About

Green Screen Edits are parodies of viral videos that include a chroma key background. Chroma key is regularly used for visual effects like CGI backgrounds in films and News broadcast videos.

Origin

In October 2006, Stephen Colbert called on internet users to create their own edits in a Light Saber Challenge using a green screen clip of Colbert that aired on The Colbert Report. Viacom ordered all youtube clips of the edits to be taken down since for copyright reasons.^[1] Some examples survived (shown below).

Spread

Eddy Wally 'Wow'

Eddy Wally's 'Wow' is a video clip of Belgian singer Eddy Wally^[2] looking into the camera and saying "Wow," which is often featured in montage parodies on YouTube.

On October 8th, 2007, YouTuber djvensterke2 uploaded a video titled "Wally," in which Eddy Wally appears in front of a blue screen, says "Wow!" and winks before exiting the frame (shown below). In the next seven years, the video gained over 261,500 views and 300 comments.

On July 22nd, YouTube Rabbi Cartman^[2] uploaded a green screen version of the Wally clip. On August 11th, YouTuber sonic007m uploaded a 10-hour looped version of Rabbi Cartman's video (shown below, left). On September 27th, YouTuber Garonen uploaded a video titled "Eddy [MLG] Wally is illuminati" (shown below, right).

Just Do It

Shia LaBeouf's Intense Motivational Speech is a video featuring actor Shia LaBeouf intensely shouting inspirational messages to the camera while gesturing bizarrely. The clip, filmed in front of a green screen, inspired numerous parodies, remixes and reaction videos.

On May 27th, 2015, Mike Mohamed^[3] uploaded a video to YouTube titled "Shia LaBeouf delivers the most intense motivational speech of all-time" accumulating more than 1.4 million views in its first five days online. The video is a segment from a collaborative video project between LaBeouf, Nastja Säde Rönkkö, Luke Turner and Central Saint Martins BA Fine Art 2015 students, originally uploaded to Vimeo^[4] by Rönkkö / Turner with the title "#INTRODUCTIONS".

On May 30th, 2015, Redditor ridris submitted a post linking to "Shia LaBeouf delivers the most intense motivational speech of all-time" to the /r/videos ^[5] subreddit, which gained more than 3,700 upvotes in two days. After the upload, many users began creating parody videos. YouTube user Michael McNeff uploaded "Shia LaBeouf TED Talk" (below, left) on May 30th, 2015, and within two days the video had more than 1 million views. Another remix, titled "Damn It Shia" (below, right) and uploaded on May 31st, 2015 by YouTube user millerwa4 has over 775,000 views in one day.

Sad Green Screen

On July 29th, 2015, YouTuber Devin Norris uploaded a video of a man acting sad with his arms in the air (shown below). The video accumulated 54,900 views in four years.

On July 29th, YouTuber Numberer1 added a rollercoaster background (shown below, left). The video gained 46,200 views in four years. On July 31st, The HuffPost^[6] reported on the Sad Green screen trend. On November 1st, YouTuber Azymaris uploaded a video of the Sad Green Screen in space (shown below, right). The video garnered 10,200 views in four years.

Time To Stop

It's Time to Stop is a memorable quote uttered by YouTube personality Filthy Frank in an exploitable green screen video that was uploaded in late December 2015. The video, which shows Filthy Frank walking into a green screen set with an oversized clock and yelling out the phrase, has inspired a series of remix videos from his fans.
The green screen videos come from a video uploaded on December 24, 2015 by one of the alternate channels of Filthy Frank, saying that many people had asked him for greenscreens, leading to him uploading various greenscene shots to the channel and to his website for free use. The most popular greenscreen is the "It's Time to Stop" shot, which has Frank shaking a large clock repeatedly saying "It's time to stop", which received over 900,000 views in the following two months.

On December 25th, YouTuber UdonWithGarlicSauce uploaded a parody that gained 60,100 views in four years (shown below, left). On January 4th, 2016, Pyrocynical also uploaded a parody to YouTube that has accumulated 1.5 million views in four years (shown below, right).

Are You Sure About That

Are You Sure About That? is a memorable quote uttered by wrestler John Cena in a hidden camera prank video. The scene was later adapted as green screen and inserted in other videos.

The original video was uploaded on June 29th, 2016 on Cricket Wireless' YouTube channel, featuring a hidden camera prank riffing on Unexpected John Cena. In the prank, individuals thought they were auditioning for a chance to introduce John Cena. Cena then appears in the scene with his theme music playing. One of the scenes features Cena ripping the paper and shouting "are you sure about that?" The video gained over 13 million views in the following two weeks and has since been taken down.

On June 30th, 2016, YouTube user UFKinWotm8 uploaded a video of just Cena saying the phrase with just a green screen for a background and no other noises.

After the clip and its isolated green screen variation hit YouTube, dozens of YouTube and Vine users began inserting Cena saying "Are You Sure About That?" into various other videos. The trend was particularly popular on Vine as a joking way to call into doubt what someone in a separate video is saying (Vine compilation shown below).

Green Screen Grandma

On July, 2nd, 2016, Канал Татьяны uploaded her first YouTube video featuring green screens which has gained 141,000 views in three years (shown below). He soon gained a following and Buzzfeed News ^[8] reported on the popularity of her channel.

On March 4th, 2017, Канал Татьяны uploaded her most popular video featuring hersel in a green screen underwater adventure (shown below, left). The video gained 921,900 views in two years. On April 23rd, she uploaded "I'm flying off a cliff without a parachute. Tatiana's channel. Chromakey Features" which gained 609,400 views in two years (shown below, right).

Phil Swift Green Screen

Phil Swift's Green Screen is a video featuring Phil Swift from Flex Tape walking to a green screen to check it, and ends up surprised when he finds out it's a blue screen. The video has been changed to what Phil reacts to. On August 17th, 2018, "@philswift.tv" uploaded the video to his Instagram (shown below).

On August 30th, YouTuber Memma uploaded a parody that has gained 37,800 views in a year (shown below, left). On September 23rd, KChunky Nguyen also uploaded a YouTube parody (shown below, right). The video garnered 2,000 views in a year.

Stephen A. Smith Green Screen

On March 7th, 2019, Sports Journalist Stephen A. Smith uploaded a bloope reel to Twitter which gained 14,900 retweets and 67,300 likes in a week (shown below).

Twitter users began adding in backdrops. Twitter user Hector Diaz uploaded a parody that same day (shown below).

Twitter user Matt Rahemba also uploaded a parody that includes Smith in a Beyonce video (shown below).

St. Patrick's Day Chicago River

On March 17th, 2019, St. Patricks Day, Chicago dyed their river green. Twitter user @TwoClawsMedia decided to use the river like a green screen an include edits (shown below). The tweet gained 32,000 retweets and 136,200 likes.

That same day, other Twitter users participated in editing video footage of the river. @ParkerMolloy uploaded an edit featuring the starting line up for the 1997 Chicago Bulls (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References