Green Screen Treadmill

the new guy! 

Ye olde treadmill 

12 Years ago I bought an old treadmill off of craigslist for $15 and converted it for green screen use. At the time I was just starting to become familiar with After Effects and I knew the versatility of something like a green screen treadmill would give my videos a significant edge. Back in 2005, I was working with mini-dv format which gave me 720x480 resolution and a smooth workflow using Sony Vegas and After effects. I got a lot of use out of my original treadmill, using it on numerous projects and videos for almost 10 years, before the motor blew. Fast forward to 2017, with a new studio being constructed including a 300 sq/ft green screen cyclorama, I wanted to build another treadmill. I searched on craigslist for a while until I found a sweet deal for $25. The original owner barely used it so everything worked as it should. It was really easy to take apart and relocate the control board and saw off the support rails. I used professional chroma key video paint from B&H to pull the best key possible. I still need to cover up the side channels with filler to smooth out the top as much as possible. You can create things like a populated city street with simulated crowds or composite footage onto 3D tracked virtual backgrounds. There's so much you can do depending on how you cut it. As soon as the paint dried I shot a quick key test and I'm pretty darn happy with the results.