Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Green Screen Practice

As part of our Narnia blogging experience, we wanted to give the students an option to create a vlog entry as well.  So, the other day, I asked for volunteers.  "I need two students who are done their assignment for the day and are ready to do something crazy."  (Amazing how that motivates kids. "Something crazy" has to be a good thing. Right?!?!)

I took my two students in the hall and explained what they were doing, and almost immediately one of them commenting about the background.  After all, cement blocks painted white is not a Narnia-inspired look.  So, I started exploring the options of using a green screen.  

As it turns out WeVideo has a green screen feature, AND our school owns a small green screen! It was a match made in heaven! 

Last year in my previous school, I co-taught a couple media production classes for middle and high school.  But, by saying "co-taught" it just meant I helped by managing and organizing the courses.  I actually had no idea how to do half the stuff the students were doing.  So, I missed the green screen lesson completely.  Fortunately, WeVideo makes it super easy.  

Below are two promos that I created for the entire vlog experience.  The first was shot with my iPhone 6 (front camera) and the second was shot with my Chromebook webcam.  




We showed the first video to the students today, and they were pumped! They were certainly excited to see me with the mountain background AND they can't wait to start using the green screen.  This will be fun!

Now, I'm experimenting with using (finding) lights to make a more consistent green color on the screen.  While the phone camera did a better job, I'd much rather not use it for all 50 videos.  So, I want to make things work on the webcam for a usable video experience.

Stay tuned.  Good things to come.  Of course.

And, if you want to watch 27 seconds of utter cuteness, you need to watch this...

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