Event

Goodbye green screen: Framer’s new 'infinite' video sets

Joseph

10:11

133K views

Jan 14, 2026

About this lesson

This is the behind-the-scenes story of how the Framer Academy studio came to life, and why Joseph refused to do green screen.

What started as a workflow problem in Oregon turned into a custom virtual production studio in Southern California, built around one constraint: hit record and get cinematic results with zero post-production pain.

Instead of a green screen, we built a real-time setup using a 120-inch Ambient Light Rejection (ALR) screen, projector-based environments, and physically accurate lighting. The result is a studio where backgrounds are in camera, lighting reacts naturally, and the entire system runs on a one-button automation.

Inside the build:

• Why the Sony A7C II saved the project with precise shutter sync (when the FX3 couldn’t)

• How ALR screen physics let us shoot with full studio lighting on

• A fully automated “go time” workflow for instant recording and live-graded output

• Swapping environments on the fly using Cinema 4D renders and AI-generated sets

If you’re building a studio, fighting green screen, or curious what creator workflows look like after post-production, this video breaks down both the how and the why.

Follow: https://framer.link/yt-x

Learn: https://framer.link/yt-academy

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0:00This is a story about the creation of 0:02the Framer Academy video studio in 0:05Southern California, but it's also a 0:07story about [music] constraints and 0:10trying something out of the ordinary.0:12And it doesn't start in California.0:16It starts here, 740 mi north in Oregon,0:20where I created a pretty big [music]0:23problem.0:25Andy's green screen videos look amazing 0:28and I would love to be able to pull that 0:31off. However, his workflow is a freaking 0:34nightmare. He's not wrong. My workflow 0:37isn't automated at all. I record audio 0:40and video separately, process and sync 0:42them, then export a massive file to 0:45After Effects for multiple rounds of 0:47keying. It's slow, unforgiving, and 0:50resource intensive.0:52>> Is it's it takes forever. I have to turn 0:54I have [music] to turn around like one 0:55to two videos a week and I'm going to 0:57lose like a whole day just to the green 1:00screen workflow. I'm not doing all that.1:02I want to sit down. I want to push one 1:05button. I want the background to be in 1:07the scene. Like the Mandalorian. They 1:09didn't shoot on a green screen. They 1:10shot with a screen. An actual screen.1:14Why can't I shoot with an actual screen?1:16I had no idea that my choice of virtual 1:19production was going to create all these 1:21downstream headaches and infinite 1:23lighting and background [music]1:24expectations for other video people that 1:27would join in the coming months and 1:29years. So instead of feeling bad about 1:32that, I hopped on a plane to fly down to 1:35sunny Southern California [music] to 1:37document their process and help with a 1:39little light physical labor.1:40>> Can someone push the little button with 1:42the lock on it?1:43>> Yeah.1:43>> Yeah.1:44>> Yeah.1:44>> Sick. Why is this?1:46>> Can you push it more better?1:49[laughter]1:52>> This is the office suite. This is what 1:55we have to work with. We're going to be 1:56turning it into the recording studio of 2:00the future. And we can take a look at 2:01what that looks like. You want to see 2:02what it's going to look like? This whole 2:04thing has been planned out in great 2:07detail. I built what the plan is for 2:10this space to achieve essentially this 2:14composition. And what we're looking at 2:16here is the 120in projector screen 2:20behind a desk, right? This is 2:22theoretically me sitting at the desk.2:25The key to making this work, the key to 2:27making this convincing is having 2:29backgrounds that are rendered as if 2:32they're in the same physical space as 2:34the desk setup where I am, where my 2:36monitor is, the room that I'm actually 2:39in. Something I haven't mentioned yet is 2:42that both Joseph and Justin have 2:44previously been recording [music] in 2:45spare bedrooms or corners of their 2:47houses, and Joseph's home office is 2:49about to become a nursery. So, the move 2:51to an official studio for a more 2:53cohesive and branded look couldn't come 2:55at a better time. [music]2:56>> So, now that we got all this pretty well 2:58dialed in, today is all about sound 3:01dampening cuz what we were picking up on 3:03this mic when we did our test recordings 3:05last night was very pingy. There's a lot 3:08of hard surfaces in this room. And we're 3:09going to use the foam to separate the 3:11blankets from the wall a little bit. Cuz 3:14if the blankets are flush with a hard 3:15wall, they start to take on the 3:17characteristics of the wall itself.3:22What up? Welcome to [music] the new 3:25Framer Academy studio. This has been a 3:28work in progress for quite some time.3:31Still a little messy. I have plenty of 3:32cable management to do, but let's talk 3:34about the setup itself. We've got our 3:37camera over here, which is a Sony A7C2.3:42Normally we shoot with a Sony FX3, but 3:44with the setup that we have now with the 3:46projector, we have to set a very, very 3:49specific shutter speed to sync with the 3:52flicker of that projector. And the Sony 3:54FX3 actually can't do it. It can't let 3:57us tweak with the granularity that we 3:59need to have perfect sync. We've got our 4:01big key light here. Nothing too extreme 4:04for the light itself, but we do have an 4:06Amaran 300C, which is a full RGB light.4:09We also have two AMAN T4C's which again 4:14are full RGB lights. This is called an 4:17ambient light rejection projector 4:19screen, an ALR projector screen. And 4:22it's actually got a saw to pattern on.4:24It's very, very fine, but there's a saw 4:26to pattern where the top of each tooth 4:29is dark and not reflective, and the 4:31bottom of each tooth is highly 4:34reflective. It's gray, but it's highly 4:36reflective. And the projector down here 4:39is an ultra short throw projector which 