We recently received a new order of books into the library and I wanted to let students know to stop down and check them out. I thought that it would be helpful to create a short video where I would interact with a popular book character and briefly discuss some of the high interest books that came in the book order. I easily arrived at the decision to use "Pigeon" as my character because both the younger and older students love him. I started by taking a picture of pigeon from a poster I had hanging in the library (although you could use the book as well to capture a picture). I then inserted that picture into an app called, Chatterbox to make a short video of pigeon talking. You could also use ChatterPix if you prefer. This step was simple and took less than a minute.
The next steps were what would prove to be challenging, simply because I wasn't savvy with the app I chose to use. I anticipate it will continue to get easier in the future. I ended up using the app, DoInk, which I have used before, but not to create a video with the amount of layers I needed. Adding the video of pigeon was simple, but the challenge lied in getting me in the video with pigeon. Here are the steps that I followed in case anyone is interested in trying it on their own:
- I started by taking a picture for the backdrop. In this case took a picture of a bookshelf in my library. I added this picture to the bottom layer in DoInk (which has three layers).
- I then added the video I made of pigeon (in ChatterBox) to the top layer in DoInk.
- I needed to then edit the picture of pigeon so that I could make the background of the picture transparent. I clicked on the mask tool on the toolbar, selected the magic wand tool and touched on the part of the picture I wanted to make opaque. For anything it made opaque that I didn't not want to be opaque, I had to fill in with the paint brush tool. This takes only a few minutes.
- Then I took a picture of pigeon, the same picture I used for the pigeon video I made in ChatterBox, and added it to the top layer in DoInk, right after the video. This would allow the video to transition from Pigeon talking to me talking.
- I repeated the same steps as above to make the background around pigeon opaque.
- After I had the backdrop and image of pigeon set, I needed to record a video of me where it looked like I was talking to pigeon.
- This is the part that proved to be a challenge. You need be positioned just right in front of the green screen and you need a patient person recording who is willing to record and record until you get it right.
- This section needs to go in the middle layer- which took me several attempts to learn.
- The timing of it can be tricky, my best suggestion is to wait at least 2 seconds after the countdown on the screen is done before starting to record, otherwise it seems to cut off the beginning to your sentence.
- After you're done, it gives you the option to save it. At this point you need to save it to your camera roll.
Although this process is a little challenging and tedious it does appeal to the students. They really LOVE it! Since I was so excited to get their reaction and feedback, I immediately shared my video with the Kindergarteners. They kept asking me to show it again and again. I posted the video on all my social media feeds and can't wait to see if anyone leaves feedback.
The next step is to have our sixth graders do their next books this way. Although, I think I am just going to have them have their characters talk the first time they attempt to make them, and not have the back and forth dialogue. I will be sure to share their final products!
That's adorable!! Came out great. Thanks for sharing the steps you went through to make it work. It can be challenging when working with multiple layers. Clever way to get rid of the white background and restore the bits of white you wanted.
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