Breaking Down the Fastest Green Screen Methods

The world of video-making owes much of its magic to small leaps of innovation. One of these leaps is the use of the chroma key background, which most people know by the more colloquial term—green screen.

Chroma key, also known as green screen or blue screen, is a cool hack for seamless visual storytelling, allowing content creators to replace backgrounds with any image or video they want. This technique is widely embraced in film, television, and online content, and has opened the door to limitless creative possibilities. Aside from its ability to maximize creativity, it is also cheap to employ and convenient to set up, which has made it a staple for everyone who works with visuals.

In this simple guide, we’ll delve into the fundamentals of the chroma key effect, how it is used for video making, and how to leverage that as you perfect your visual content.

YouTube Video Background Creating realistic video scenes at your will is easy to complete with Filmora green screen removal.

Create Video Backgrounds Create Video Backgrounds Learn Green Screen

How Does Chroma Key Work?

Chroma Keying is done by singling out a specific color (usually green or blue) from the foreground, removing it, and replacing it with a different background (for example, a sunset). This process typically follows a series of steps:

• Background Selection:

A solid, single-color background, often green or blue, that contrasts well with the subject must be used. The color chosen should not be present in the subject or any props in the camera field to avoid unintentional transparency.

• Color Keying:

This requires the use of specialized visual effects software to key out the chosen color. The green or blue background is designated as transparent, making everything of that color see-through. The software distinguishes between the keyed color and the subject, creating a mask for the transparent areas.

• Foreground Filming:

This involves filming the subject against the live chroma key background. During filming, the chosen background color (green or blue) won’t appear in the final result due to its transparency. The subject is captured as if separately from the isolated background.

• Post-Processing:

In post-production processing, the editor takes the keyed-out color and replaces it with the new background of their choice. This step creates the illusion that the subject is in a different setting or environment. The transparent areas become filled with the chosen background which, if done right, results in a cohesive and visually appealing composition.

Why Green?

Theoretically, the chroma key background can be any solid color. However, the most commonly used colors are studio blue and bright green, with the latter far more common.

The choice of background color depends on the specific requirements of the production and the colors present in the scenes being filmed.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Contrast

The less similar your chosen background color is to natural skin tones, the easier to isolate and replace in your footage. Bright green provides a strong contrast to most human skin tones and is less likely to be present in costumes or natural surroundings, making it easier to isolate subjects during the color separation.

Luminance

The color green emits light with greater intensity than blue, allowing for far more effective isolation by cameras during filming. This also means that blue screens demand increased lighting for proper exposure compared to green. This situation may be less than ideal if you lack powerful lighting or you don’t have the big bucks for them.

Digital Sensors

Many digital cameras and sensors are more sensitive to green wavelengths, resulting in cleaner and more accurate color keying during post-processing. Modern technology has also evolved to optimize for a green background, making it a more practical choice for the chroma key effect.

Wardrobe and Set Design

Bright green occurs less naturally in costumes and set designs than other colors, making green the optimal choice for reducing the likelihood of color spill and keying issues. However, if you know your scene will have lots of green, it is probably best to film with a blue screen, so there’s less risk of color spill and less post-production work.

Setting up Your Own Chroma Key Studio

Setting up your chroma key is convenient and straightforward, but there are some key factors to consider while setting up to ensure maximal performance.

Choosing the Right Background Color

The first step in the chroma key setup is selecting the right background color to be keyed out. This choice determines your effective color separation and ensures a smooth keying process during editing. Choosing a chroma-key background color that contrasts distinctly with the subject’s colors is essential for effective color separation. This prevents unintentional transparency, color spill, and ensures a polished final result.

Lighting Considerations

Lighting is an important part of the chroma-keying process. Bold, uniform, and consistent lighting on both the subject and the background makes it easy to delineate one from the other fully. This minimizes shadows and variations in color, creating a smooth and seamless keying process. Multiple diffuse lights from different angles are often used to illuminate the green screen evenly.