4:41is going to shine light at a very steep 4:44angle. And that light that's coming up 4:46at a steep angle is going to be 4:48reflected forward. And the light that's 4:50spilling from the room, from the key 4:52light, from the edge lights, from 4:53whatever light's bouncing around is 4:55theoretically going to be rejected. Much 4:58like we need to isolate the sound in the 5:00room, we also very much need to isolate 5:02the light in the room. Killing the 5:04lights. When this computer comes on,5:06automatically wakes up the projector,5:08and I've got my image, the render that I 5:10put together in Cinema 4D, that is set 5:13as the desktop wallpaper because there's 5:15really no need to fiddle with any 5:16software just to display an image on a 5:20display. So, that's my desktop 5:22wallpaper. I can switch it out for a 5:24different wallpaper when we want to go 5:25to a different environment, but let's 5:27take a look at what the computer is 5:29going to do for us. I've set up some Hue 5:31switches. I've got dummy batteries. I've 5:34got a lot of things set up to happen 5:37automatically here. So, I'm just going 5:38to push a button called go time that 5:40runs an automation that I set up when 5:42it's go time. That's going to turn on 5:44the camera. It's going to turn on the 5:46auxiliary fan behind the camera. So, let 5:49me actually start recording and we can 5:51show you what this looks like and what 5:53it sounds like. I don't know if my hat's 5:55on straight, but yeah, here's the 5:57general idea. Got my shotgun mic here 5:59just out of frame. I'm looking over here 6:01at my monitor just to monitor the uh the 6:06video and the audio that I've got 6:08capturing. And then over here on the 6:09left is my actual workstation. So, as 6:12I'm working in Framer and recording 6:13myself, you're seeing this screen when I 6:16cut to my computer screen. So, two 6:19separate computers going on here. This 6:21whole setup is really just about 6:22control. control and automation and 6:25being able to hit record and get 6:27something that's super high quality 6:29without the horrific workflow of going 6:32through the process of keying out 6:34backgrounds and, you know, doing all the 6:36After Effects stuff that Andy likes to 6:38do. Now, you might be thinking the same 6:41thing I am right now. [music] I want to 6:42see more background options. This whole 6:45thing is kind of all about different 6:47backgrounds and flexibility, and so far 6:49we've only seen one.6:51All right, time to play with a few 6:52different backgrounds. And I've got a 6:54couple of sets of backgrounds to play 6:56with. One set I created myself using 6:58Cinema 4D. Another set was created by 7:01Andy using AI. What's fun about having 7:04created this in Cinema 4D is that I can 7:06play with the lighting. So, I can click 7:08the lights off. I can go full dusk by 7:12changing the lighting of the environment 7:14entirely. Let's go to a completely 7:17different environment. And now my edge 7:20lights have changed and I can play with 7:22those even more to kind of show you.7:24I've got these warm edge lights uh that 7:27allow me to sort of dial up the light 7:31from the background spilling onto me 7:34onto the desk and uh sort of kicking 7:36forward from the background. Let me 7:38reset my lighting to the uh first one 7:41where we started and let me go to one of 7:42his daytime scenes because he created 7:45this which has quite a bit of natural 7:49light spilling in from a window sort of 7:50off to the side which is kind of similar 7:52to the first example that we started 7:54with. But none of it's really hitting 7:57me. And one of the caveats to this setup 7:59is I can't really wrap myself in light 8:02from the front. So, if the background 8:04implies that there is light coming from 8:06all angles in this space, I can't really 8:09light myself for that because that light 8:11would spill onto the projector and it 8:13would wash out the image. So, this lends 8:16itself, this whole setup kind of lends 8:18itself more to darker, moodier lighting,8:21to setups where there isn't a ton of 8:23light in front of me, but there is light 8:24behind me. There we go. That's much 8:26better. I created a preset where the 8:28light is not so much splashing on me 8:31from behind for sort of darker 8:32backgrounds. And then we've got that 8:34cool dark light that's bouncing off the 8:36back. And there's another one that looks 8:37kind of dark and blue that he gave me.8:40Yeah, this one here. Um, might be a 8:42little bit weird that the background is 8:44this close to me and this warm light is 8:48hitting me but is not hitting the 8:50background. So, this is one of those 8:52scenarios where I wish this wasn't AI 8:56cuz I could kind of fine-tune this in 8:57Cinema 4D. Andy created this one in AI,9:00but if I were to recreate this one 9:01perhaps in Cinema 4D or have Andy take 9:03another pass at it, I would probably 9:05account for the key light that's hitting 9:07me also hitting the background. The 9:09background couldn't possibly be this ice 9:12cold if it's this close to me and I'm 9:14this warm. This one I'd probably want to 9:16light similarly to the previous one,9:18except in this case we've got the light 9:21coming more directly from behind. There 9:23we go. That's a bit better. And then 9:25this last one that Andy sent over, it's 9:28pretty similar. Pretty similar. We got 9:30sort of a like a 3/4 window light uh 9:33vibe going on. Kind of like splitting 9:35the difference between the side window 9:37here and the rear window here. So yeah,9:40we got a lot of options to go with and 9:42they're all they're all pretty 9:45lightable. So yeah, looks to me like 9:46this setup is going to be pretty 9:48flexible. Works well with light 9:50backgrounds, dark backgrounds, as long 9:51as the implication is not that I'm in an 9:54environment that's completely surrounded 9:56by light. If you want to see what kind 9:58of things come out of this studio, check 10:00out the Framer Academy and design your 10:02own website for free at framer.com.10:08This is BTS.

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