What is Screen Replacement?
Screen replacement is placing new content, such as an app interface, a website, or a video, onto a phone, laptop, or monitor screen in footage after it was filmed. It lets the screen show the final product even when it was blank or green on set.
- Category
- Creative & Video Production
- Also called
- Screen insert, Phone screen replacement, Monitor replacement
- In our work
- VFX & Cleanup
The screen is tracked through the shot so the new content follows its position, angle, and perspective, then matched for brightness, reflections, and glare so it sits inside the device rather than on top of it. A screen that nothing crosses in front of is straightforward.
Fingers tapping the screen, reflections sliding across the glass, and moire patterns make it harder, because those elements have to be rotoscoped and layered back over the new content. That is why a phone held in a hand usually costs more to replace than a laptop on a desk.
Common questions.
Should I film the screen on or off for screen replacement?
Usually off or showing a plain tracking pattern, with the brightness kept moderate so reflections and fingers stay visible. A bright, busy screen leaves glare and light spill that has to be removed before the new content can sit cleanly.
Why is a hand-held phone harder to replace than a monitor?
The phone moves, tilts, and is covered by fingers. Each finger that crosses the screen has to be separated and placed back over the new content, frame by frame.
Related terms.
Compositing
Creative & Video ProductionCompositing is combining elements from different sources, such as a filmed subject, a replaced background, a screen insert, or a generated object, into a single image that reads as one shot.
Rotoscoping
Creative & Video ProductionRotoscoping is drawing a moving mask around a subject, frame by frame, so it can be separated from its background.
Paint-Out
Creative & Video ProductionPaint-out is removing something from a shot that should not be there, such as a logo, a boom microphone, a rig, a crew reflection, or a blemish, and filling the space so the removal cannot be seen.
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