Learning with iPad - "I Was There in History" (with iMovie)

Context

Would it not be great to have us involved at the moment when Lee Kuan Yew cried in the studio? That’s right, using simple editing tips in iMovie, we can create exactly just that. Students will be tasked to recreate an insert of themselves in major events in this activity.

Preparation and Flow

We would obviously need an historical event and preferably images and videos that lend themselves to having us digitally inserted. In this example, I have chose to relook the TV broadcast that announced Singapore's separation from Malaysia.

Hence have these ready or be ready to make them:

1. Historical footage
2. A student actor (everyone can do a copy) recorded against a uniform background colour *note it should be green or blue preferable and not be similar to the actor's clothes
3. iMovie ready

Next have students open a new project on iMovie. If students are new to the app, it might be a good idea to run through some of the functions/interface.

The key is to:

1. Insert the historical footage (Insert the video/image into the timeline)
2. Insert our own footage of ourselves onto of the timeline using the ellipsis (...) and selecting "Green/Blue Screen)

iMovie should take care the background removal.

Make adjustments to the background strength and perhaps the size of your green screen. You will see these options on the preview window when you tap on the clip you added under "Green/Blue Screen).

Have the students create more interactions accordingly.

Possible Extensions

For a bit more immersion and deep diving, get students to edit additional footage that would blend in with the narrative/story at hand. An example of this is available on Youtube created by Grid Synergy a few years ago .

From the LearnGrowCreate Team.

Main author: Thomas