Positioning/Camera

Proper subject and camera placement are necessary to ensure an even color-keying process during post-production. To prevent shadow interference, the green screen should be smooth, tense, and without wrinkles or shadows.

High-quality cameras are essential every time, especially for chroma keying. Images with better definition are easier to key, so camera quality significantly affects the outcome. Even if your camera isn’t the best, merely shooting well can ensure a clean color-keying process during editing, resulting in professional-looking visuals.

Recording Tips for Chroma Key

• Proper Lighting

Maintaining uniform and well-defined lighting during recording is essential for a successful chroma-keying process. This consistency ensures a seamless keying process during post-production.

• Keep Distance from the Green Screen

The optimal distance between the subject and the green screen minimizes color spill and allows for natural movements. Proper distance between subject and background allows for easier isolation of the background and much smoother post-editing. A recommended starting point for the issue is around 6 to 10 feet from the background.

• Subjects and Clothing

As mentioned before, the choice of costume for Selecting appropriate clothing that doesn’t match the chroma key color prevents transparency issues. Subjects also have to be positioned in such a way that there is minimal light interference and reflection. These contribute to a flawless chroma key outcome.

3 Basic Troubleshooting Strategies

• Color Spill

Sometimes, reflected light from your green background can be cast on your subject and may remain so when the background light is keyed out. This phenomenon is known as a color spill. It is usually because of uneven lighting or shooting around reflecting surfaces. Avoiding spill can differentiate between good and lousy chroma key aftereffects.

Human hair is one area where color spill can show up unsuspectingly. Due to the translucency of hair, it is common for some unintended light to seep through. This allows some background visibility, which you do not want with a chroma key. This is especially notable with lighter hair colors like blond hair.

There are ways to account for this. Many video-editing software have features such as spill suppression and screen matte adjustments that can enhance the final footage. Specialized plugins also go a long way in ensuring minimizing spill. Addressing spill correction tackles unwanted green artifacts and ensures a clean keying process.

• Poor Lighting

Suboptimal green screen lighting can lead to inconsistencies in keying and editing, undermining your product. One way to avoid this is to light the screen and subject separately. Another tip, although expensive, is using multiple diffuse light sources and trying to maintain even lighting across every square foot of your scene. Super bright or dark spots can ruin your output, so it’s worth the extra effort if you don’t want to deal with problematic post-production.

• Poorly Refined Edges

Chroma keying should leave your videos with crisp, defined, natural-looking edges. But post-production editing can make all the difference if it doesn’t come out to your taste. Softening and refining edges make a smoother transition between the foreground object and the new background. Light adjustments to edge thickness and screen matte settings can also help enhance overall visual quality and add finesse to your work.

Conclusion

Green screen photography produces excellent results, and its ease of use makes it indispensable for videographers of all levels. In this guide, we’ve discussed chroma key technology, its role in the industry, and how to apply it to your craft to elevate visual content.

Chroma key, also known as green screen or blue screen, is a cool hack for seamless visual storytelling, allowing content creators to replace backgrounds with any image or video they want. This technique is widely embraced in film, television, and online content, and has opened the door to limitless creative possibilities. Aside from its ability to maximize creativity, it is also cheap to employ and convenient to set up, which has made it a staple for everyone who works with visuals.

In this simple guide, we’ll delve into the fundamentals of the chroma key effect, how it is used for video making, and how to leverage that as you perfect your visual content.

YouTube Video Background Creating realistic video scenes at your will is easy to complete with Filmora green screen removal.

Create Video Backgrounds Create Video Backgrounds Learn Green Screen

How Does Chroma Key Work?

Chroma Keying is done by singling out a specific color (usually green or blue) from the foreground, removing it, and replacing it with a different background (for example, a sunset). This process typically follows a series of steps:

• Background Selection:

A solid, single-color background, often green or blue, that contrasts well with the subject must be used. The color chosen should not be present in the subject or any props in the camera field to avoid unintentional transparency.

