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.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07
Basic process
For green screen storytelling, eZeScreen is not intuitive- in fact, it’s
backwards. That is, you add movies to background pictures, rather than vice
versa. However, once you get used to the process, it’s 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 don’t 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 won’t be able to watch it.
This process is covered in detail in the following slides.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07
Plan and prep
STEPS
I. Plan and prep
II. Create movie
segments
III. Import pictures
IV. Blend movie
segments
V. Export
1.
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.
2.
Open main movie file and “Extract Audio” (under Advanced
menu). The audio and video should now appear in separate tracks.
3.
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.”
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07
II. Create movie segments
STEPS
I. Plan and prep
II. Create movie
segments
III. Import pictures
IV. Blend movie
segments
V. Export
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 haven’t added the pictures to the movie
yet! But that’s the way the software works.
2.
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.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07
II. Create movie segments, continued
STEPS
I. Plan and prep
II. Create movie
segments
III. Import pictures
IV. Blend movie
segments
V. Export
3.
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.
4.
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.
5.
Create the rest of the movie segments. Repeat the process above for
the rest of your movie segments.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07
III. Import still pictures into your main movie file
1.
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”.
2.
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).
3.
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 don’t have to
be in iPhoto. I put them in iPhoto before importing
them because it helps me stay organized.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
STEPS
I. Plan and prep
II. Create movie
segments
III. Import pictures
IV. Blend movie
segments
V. Export
3/24/07
IV. Blend movie segments with pictures
1.
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.
2.
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.
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 you’re done, click OK which
returns you to iMovie’s main edit screen.
3.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
STEPS
I. Plan and prep
II. Create movie
segments
III. Import pictures
IV. Blend movie
segments
V. Export
3/24/07
IV. Blend movie segments with pictures, continued
4.
At the iMovie main edit screen, click on Apply.
Clicking OK in the eZeScreen menu takes you
back to iMovie’s 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.
5.
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
ReminderClick Configure to begin the editing
process; when you are finished and return
to the main iMovie edit screen, click Apply.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07
V. Finalize and export your file
STEPS
I. Plan and prep
II. Create movie
segments
III. Import pictures
IV. Blend movie
“file segments
V. Export
1.
Add credits, music other media to your story.
2.
Save file normally.
3.
Export or “share” the movie. You have a number of
options for sharing the movie, all of which present
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.
4.
Your green screen storytelling movie is now ready for viewing as
viewing, burning to a CD or DVD, etc.
Note: eZeScreen comes with a short overview that I should have
also sent you. If I didn’t, let me know.
www.jasonOhler.com
Green Screening with eZeScreen
3/24/07