Green Screen in the Classroom

ISTE 2014 -- Green Screens in your Elementary Classroom
--Nicole Zubiate - STEM Outreach Center

What is a green screen?

In film and video, a green background can be placed behind subjects being filmed. This allows a separately-filmed background to be added to the final video. Using a green screen is a fun way to enhance any video project. Filming in front of a green screen allows any project to be virtually transported to a new location or setting.

Why use a green screen?

There are many green-screen film projects that can enhance learning in the classroom. Using a green screen can make projects more fun, interesting, and effective. For example:

• Flipped classroom - Are you filming a flipped classroom instructional video about math? Chemistry? Literature? Film in front of a green screen, then turn your background into your PowerPoint slides, lab demonstrations, or example problems.
• Instructional process - Filming in front of a green screen can enhance your step-by-step or if-then demonstrations. Film lab instructions, the writing process, or a technology how-to first, then add yourself in later in front of a green screen to point out details and important information.
• Reviews - Have students virtually jump into book pages, movie scenes, or works of art as they share your insights and opinions.
• Globalize your classroom - Report or teach while virtually in front of historical events, next to important people, or visiting far away places.
• Social studies, music, art, dance, plays, storytelling, digital journals - Teaching about the Pyramids of Giza? Studying Monet's Water Lilies? Performing Martha Graham'sAppalachian Spring? Why not do it all on location -- or at least use a green screen to make it look like you are on location?
• Media - Professionals have used green screens to create commercials, public service announcements, newscasts, and weather reports for decades. Give your students the real-world experience of creating their own green screen media productions.
• Claymation/Stop-motion animation - One of the most difficult things about creating an animation of any kind is keeping your background consistent. Using a green screen can help, and it can transport your characters to imaginary lands. (If claymation interests you, check out the book Fantastic Clay Critters for more ideas.)

How can I get a green screen?

You can purchase green screen kits on sties like buy.com or amazon.com. Some of them come with just the fabric green screen that you can tack to a wall, and some come with accessories like stands, clamps, and lights. If you do not have the money to spend on an actual kit, there are many ways you can get cheaper versions or even create your own:

• Buy a canvas, paint it with Gesso (a paint primer), then use cheap green tempura paint to color it.
• Cover a board (wood or strong cardboard) with green construction paper.
• Purchase a foldout screen from buy.com or amazon.com instead of a full green screen kit.
• Paint a room green.
• Tack up green fabric on your wall.
• Install green fabric on a shower curtain and install a rod so your green screen curtain can be pulled out when needed.
• Purchase or create a lighting rig, and hang green cloth on it instead of lights.
• Create a roller to roll the green screen out when needed and up when not needed. Try using an old projection screen. Be sure to attach, roll, and extend the green fabric so that it is tight.

When creating your own green screen, finding the right color is important. The correct shade of green makes it easier for your computer to remove the green and show your chosen background. When looking for potential green-screen fabric, paper, or paint, think of the color of a Sprite bottle for the right color.

Be sure to set up your green screen away from doors, windows, or adjoining walls. You want to avoid noise, uneven light, and interruptions to your filming as well as things or kids that can cause damage to your screen.

Is there a special way to film with a green screen?

You can film green screen footage with any camera, and no special camera settings are needed. It is actually the editing software you use that will remove the green you film and let your chosen background show through instead. There are some things you can do to ensure that your green-screen footage will turn out well:

• Lighting - Make sure your lighting is even and coming from one type of source if possible. Avoid shadows and multiple light temperatures. For example, if you are filming in a classroom that has overhead lights and lamps, you may want to turn off the lamps so that there are not multiple temperatures of light that can change the color of your screen. Or, if the overhead lights are causing shadows, you may want to turn them off and use only lighting rigs. This, of course, depends on what lighting equipment you have available.
• Camera shot - Be sure to zoom so that only the area of the green screen is in your shot. If portions of the wall behind your screen are in your shot, they will also show once once you have edited out your green screen.
• Tripod - Keep your camera steady by using a tripod. Once you have begun filming, do not move your camera until the shot is over unless you want your background to appear to move. It is usually better to keep the green screen footage still, and add moving background footage later.

How do I edit my green-screen footage?

In most movie-editing software, you simply import your green screen footage and whatever photo or footage you want to use as your new background. Place the green-screen footage into your movie project, then place your new background behind it. (The order you place your footage and new background depends on the software.) Your software will then either ask you what to do with the two clips or will show a button to let you decide what to do. Look for a choice that either says green screen or chroma key. Selecting this option will remove any green in your footage and show the new background you have chosen in place of the green. Read your editing software's help manual for details.

Some apps have been created to help make editing green screen footage easier. Some of these apps require that the green screen footage be recorded within the app, while others can import footage from you device's camera or photo library. Some of these apps even have special effects built right in that are already green screen. Check out the following green screen apps, and give them a try:

• KomaKoma
• Zu3D
• Green Screen by Do Ink
• Green Screen Mobile Effects
• Hands-On Green Screen Movie Effects
• Green Screen Movie FX Studio
• Green Screen Animation Studio

Why I Choose Pages

You're going to write a blog post about Pages? It's just a word processor, right? How boring!

Not so! Pages is one of my most frequently used computer applications. It's more than just word processing... it's beautifully-designed reports, newsletters, résumés, cards, posters, and more. It's easy-to-use graphic design and publishing capability.

Pages is, "...simple to use, easy to learn and has sharing features that should finally put an end to [your] complaints about friends who are unable to open the documents [you] send them... [Apple] has rethought its approach to the most boring of computer applications — the word processor — with some impressive results. It particularly shines in three areas: appearance, compatibility and sharing." (Shear)

Some features that make Pages my word processing software of choice are:

• The Pages template chooser offers great designs that are easy to tailor to your own tastes and needs.
• Menus and options are visual and easy to access using the formatting window (formerly the inspector).