• Color Keying:

This requires the use of specialized visual effects software to key out the chosen color. The green or blue background is designated as transparent, making everything of that color see-through. The software distinguishes between the keyed color and the subject, creating a mask for the transparent areas.

• Foreground Filming:

This involves filming the subject against the live chroma key background. During filming, the chosen background color (green or blue) won’t appear in the final result due to its transparency. The subject is captured as if separately from the isolated background.

• Post-Processing:

In post-production processing, the editor takes the keyed-out color and replaces it with the new background of their choice. This step creates the illusion that the subject is in a different setting or environment. The transparent areas become filled with the chosen background which, if done right, results in a cohesive and visually appealing composition.

Why Green?

Theoretically, the chroma key background can be any solid color. However, the most commonly used colors are studio blue and bright green, with the latter far more common.

The choice of background color depends on the specific requirements of the production and the colors present in the scenes being filmed.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Contrast

The less similar your chosen background color is to natural skin tones, the easier to isolate and replace in your footage. Bright green provides a strong contrast to most human skin tones and is less likely to be present in costumes or natural surroundings, making it easier to isolate subjects during the color separation.

Luminance

The color green emits light with greater intensity than blue, allowing for far more effective isolation by cameras during filming. This also means that blue screens demand increased lighting for proper exposure compared to green. This situation may be less than ideal if you lack powerful lighting or you don’t have the big bucks for them.

Digital Sensors

Many digital cameras and sensors are more sensitive to green wavelengths, resulting in cleaner and more accurate color keying during post-processing. Modern technology has also evolved to optimize for a green background, making it a more practical choice for the chroma key effect.

Wardrobe and Set Design

Bright green occurs less naturally in costumes and set designs than other colors, making green the optimal choice for reducing the likelihood of color spill and keying issues. However, if you know your scene will have lots of green, it is probably best to film with a blue screen, so there’s less risk of color spill and less post-production work.

Setting up Your Own Chroma Key Studio

Setting up your chroma key is convenient and straightforward, but there are some key factors to consider while setting up to ensure maximal performance.

Choosing the Right Background Color

The first step in the chroma key setup is selecting the right background color to be keyed out. This choice determines your effective color separation and ensures a smooth keying process during editing. Choosing a chroma-key background color that contrasts distinctly with the subject’s colors is essential for effective color separation. This prevents unintentional transparency, color spill, and ensures a polished final result.

Lighting Considerations

Lighting is an important part of the chroma-keying process. Bold, uniform, and consistent lighting on both the subject and the background makes it easy to delineate one from the other fully. This minimizes shadows and variations in color, creating a smooth and seamless keying process. Multiple diffuse lights from different angles are often used to illuminate the green screen evenly.

Positioning/Camera

Proper subject and camera placement are necessary to ensure an even color-keying process during post-production. To prevent shadow interference, the green screen should be smooth, tense, and without wrinkles or shadows.

High-quality cameras are essential every time, especially for chroma keying. Images with better definition are easier to key, so camera quality significantly affects the outcome. Even if your camera isn’t the best, merely shooting well can ensure a clean color-keying process during editing, resulting in professional-looking visuals.

Recording Tips for Chroma Key

• Proper Lighting

Maintaining uniform and well-defined lighting during recording is essential for a successful chroma-keying process. This consistency ensures a seamless keying process during post-production.

• Keep Distance from the Green Screen

The optimal distance between the subject and the green screen minimizes color spill and allows for natural movements. Proper distance between subject and background allows for easier isolation of the background and much smoother post-editing. A recommended starting point for the issue is around 6 to 10 feet from the background.

• Subjects and Clothing

As mentioned before, the choice of costume for Selecting appropriate clothing that doesn’t match the chroma key color prevents transparency issues. Subjects also have to be positioned in such a way that there is minimal light interference and reflection. These contribute to a flawless chroma key outcome.

