Can I suppress ("blue-screen"?) the background of a video?

Question

I am going to record a short (approximately 5 minute) video of myself talking.

I want the background (which will be "bla" and perhaps a bit grainy, as I will probably just be using the built-in photo app on my iPad) to be "blacked out" (it will be whitish (the sliding doors of my clothes closet will be my "background")).

There is an app/web site that removes the background of still images of people (remove.bg); I want to do the same with this video (and then turn the background black, rather than leave it white, as I do with Paint's "bucket" feature after downloading the background-removed picture after using the site above).

Is this possible? Of course it is; I guess my real question is, "How can I do this using the built-in video capabilities of my iPad or via a free or inexpensive video creation/editing app"?

Answer 1

Natron is a free and open source software that allows for keying (removing a specific color from your video, helpful if you actually have a blue or greenscreen) as well as rotoscoping which is a technique to mask out specific parts of a video through a mix of manual and automated masking.

If you have the possibility it will be a lot easier if you record yourself infront of a single color background that is in contrast to yourself, also avoid wearing colors that are similar to your background color. It does not always have to be a blue or green screen. Lighting is also important.

Of course the best approach of all is to do it right while recording and get a black sheet instead of residing to digital editing which is a LOT harder to achieve a reasonable result with. This will change with machine learning becoming more and more available but at the moment the most natural looks is always achieved in front of the camera.

Answer 2

Well, white could get quite difficult, it would need to clearly differnce you from the white background. (Dark clothes, dark hair...) Else I'd guess this won't give a good result. It would be better if you hang a green/blue clothe behind you. Something like a bath towel will do it just fine enough. Make sure to hang it really tight and put some good lighting on it.