It’s work in progress (WIP) time! For the music video of Orville Peck as the Lone Rider in “Queen of the Rodeo”, I decided to use a green screen technique. A green screen, also known as chroma keying, is a technique used in filmmaking to replace the solid green background with any desired image or footage during post-production. The green screen technique would allow me to combine images repurposed from the Lone Rider and Cowgirl Romances comics for the music video.
Step #1 in this process was to choose panels from the pages of the Lone Rider comic. Criteria for the panels were:
- they predominately featured the Lone Rider
- the Lone Rider was talking (i.e., he had a speech balloon)
- they satisfied the “rule of cool”, that is, they looked good.
(While on the topic of the Lone Rider panels, it is important to keep in mind that these comic books were published in the 1950s and, as such, they may contain language and depictions that are outdated and offensive. These representations may reflect historical or cultural contexts that no longer align with contemporary standards of inclusivity, respect, and sensitivity. It is important to recognize that these images may perpetuate stereotypes, discriminatory attitudes, or biases that are not acceptable today. They are included here for full transparency in the creative process, with the intention of promoting awareness, critical analysis, and understanding of the past.)
Step #2 was creating a green screen template where these images could be inserted. Using PowerPoint (I find PowerPoint to be one of the easiest programs to use for simple image editing, let me know in the comments what your favorite image editor is), I created various layers of green screen (see gallery, first image). The base green screen layer covered the entire image. The top green screen layer covered only a curved portion of the image. Between these two was a black outline of the curved portion, to create the gutter (space between comic book panels).
Step #3 was inserting the chosen panels from the pages on the Lone Rider comic in between the base and top green screen layers. Panels were resized and, if necessary, flipped horizontally (see gallery).
And… that is the progress so far. On the next WIP report, will the Lone Rider panels be complete? Will the project move onto the Cowgirl Romances phase? As the Lone Rider might say, “Hold onto your saddle, partner, there’s more to come!”