3 Basic Troubleshooting Strategies

• Color Spill

Sometimes, reflected light from your green background can be cast on your subject and may remain so when the background light is keyed out. This phenomenon is known as a color spill. It is usually because of uneven lighting or shooting around reflecting surfaces. Avoiding spill can differentiate between good and lousy chroma key aftereffects.

Human hair is one area where color spill can show up unsuspectingly. Due to the translucency of hair, it is common for some unintended light to seep through. This allows some background visibility, which you do not want with a chroma key. This is especially notable with lighter hair colors like blond hair.

There are ways to account for this. Many video-editing software have features such as spill suppression and screen matte adjustments that can enhance the final footage. Specialized plugins also go a long way in ensuring minimizing spill. Addressing spill correction tackles unwanted green artifacts and ensures a clean keying process.

• Poor Lighting

Suboptimal green screen lighting can lead to inconsistencies in keying and editing, undermining your product. One way to avoid this is to light the screen and subject separately. Another tip, although expensive, is using multiple diffuse light sources and trying to maintain even lighting across every square foot of your scene. Super bright or dark spots can ruin your output, so it’s worth the extra effort if you don’t want to deal with problematic post-production.

• Poorly Refined Edges

Chroma keying should leave your videos with crisp, defined, natural-looking edges. But post-production editing can make all the difference if it doesn’t come out to your taste. Softening and refining edges make a smoother transition between the foreground object and the new background. Light adjustments to edge thickness and screen matte settings can also help enhance overall visual quality and add finesse to your work.

Conclusion

Green screen photography produces excellent results, and its ease of use makes it indispensable for videographers of all levels. In this guide, we’ve discussed chroma key technology, its role in the industry, and how to apply it to your craft to elevate visual content.

Next Gen of Video Visionaries

The YouTube Creator Summit - A Getaway for YouTube’s Top Talent

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Creator Summit has been held for several years. In 2019, it was held in Tokyo, Japan, but back in 2016, 2017 and 2018, it was held in New York City. This article just introduced the YouTube Creator Summit in 2017.

Tons of big-name creators were flown out by YouTube for a week of activities, networking opportunities, interesting speakers, and unicorn petting zoos. We assume.

• A map of Dumbo
• Post Cards
• S’well bottle
• Branded slippers
• Pins, pins, pins
• Denim jacket

Lilly’s Creator Summit adventures.

The Creator Summit is invite-only, and only 120 YouTubers attended including Grace Helbig, Lilly Singh, Matthew Santoro, Eva Gutowski, Jon Cozart, and Hannah Hart. We can really only imagine what went on based on what some YouTubers chose to share with us over social media. That’s how we know there were appearances from off-YouTube celebrities too, like Will Smith and Riz Ahmed.

Will Smith was one of the speakers at the summit. Turns out he’s a big fan of Lilly Singh.

Thanks to Nick from nickatnyte, for example, we have a pretty clear picture of the kinds of swag YouTube was giving away.

Nick talks about arriving in New York and goes through the swag box waiting in his hotel room.

There were some clues as to what the rest of the summit was like hiding amongst the swag too. Here’s what was in the box:

1. A map of Dumbo

The hotel YouTube put the creators up in was in Dumbo, Brooklyn. ‘Dumbo’ is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. While it used to be primarily an industrial area, Dumbo is now the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn with many of the old industrial spaces now serving as luxury residential lofts. Dumbo is also a hub for tech startups.

Tess takes you to some of her favorite places in Dumbo.

Dumbo is home to an interesting mix of ‘past’ and ‘future’. The creators who attended the summit probably had a lot of fun exploring it.

2. Post Cards

One of the major benefits of attending this summit would have been networking with other creators, but because of how busy everyone was and how awkward it can be to arrange ‘bumping into’ someone YouTube created a way for creators to send each other notes. All they had to do was write a note on one of the postcards YouTube provided them with and stick it in one of the red mailboxes at the event. YouTube took care of making sure the person it was addressed to got it.

