The Use of Chroma Key Technology in the Classroom Presented by Dean Pomfrett Wenona School 2009

What is Chroma Key?  Chroma key is often referred to as Green Screen or Blue Screen techniques  Chroma Key allows you to replace the background of a video with any still or moving image of your choice  Chroma Key is a simple yet powerful tool in special effects video making

How does Chroma Key work?  Chroma Key is a function built into certain video editing software  The computer recognises a certain a colour (usually bright blue or green) and makes it ‘see through’  This allows a background image or video to be seen wherever that colour was  This colour is usually used as a background

Justification to the use of video making in the classroom  Watching films, TV or Video is moving from a very passive activity to an interactive one  Education always keeps up with technology, from early film projectors to television and the internet  Interactivity and control of visual imagery is becoming more natural and even expected by students  One way we can allow creative use of visual imagery is to allow students to create their own videos in the context of the curriculum and the classroom.

Using Chroma Key in the classroom  Chroma Key can be used to enhance any video being made by the students in any KLA at in any stage To do this, the video must be shot in front of a green (or blue) screen. When editing this video, you tell the computer to replace this green colour with a background of your choice.

Ideas for using Chroma Key  Read stories to the camera as an alternative publishing method  Make a movie or video play  Make a news show – either real or fictional  Present scientific reports in character  Make a documentary on a studied topic eg hiccups  Record election speeches or pledges from school leaders to play back during the year of office to reinforce their commitment  Make simple trick effects like making people disappear  Animations, using drawings or photographs  Make a promotional video for the school  Make a musical video clip – as easy as random ideas edited together with a sound track  Memorabilia clip for an outgoing Year 6 or Year 12  Read a poem with a musical background and drawings inspired by the poetry  Make a simple game show with questions from a studied topic

STEP 1 Set up a green (or blue) background screen, the size you want your background to be. 5 Simple Steps to Chroma Key

STEP 2 Film your subject filling the background with the green/blue screen. 5 Simple Steps to Chroma Key

STEP 3 Import your movie into your computer editing program which contains a chroma-key function. 5 Simple Steps to Chroma Key Example shown here Pinnacle Studio.

5 Simple Steps to Chroma Key STEP 4 Determine your background, either moving or still and import this into your computer editing program.

STEP 5 Activate the Chroma-key function on the software and watch the magic begin. 5 Simple Steps to Chroma Key

STEP 5 Activate the Chroma-key function on the software and watch the magic begin. 5 Simple Steps to Chroma Key

Popular programs that support Chroma Key For PC  Pinnacle Studio  Sony Vegas  Adobe Premiere and Premiere Elements  Corel Video Studio For Apple  imovie Vers 9  Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express

Some tips for using Chroma Key  Try to have a smooth as possible colour background with as much even light as possible  More than fill the screen with green/blue because often the viewfinder on the camera doesn’t show complete coverage but the computer will  You can edit in Windows Video Maker then just transfer to a different program for the Chroma Key  Use a tripod (or static camera)  Don’t move the camera while shooting since the background will stay still once edited in Chroma Key  Don’t use the background colour in clothing or props, if this is unavoidable, switch background colours

Final Thoughts Tapes, discs and memory are now all very cheap… and are re-usable! Some of the best ideas come out of experimentation. Remember – Long after the event, the video lives on.