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Greenscreen

A fake backdrop โ€” and a metaphor for any obvious fabrication of context.

Origin

Chroma-key compositing, in which actors are filmed against a saturated green (or blue) backdrop and any pixels of that color are replaced with a separate image, has been a film standard since the mid-20th century โ€” but the green-screen version became dominant once digital compositing arrived. The metaphor โ€” 'looks greenscreened' for something visibly artificial โ€” followed.

Modern usage

Used skeptically about any video that looks staged, and about claims that ignore real-world context. 'He's giving a greenscreened version of events.'

Tags

fake
production
visual

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