3. S’well bottle

S’well bottles are stainless steel beverage containers that keep drinks hot or cold. They retail for around $45. YouTubers invited to the Creator Summit received ones with YouTube branding on them. A good water bottle is a convention/conference essential, so this was a very practical gift.

4. Branded slippers

To help them relax after long days at the summit, YouTube provided creators with YouTube-branded slippers. They look pretty comfy. Plus, now every time these YouTubers look down at their feet they’ll be reminded to go make some videos.

thinknoodles wearing his YouTube slippers.

5. Pins, pins, pins

There were numerous custom pins available at different events at the summit. Aside from a complementary Brooklyn and 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge (the hotel the creators were staying at) pins, the creators did not receive these in their swag boxes – they had to collect them.

6. Denim jacket

A denim jacket with a play button on it was also in the box. The idea was that creators would collect pins and display them on their new jackets. At the end of the week, they would have a great souvenir reminding them of every event they attended at the summit.

Hannah Hart posted this photo from a river cruise she and other YouTubers went on while in New York for the summit.

Most creators here on Filmora are still trying to grow their channels, but one day I hope you’ll be able to attend an event like the YouTube Creator Summit and tell us all about it!

Want to join the YouTube Creator Summit in the future? We all know that there is a long way to go, but we can start making good YouTube videos now. Remember to use Filmora with the templates and effects to touch up your YouTube videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Creator Summit has been held for several years. In 2019, it was held in Tokyo, Japan, but back in 2016, 2017 and 2018, it was held in New York City. This article just introduced the YouTube Creator Summit in 2017.

Tons of big-name creators were flown out by YouTube for a week of activities, networking opportunities, interesting speakers, and unicorn petting zoos. We assume.

• A map of Dumbo
• Post Cards
• S’well bottle
• Branded slippers
• Pins, pins, pins
• Denim jacket

Lilly’s Creator Summit adventures.

The Creator Summit is invite-only, and only 120 YouTubers attended including Grace Helbig, Lilly Singh, Matthew Santoro, Eva Gutowski, Jon Cozart, and Hannah Hart. We can really only imagine what went on based on what some YouTubers chose to share with us over social media. That’s how we know there were appearances from off-YouTube celebrities too, like Will Smith and Riz Ahmed.

Will Smith was one of the speakers at the summit. Turns out he’s a big fan of Lilly Singh.

Thanks to Nick from nickatnyte, for example, we have a pretty clear picture of the kinds of swag YouTube was giving away.

Nick talks about arriving in New York and goes through the swag box waiting in his hotel room.

There were some clues as to what the rest of the summit was like hiding amongst the swag too. Here’s what was in the box:

1. A map of Dumbo

The hotel YouTube put the creators up in was in Dumbo, Brooklyn. ‘Dumbo’ is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. While it used to be primarily an industrial area, Dumbo is now the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn with many of the old industrial spaces now serving as luxury residential lofts. Dumbo is also a hub for tech startups.

Tess takes you to some of her favorite places in Dumbo.

Dumbo is home to an interesting mix of ‘past’ and ‘future’. The creators who attended the summit probably had a lot of fun exploring it.

2. Post Cards

One of the major benefits of attending this summit would have been networking with other creators, but because of how busy everyone was and how awkward it can be to arrange ‘bumping into’ someone YouTube created a way for creators to send each other notes. All they had to do was write a note on one of the postcards YouTube provided them with and stick it in one of the red mailboxes at the event. YouTube took care of making sure the person it was addressed to got it.

3. S’well bottle

S’well bottles are stainless steel beverage containers that keep drinks hot or cold. They retail for around $45. YouTubers invited to the Creator Summit received ones with YouTube branding on them. A good water bottle is a convention/conference essential, so this was a very practical gift.

4. Branded slippers

To help them relax after long days at the summit, YouTube provided creators with YouTube-branded slippers. They look pretty comfy. Plus, now every time these YouTubers look down at their feet they’ll be reminded to go make some videos.

thinknoodles wearing his YouTube slippers.

