the US, $24.99 in Canada)
• Bright Lighting for the Green Screen
  • 500W Halogen Lighting from Canadian Tire ($39.99)
  • 1000W Utilitech Lighting from Lowe’s ($44.98)
• Lighting for Yourself
  • Lersta Floor Lamp from Ikea ($14.99)
• Surge Protection Power Bar
  • Belkin Surge Protection Bar from Home Depot ($29.97)
  • Noma 6-Outlet Contractor Grade Bar from Canadian Tire ($19.99)

Studio Gear / Gadgets

• Video Camera
  • Flip Ultra HD Camcorder at Best Buy ($199)
• Tripod
  • Vanguard Tripod from Wal-Mart ($26.76)

Studio Software

• Video Editing Software – Green Screen / Chroma Key Ability
  • Final Cut Express
  • iMovie (with advanced options turned on)

Once you have your shopping done, it’s time to setup the actual studio.

STEP #2 — SETTING UP THE STUDIO

Find a location in your home that has space available for the green screen and plenty of space to setup lighting and the tripod for your camera.  Remember, you are going to want enough room to position the tripod far enough back to get the green screen fully in the shot.  In my home, my basement has not a whole lot in it so I choose an area of the basement for my studio.

The first thing I did was hang the green screen.  Since the Lusy bedspread has holes across the top, I was able to easily hang nails at the first and last holes and add one in the middle.  Then, I took packing tape and taped the sides down, working from the top and pulling gently as I went.  Since the sides have holes and will not be caught on camera, adding the tape in that location didn’t matter either.  It won’t be in the shot.

Once I had the green screen up and taped, the next step was to iron the green screen.  It’s best, in my opinion, to iron it right on the wall so long as you take care and don’t hold the iron in one spot for too long.  Since the walls in my basement are concrete, that doesn’t matter so much for me but please do be careful if your walls are any other substance.

After the green screen is prepped, you want to setup and structure your lighting in the room.  I have one set of 500W halogen lights that will be used to primarily light up the green screen.  If you aren’t doing full body green screen work, you could also get a floor light to put on the floor directly below the green screen.  However, halogen lighting gets VERY hot so keep it at a safe distance from all fabrics.  For floor flooding lights, you might want to consider non-halogen.

Make sure the area is really well lit and that your green screen has no flaws or wrinkles.  If it does, that will cause the green screen removal in the editing side to be faulty.

Lastly, setup your video tripod and equip your camera.  Set it up at a distance away from the green screen so you don’t have the Lusy bedspread holes showing and then mark it on the floor (helpful if you want to easily position it your next go around).

STEP #3 — TESTING IT OUT

Once you have all of the above done, film a short segment to test it out.  Bring the footage to your computer, download it and add it into your video editing software.  Try removing the green screen inside of the software and adding another background.  Watch the movement to see if any parts of the green screen need to be fixed.  If it’s not quite doing the trick, you may need brighter lighting or another ironing job on the green screen.

Any other tips to add to this post?  Leave them as a comment!