Make it POP, using the iPad and iMovie to make cool reveals using green screen effects

Let me start off with a little about me. I teach Anatomy and Physiology and a video editing class with Final Cut Pro at the high school level. I love green screen and am always looking for interesting ways for my students to incorporate green screen into their projects. Many teachers are intimidated by green screen, but it doesn't have to be that way. Using an iPad, iPhone (or camera), and props you can make cool reveal videos.

items used to create video along with iPhone used to record video

In order to make the reveal effect work well, some planning is needed. The "reveal" shot should be roughly the same size as the object/person that is the main shot. You can use a still image for the "reveal" however it is simpler if you have the "reveal" shot and "main" shot as videos the same length. In my example, I used a skeleton arm (I teach anatomy..) which was roughly the same size as my arm and I recorded this shot first using a tripod and my iPhone.

I used Keynote on my iPad to open a new presentation and deleted all of the text boxes. I then went to change the background color (paint brush icon in top right of the Keynote iPad screen). Click on the arrow next to the background field and choose a chromakey green color

Changing the Background color in Keynote for iPad

Click on the arrow next to the background field and choose a chromakey green color

Changing the background color to chromakey green

In order to get an entire green screen on the iPad, go to presentation mode (Play button on the top middle of your iPad screen).

I positioned my arm over where the skeleton arm was and started filming as you see in the video above. I moved the iPad with the green background over my arm to help create the "Main" shot for the revel effect. 

In the video above, you can see the steps needed to use iMovie on the iPad to create the effect. There are several ways to accomplish the task, but I will step you through how I created the video:

1. First open iMovie
2. Start a New Project and choose "Movie"
3. The next step is to choose the "reveal" clip that you will be using. This is the clip that will appear under the iPad. I airdropped my clip using my iPhone so it was easier for me to go to my "Recently Added" under my. Video Media to find my move.
4. After clicking on the clip I want to use, if you click on the check box with circle around it, it will add the clip to your new project. your created
5. Scroll back to the beginning of your clip.
6. Go to the + (plus icon) in the top right of your screen to find your main clip.
7. When you select this clip you will be given three options: + icon to add a clip, a play arrow, and three dots (...).
8. Choose the three dots (...) and choose the Green/Blue Screen option.
9. You should see that your main clip is now on top of your reveal clip.
10. If the green screen is chromakeyed out, you can select your main clip, it should be now highlighted in yellow. Look for the reset in the top left of the top left viewer window.
11. You should see the text "Tap a color to make it transparent"
12. Click on the green of the iPad and it should turn the green transparent, revealing the skeleton arm underneath.
13. In order to apply a fun filter to change the appearance of the created reveal clip, you ned to go to the gear icon on the top middle of your screen.
14. Choose the project filter that will give you the look you want. The Comic or Duotone will give you that cool "Pop Art" look.

Here is another quick video I used using an image rather than a video.

I used an image to create this reveal effect. With iMovie for the iPad, you do have some ability to change the size of "reveal" image, however, I recommend going into Keynote and scaling the image and exporting as an image to get a image that is a good fit. If you are using an image, drag the "reveal" image to lengthen your clip in iMovie to make things easier when you add your green screen main image.

I have attached the video clips I used so that you can practice on your iPad. I hope you fun creating and feel free to comment, ask questions, or share student work. Please remember if you upload student work, you cannot show student faces due to privacy rules.

Attachments

Main shot with iPad.MOV

Download  (25.8 MB)

Attachments

Skeleton arm shot.MOV

Download  (21.1 MB)