5. Pins, pins, pins

There were numerous custom pins available at different events at the summit. Aside from a complementary Brooklyn and 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge (the hotel the creators were staying at) pins, the creators did not receive these in their swag boxes – they had to collect them.

6. Denim jacket

A denim jacket with a play button on it was also in the box. The idea was that creators would collect pins and display them on their new jackets. At the end of the week, they would have a great souvenir reminding them of every event they attended at the summit.

Hannah Hart posted this photo from a river cruise she and other YouTubers went on while in New York for the summit.

Most creators here on Filmora are still trying to grow their channels, but one day I hope you’ll be able to attend an event like the YouTube Creator Summit and tell us all about it!

Want to join the YouTube Creator Summit in the future? We all know that there is a long way to go, but we can start making good YouTube videos now. Remember to use Filmora with the templates and effects to touch up your YouTube videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Creator Summit has been held for several years. In 2019, it was held in Tokyo, Japan, but back in 2016, 2017 and 2018, it was held in New York City. This article just introduced the YouTube Creator Summit in 2017.

Tons of big-name creators were flown out by YouTube for a week of activities, networking opportunities, interesting speakers, and unicorn petting zoos. We assume.

• A map of Dumbo
• Post Cards
• S’well bottle
• Branded slippers
• Pins, pins, pins
• Denim jacket

Lilly’s Creator Summit adventures.

The Creator Summit is invite-only, and only 120 YouTubers attended including Grace Helbig, Lilly Singh, Matthew Santoro, Eva Gutowski, Jon Cozart, and Hannah Hart. We can really only imagine what went on based on what some YouTubers chose to share with us over social media. That’s how we know there were appearances from off-YouTube celebrities too, like Will Smith and Riz Ahmed.

Will Smith was one of the speakers at the summit. Turns out he’s a big fan of Lilly Singh.

Thanks to Nick from nickatnyte, for example, we have a pretty clear picture of the kinds of swag YouTube was giving away.

Nick talks about arriving in New York and goes through the swag box waiting in his hotel room.

There were some clues as to what the rest of the summit was like hiding amongst the swag too. Here’s what was in the box:

1. A map of Dumbo

The hotel YouTube put the creators up in was in Dumbo, Brooklyn. ‘Dumbo’ is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. While it used to be primarily an industrial area, Dumbo is now the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn with many of the old industrial spaces now serving as luxury residential lofts. Dumbo is also a hub for tech startups.

Tess takes you to some of her favorite places in Dumbo.

Dumbo is home to an interesting mix of ‘past’ and ‘future’. The creators who attended the summit probably had a lot of fun exploring it.

2. Post Cards

One of the major benefits of attending this summit would have been networking with other creators, but because of how busy everyone was and how awkward it can be to arrange ‘bumping into’ someone YouTube created a way for creators to send each other notes. All they had to do was write a note on one of the postcards YouTube provided them with and stick it in one of the red mailboxes at the event. YouTube took care of making sure the person it was addressed to got it.

3. S’well bottle

S’well bottles are stainless steel beverage containers that keep drinks hot or cold. They retail for around $45. YouTubers invited to the Creator Summit received ones with YouTube branding on them. A good water bottle is a convention/conference essential, so this was a very practical gift.

4. Branded slippers

To help them relax after long days at the summit, YouTube provided creators with YouTube-branded slippers. They look pretty comfy. Plus, now every time these YouTubers look down at their feet they’ll be reminded to go make some videos.

thinknoodles wearing his YouTube slippers.

5. Pins, pins, pins

There were numerous custom pins available at different events at the summit. Aside from a complementary Brooklyn and 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge (the hotel the creators were staying at) pins, the creators did not receive these in their swag boxes – they had to collect them.

6. Denim jacket

A denim jacket with a play button on it was also in the box. The idea was that creators would collect pins and display them on their new jackets. At the end of the week, they would have a great souvenir reminding them of every event they attended at the summit.

