Chroma Key

In the midst of all our test prep and state testing the last few weeks, we've also been learning about scriptwriting and movie production. We watched an episode of Word Girl and had a class discussion about superheroes. What makes a hero? What are characteristics of most superheroes? Do they all have a sidekick? Do they all have a secret identity? 

Students then cast themselves in the role of a superhero along the same lines as Word Girl. (She is actually a superheroine from the planet Lexicon. Her superpowers include flying at the speed of sound, bending steel, and an awesome vocabulary.) Students were allowed to give themselves super powers, but at least one of them had to be academically oriented. 

They had to complete several writing prompts and then cast themselves in an episode starring....their very own newly created superhero! Students came up with Math Man, The Historical Hero, S and P (Science and Physics), The Chemistry Creature and Super Speller just to name a few.
Then the real fun began. Students entered their script into a teleprompter app on an iPad and presented in front of a green screen. We learned about uploading the footage into iMovie, movie editing, creating a soundtrack using GarageBand, implementing the chroma key effect, adding text and creating opening and/or closing credits. Part of this integrated unit also included learning a little bit about using royalty free images and music. Incidentally, we produced our soundtracks with the newly released GarageBand iPad App  and it is incredible! I prefer the iPad app to the actual program. It's easy to use, lots of fun and students were able to create some excellent soundtracks. 
Click below to watch a little movie I created about this unit and to see some snippets of a few of the final projects.