Pages has, "...a contextual panel that slides out from the right. Editing text? Out pops the buttons for bold, font size and justification. Inserting a table? The panel switches to let you modify the rows and columns. Add a picture and you automatically get options for borders and shadows." (Shear)

• Multimedia is readily available, tied to iPhoto and iTunes.
• Automatic centering guidelines make arranging the components of projects easy.
• Sharing and exporting options allow sharing of documents in various file formats so that you can share projects with people who use other word processing programs.
• iCloud sharing options make your files easily accessible on various computer operating systems as well as iOS devices.

"The new version of Pages introduces an all-new sharing option, powered by the company’s iCloud service, that works remarkably well. Type in a person’s email address, click send, and that person receives a link to your document. When the link is clicked, the document opens in a web browser that looks like a fully functioning Pages application.... The recipient doesn’t have to have Pages installed or have an iCloud account. It even makes Mac-PC sharing easy. The new version runs just fine in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari on a Windows PC." (Shear)

In case the templates and tools that come with Pages aren't enough, there are many online tools and apps available to enhance Pages even more:

• The Toolbox for Pages app is available in the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store for free. Toolbox provides extra templates and graphics, some paid and some free, for creating even more Pages projects.
• Templates Box for Pages is also available on the Mac App Store. It is a bit pricey, but also provides new templates for use in Pages, including Calendar templates.
• There are a limited amount of free template downloads available from StockLayouts as well as paid membership options. I have found these a little more difficult to use, but it's still nice to have some freebees available.
• iWork Community is an online community built for sharing free templates created by Mac users who love Pages.
• And for those of you who can't live without them, here is the link to a template for Avery Labels with Address Book Merge!

For those of you who are less familiar with how to use Pages, following are several resources for learning more about the application:

• Apple.com - Pages
• Mac Apps Support - Pages
• Pages '09 Tutorial on the CSD Ed Tech Prolearning website, for those who haven't upgraded yet

Not only is Pages great for all the teacher projects you need to complete, it is also great for student projects. Check out these great examples:

• Posters 

• Brochures

• Reading Responses, Notes, Storyboards

• Reports

• Newsletters

• Memory Books

Pages isn't so boring after all, is it? There are many amazing things you can do in Pages, from word processing, to project creation. If you haven't ever given it a try, maybe it's time you do!

Citations:
Shear, Michael D.. "Apple’s Pages, Going the Distance With Word." The New York Times 27 Nov. 2013, U.S. ed., sec. State of the Art: 1-2. Web.

iPhoto Slideshows

We are getting closer and closer to the end of the school year -- a time for field days, awards assemblies, year books, and, of course, the end of year slideshow! My favorite tool for creating a quick and easy slideshow is iPhoto. I like it because it does most of the work for me. We all know how hectic the end of the year gets, so anything that is time-saving is very helpful.

So, how do you get started with your iPhoto slideshow? First, gather all the photos you want to have in your slideshow. This is the hardest part, especially if you are trying to gather photos from other people. ;) Add all of the photos you want in your slideshow to iPhoto by simply clicking and dragging them onto the iPhoto icon on your dock. Save time by selecting all of the photos and dragging them to the iPhoto icon all at once. iPhoto will open and take a few moments to load all the photos you just added. They will then show up in iPhoto as your last import.

Next you will need to select all of the photos you just imported. (The shortcut for selecting all is Command A.) iPhoto will highlight these photos in yellow.

With the photos selected, click on the + sign at the bottom of your screen and select Album, then New Album. Type the name you want to give the album, and type the return key.

The photos you have gathered for your slideshow are now stored as a group in iPhoto, making them easy to access later using the navigation on the left side bar. If you have other photos, either already in iPhoto or anywhere on your computer, that you want to add to your slideshow, simply click and drag them onto the name of your new album.

Now that all of your photos are gathered and in one place, it's time to make your slideshow! Go to your album by clicking on its name in the left side bar. Once again, select all of the photos in your album (Command A). When they are all yellow again, click on the plus sign at the bottom of your screen, and this time select Slideshow, then New Slideshow.

iPhoto will automatically create a new slideshow project for you in your left side bar. You will notice that all of the photos are shown across the top of your show. You can click and drag these photos to rearrange their order if you want to.

Using the tool bar across the bottom of your screen, you can instantly play your slideshow! As you watch, if you decide there are things you would like to change about the show, simply move your mouse and a tool bar will show up. Click on the settings icon, and you have access to all kinds of music, style, transition, and caption options.

Your slideshow is all set and ready to play. If you want to keep the slideshow to play later, you can click the Export button and send your show to your iTunes library where you can enjoy it again and again!

forScore App

This post is for all you musicians out there. One of my most frequently used apps on my iPad is forScore. This app manages all your sheet music, making your music rehearsals, performances, and teaching much easier. The forScore website describes it perfectly:

"Shelve those 3-ring binders. Get organized. Download and play something new in seconds. With forScore, your sheet music has never been better -- it's everything you can do with paper, and so much more."

ForScore allows you to import pdf files of sheet music. Once the music is imported, you can annotate it with a number of different pens. You can create set lists to manage your music. You have access to a metronome, piano keyboard, and pitch pipe to help you rehearse. ForScore can even be paired with a page turner to help those instrumentalists who need to use their hands to play. This is only a small list of this app's capabilities.

The forScore app quickly became my favorite music app. It costs $6.99 in the Apple iTunes Apps Store. Give it a try!