Hannah Hart posted this photo from a river cruise she and other YouTubers went on while in New York for the summit.

Most creators here on Filmora are still trying to grow their channels, but one day I hope you’ll be able to attend an event like the YouTube Creator Summit and tell us all about it!

Want to join the YouTube Creator Summit in the future? We all know that there is a long way to go, but we can start making good YouTube videos now. Remember to use Filmora with the templates and effects to touch up your YouTube videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Creator Summit has been held for several years. In 2019, it was held in Tokyo, Japan, but back in 2016, 2017 and 2018, it was held in New York City. This article just introduced the YouTube Creator Summit in 2017.

Tons of big-name creators were flown out by YouTube for a week of activities, networking opportunities, interesting speakers, and unicorn petting zoos. We assume.

• A map of Dumbo
• Post Cards
• S’well bottle
• Branded slippers
• Pins, pins, pins
• Denim jacket

Lilly’s Creator Summit adventures.

The Creator Summit is invite-only, and only 120 YouTubers attended including Grace Helbig, Lilly Singh, Matthew Santoro, Eva Gutowski, Jon Cozart, and Hannah Hart. We can really only imagine what went on based on what some YouTubers chose to share with us over social media. That’s how we know there were appearances from off-YouTube celebrities too, like Will Smith and Riz Ahmed.

Will Smith was one of the speakers at the summit. Turns out he’s a big fan of Lilly Singh.

Thanks to Nick from nickatnyte, for example, we have a pretty clear picture of the kinds of swag YouTube was giving away.

Nick talks about arriving in New York and goes through the swag box waiting in his hotel room.

There were some clues as to what the rest of the summit was like hiding amongst the swag too. Here’s what was in the box:

1. A map of Dumbo

The hotel YouTube put the creators up in was in Dumbo, Brooklyn. ‘Dumbo’ is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. While it used to be primarily an industrial area, Dumbo is now the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn with many of the old industrial spaces now serving as luxury residential lofts. Dumbo is also a hub for tech startups.

Tess takes you to some of her favorite places in Dumbo.

Dumbo is home to an interesting mix of ‘past’ and ‘future’. The creators who attended the summit probably had a lot of fun exploring it.

2. Post Cards

One of the major benefits of attending this summit would have been networking with other creators, but because of how busy everyone was and how awkward it can be to arrange ‘bumping into’ someone YouTube created a way for creators to send each other notes. All they had to do was write a note on one of the postcards YouTube provided them with and stick it in one of the red mailboxes at the event. YouTube took care of making sure the person it was addressed to got it.

3. S’well bottle

S’well bottles are stainless steel beverage containers that keep drinks hot or cold. They retail for around $45. YouTubers invited to the Creator Summit received ones with YouTube branding on them. A good water bottle is a convention/conference essential, so this was a very practical gift.

4. Branded slippers

To help them relax after long days at the summit, YouTube provided creators with YouTube-branded slippers. They look pretty comfy. Plus, now every time these YouTubers look down at their feet they’ll be reminded to go make some videos.

thinknoodles wearing his YouTube slippers.

5. Pins, pins, pins

There were numerous custom pins available at different events at the summit. Aside from a complementary Brooklyn and 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge (the hotel the creators were staying at) pins, the creators did not receive these in their swag boxes – they had to collect them.

6. Denim jacket

A denim jacket with a play button on it was also in the box. The idea was that creators would collect pins and display them on their new jackets. At the end of the week, they would have a great souvenir reminding them of every event they attended at the summit.

Hannah Hart posted this photo from a river cruise she and other YouTubers went on while in New York for the summit.

Most creators here on Filmora are still trying to grow their channels, but one day I hope you’ll be able to attend an event like the YouTube Creator Summit and tell us all about it!

Want to join the YouTube Creator Summit in the future? We all know that there is a long way to go, but we can start making good YouTube videos now. Remember to use Filmora with the templates and effects to touch up your YouTube videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read: