What I learned (2) - The Green Screen

I had the good fortune to learn how to use the green screen in movie making from Ken Hughes at this year's NNELL summer institute.  Luckily for me, GPS purchased three green screens arriving in the last week of this year's STARTALK Program, so I could try this technology right away!

What it is basically, is - film your subjects (persons) in front of the green screen, overlap the clip onto a background of your choice, and then remove the green.  That way your subjects will look like they are in front of the background of your choice.  

So, for our closing ceremony, I had the students introduce the performances in front of the green screen, and found appropriate background that showed what they were talking about.  Because I was able to add subtitles to the movie, we did not need the students to translate everything into English again.  We still had live performances, but the technology availed for a multi-media style presentation and those who did the introduction on the video could have more time in getting themselves ready for the live performances.

Instead of using our program introductions (since that has not been posted online), I have embedded a video from Youtube to demonstrate how the green screen is used in the filming process.  Look for the snow scene and living room scene in the middle of the video clip:

Thanks to Ken's tips and pointers at the presentation!