Green Screen Collaboration and Elaboration

Frau Adams teaches German at both Mt. Ararat Middle School and High School. Several weeks ago, she encouraged middle school students to create a variety of multimedia submissions. ITeam members who had worked with the green screen chose to use it for their assignment. Ms. Myers, Chair of the Foreign Languages Department at the High School, learned from Frau Adams about the green screen project her students had done. She thought that it would be a useful approach for one of her upcoming assignments: Picnics in January.

Ms. Myers started sending students down to check out the video production studio. On Friday, Emma and Molly asked two interesting questions:

First, if we wear green, can we make parts of us disappear?

Yes, during our work on the middle school "Das Wetter Projekt," Alyssa wore a green shirt. We learned that we "saw" through her torso. The shirt didn't match the screen color exactly but was apparently close enough to cause parts of her to disappear. It may be tricky to get the lighting right for a convincing special effect but matching color may help. Here is the link to the product description at the fabric store that supplied the green screen fabric.

http://www.joann.com/joann/search/searchall.jsp?keyword=6658660
The color is "lime green."

Second, can we superimpose video on top of video or only on still images?

I didn't know the answer to that question so, we quickly prototyped the idea with a video clip of Molly and Emma and superimposed it on a clip of middle school ITeam members building their green screen. While the lighting (script, set design, ...) need work, it is clear that concept works. With repeated additions of green screen tracks, the program may have some challenges with audio tracks.



Emma and Molly discussed how they would work that into their project as they returned to class. I'm eager to see what they create!