# Background (https://getreely.co/docs/directing/background)

> Set the canvas behind the phone: seven built-in backgrounds, any hex color, a gradient, or your own image.

The background is the canvas the phone sits on. It is the fastest way to change the mood of a video, and the easiest thing to get wrong — it should separate the phone from the frame, not compete with the screen.

## Built in

- Default
- Aurora
- Ocean
- Graphite
- Sunset
- Coral
- Mint

**Prompt:** `Use the Graphite background.`

## Your own

| Kind | Ask for it like |
| --- | --- |
| A solid color | “Make the background #1E2A44.” |
| A gradient | “Use a gradient from #1E2A44 to #0B0E17.” |
| An angled gradient | “Gradient from #FF4DC4 to #7A4DFF at 45 degrees.” |
| An image | “Use marketing/bg.jpg as the background.” |
| From your app | “Take the background from our app’s colors.” |

> A background you name explicitly always wins over one derived from [branding](https://getreely.co/docs/directing/branding).

## Choosing one that works

- Light app → darker canvas. Dark app → lighter canvas. Contrast is what makes the phone read as an object.
- Keep it quiet. A busy photograph behind a busy UI reads as noise at social-feed size.
- If captions sit on the canvas, the canvas has to stay legible under text — see [Captions](https://getreely.co/docs/directing/captions).