Screen Replacement
Put the right interface on every device in the shot.
The phone in the shot is showing the wrong app version. The laptop was blank or displaying a green card. The monitor behind the actor has the client’s competitor on it. Screen replacement puts the correct interface onto every device in frame, tracked so it stays locked to the glass as the device moves.
This is one of the most common commercial VFX requests, because software changes faster than footage gets reshot. A product demo filmed last quarter can carry this quarter’s UI, and a device that was never running the app at all can look like it always was.
- This service
- 4.8★107 reviews
- Overall
- 4.8★1,500+ reviews
- Delivered
- 2,300+orders completed
- Replies in
- 1 houraverage response
16+ years and 2,000+ projects. Ratings are from M. Jawad Zafar’s verified Fiverr profile (Level 2 Seller, 10 years) — check them there. Among his clients: STUDIO IO, Cherene Francis, Jamie Harrison Guitar.
What’s included
- check_smallPhone, tablet, laptop, monitor and TV screen inserts
- check_smallCorner-pin and planar tracking locked to the device
- check_smallScreen reflections, fingerprints and glass artefacts preserved
- check_smallScreen glow spilling correctly onto hands and faces
- check_smallMoiré and scan-line handling on filmed displays
- check_smallHands, fingers and objects correctly passing in front of the screen
- check_smallMotion blur matched to the device movement
How the work is done
- 01
Track the glass
Planar track in Mocha Pro across the screen surface — corner pins alone drift the moment the device tilts.
- 02
Roto the occluders
Fingers, thumbs and anything crossing the screen get their own mattes, so the new UI sits behind them convincingly.
- 03
Insert and grade
The replacement UI is inserted and graded to the exposure and colour of the original display, not pasted at full brightness.
- 04
Rebuild the glass
Reflections, smudges, glare and the slight sheen of real glass are preserved or rebuilt over the new content.
- 05
Match motion and glow
Motion blur matched to the device, and screen glow spilled back onto the hands and face holding it.
What gives a screen replacement away
A replaced screen that looks pasted on is almost always missing the glass. Real screens carry reflections of the room, fingerprints, glare and a slight sheen — remove all of that and you get a perfectly clean rectangle that no phone in the world has ever displayed. The second giveaway is glow: a bright screen throws light back onto the hands and face holding it, and if that light does not change when the screen content changes, the brain notices even if the viewer cannot say why. The third is fingers — a thumb that should pass over the UI but disappears behind it breaks the shot instantly.
Screen Replacement — questions
01How do you replace a phone screen in a video?
add
How do you replace a phone screen in a video?
The screen surface is planar-tracked so the insert stays locked to the glass through every tilt and move, anything crossing the screen — fingers, thumbs, reflections of objects — is rotoscoped so the new UI sits behind it, the replacement content is graded to the original display exposure rather than pasted at full brightness, and the glass reflections and screen glow are rebuilt on top. Corner-pinning alone is what makes screen inserts slide.
02Can you replace a screen that was blank or green during filming?
add
Can you replace a screen that was blank or green during filming?
Yes, and both are ideal. A blank or green-carded screen gives a clean surface with no content to remove first, and green cards additionally make tracking easier. If the device was showing real content, that simply adds a removal step before the insert. Screens that were switched off entirely also need the glow added back onto hands and faces, since there was none in the plate.
03Can you update app UI in footage that was already shot?
add
Can you update app UI in footage that was already shot?
Yes — this is one of the most common commercial requests, because software ships faster than video gets reshot. A demo filmed last quarter can carry this quarter’s interface without a reshoot. Provide the new UI as flat frames, a screen recording, or design files, and it is tracked in at the correct exposure and perspective.
04Why do replaced screens look fake?
add
Why do replaced screens look fake?
Three usual causes: the insert is too clean, with none of the reflections, glare or fingerprints that real glass carries; the screen glow does not change on the hands and face when the content changes; and fingers that should pass in front of the screen have not been rotoscoped, so they vanish behind the new UI. All three are handled as their own passes here.
Also called
Clients come to VFX Magic looking for this work under a lot of different names — screen replacement, phone screen replacement in video, laptop and monitor screen replacement, UI replacement / screen insert, screen comp, device screen compositing, app demo video VFX, TV screen replacement. If you are describing a problem rather than a technique, that is fine too: describe the shot and you will get an honest answer about whether it can be fixed.
Often needed with this
Send the shot.
Share reference footage or a shot description, the shot count and duration, your delivery spec and your deadline. Quotes typically come back within 24 hours. M. Jawad Zafar reviews every brief personally — no upfront fees, no obligation.