Green Screen Storytelling Technical Reference - using iMovie and eZeScreen

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Green Screen Storytelling Technical Reference -
using iMovie and eZeScreen How to blend live
storytelling performance that was recorded in
front of a green background with still images and
other digital media. Note This tutorial assumes
you have some experience with iMovie.
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Basic process For green screen storytelling,
eZeScreen is not intuitive- in fact, its
backwards. That is, you add movies to background
pictures, rather than vice versa. However, once
you get used to the process, its easy. Here are
the basic steps

1. Plan and prep. Especially important is building a
   Picture Table that specifies how long you want
   each background picture to appear.
2. Create movie segments. This involves splitting
   the main movie into separate segments that
   exactly match the length of time that the
   pictures will appear.
3. Import your background pictures. FYI these dont
   have to be still pictures. They can be animation,
   movies or any digital media.
4. Blend movie segments. Add the movie segments to
   the pictures. This blends the two by replacing
   the green in the movie with the pictures.
5. Export the movie. Save your movie then export
   or share it. Otherwise others wont be able to
   watch it.

This process is covered in detail in the
following slides.
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• Plan and prep
• Make pictures accessible. Put the pics you are
  going to use for your background somewhere handy
  (I put them in iPhoto) and rotate right side up
  (which you can do in iPhoto). I recommend
  students create pictures using landscape
  orientation (lying on their side) because they
  fill a computer screen better.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export

1. Open main movie file and Extract Audio (under
   Advanced menu). The audio and video should now
   appear in separate tracks.
2. Write down picture times. Have paper and pencil
   handy as you watch your movie and determine where
   pictures should appear. As you do, create a
   Picture Table like one shown here. Typically
   stories are
   anywhere from 30 seconds to
   
   3 minutes long, but for purposes
   of demonstration I am using
   a
   12-second excerpt from a
   story created
   and told by Brett
   Dillingham called, What Billy
   
   Wumperville Saw.

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• II. Create movie segments
• 1. Overview. You need to create separate movies
  that are the same length as the pictures that
  will appear as the background in your story. This
  seems confusing, given that you havent added the
  pictures to the movie yet! But thats the way the
  software works.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export

1. Split the movie at each point at which you
   want a new picture to appear. Do this
   by placing the movie play head at the
   split points and selecting Split video clip
   at playhead from the Edit menu. In the
   example here, you would split the movie at 9
   seconds your movie would then be in two
   segments. Most students use 3-4 pictures, thus
   their movies would be spit into 3-4 segments.
   Note because you extracted the audio earlier, it
   will not be split.

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• II. Create movie segments, continued
• Copy segment 1 into its own movie file. Select
  your first movie segment, copy it (Command
  C), open up a new movie in iMovie, and paste
  the movie segment into the new movie file.
  
• Export or share the movie as full
  quality. Go to File, and select either
  Export or Share. From the Compress movie
  for menu select Full Quality. I
  recommend naming this file
  seg1-moviename, where seg1 stands
  for first movie segment and moviename is
  the name of your main movie file.
• Create the rest of the movie segments. Repeat the
  process above for the rest of your movie
  segments.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export
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• III. Import still pictures into your main movie
  file
• Overview. Now it is time to replace the green
  behind the storytellers with the pictures they
  have created. The first step is importing the
  background pictures into the movie and setting
  them to the appropriate length according to your
  Picture Table.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export

1. Delete original movie. Delete the movie segments
   in your main movie to make room for the still
   pictures. Your video track should now be empty
   (but your audio should still be there).
2. Import your pictures. Import the pictures that
   will replace the green in the main movie. Use the
   dialog box to ensure each picture is the right
   length according to your Picture Table (the
   first will appear from 0 to 9 seconds, etc.) To
   import pictures in my version of iMovie, I select
   Media, then select Photos. Note your pics dont
   have to be in iPhoto. I put them in iPhoto before
   importing them because it helps me stay organized.

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• IV. Blend movie segments with pictures
• Overview. With the pictures in place in the main
  movie, we now add the movie segments. eZeScreen
  will see the green background of the movies and
  replace it with the still pictures.
• Blend movies with pictures. Click on the first
  picture in your main movie file. Go to video
  effects or effects (depending on your version of
  iMovie). Select eZeScreen. Click on Configure,
  then Choose Movie and browse to find
  seg1-moviename. Select Pick which allows you
  to determine the color you want to replace.
  Place the crosshairs somewhere on the green and
  click.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export
3. Adjust tolerance, transparency, smoothing
settings. Adjust these with the sliders. I start
each at half, then play with them until I get the
best results. You want the picture as bright as
possible with no bleed thru (the picture showing
up on the storyteller). When youre done, click
OK which returns you to iMovies main edit screen.
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• IV. Blend movie segments with pictures, continued
• At the iMovie main edit screen, click on Apply.
  Clicking OK in the eZeScreen menu takes you back
  to iMovies main edit screen where you need to
  click Apply in order to apply all of your
  editing to the movie segment you were working on.
  You will asked if you want to Convert the still
  clips. Select Convert. You will see a red line
  filling from left to right at the bottom of the
  movie segment. This means iMovie is rendering
  the clip, which is movie-speak for blending the
  picture and movie clip.
• Repeat process. Now repeat the process above for
  each movie segment/picture.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export
Reminder-
Click Configure to begin the editing process
when you are finished and return to the main
iMovie edit screen, click Apply.
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• V. Finalize and export your file
• Add credits, music other media to your story.
• Save file normally.
• Export or share the movie. You have a number of
  options for sharing the movie, all of which
  present file size versus movie resolution
  trade offs. The email option produces very
  small files but they appear very small on your
  screen. Full quality produces very large files
  but are high resolution and fill most of your
  screen. Ideally, if you have the storage
  capacity, or can burn projects to CDs or DVDs as
  you go, save them as Full Quality.
• Your green screen storytelling movie is now ready
  for viewing as viewing, burning to a CD or DVD,
  etc.

STEPS I. Plan and prep II. Create movie
segments III. Import pictures IV. Blend movie
segments V. Export
Note eZeScreen comes with a short overview that
I should have also sent you. If I didnt, let me
know.