How to Make a Green Screen
I asked my students what was missing in room 253 and among many great ideas was the idea for a green screen. In the past, I have used plastic table clothes on the wall for a green screen but they rip easily and I wanted something that I could reuse. So, I started researching how to build a green screen.
The thing is, in my opinion, there is no perfect way to build a green screen. Everyone's budget and room is different. I will happily share with you what I did but I won't sugar coat this process. It wasn't an easy process and it ended up costing about $50 when it was all said and done. With that said, I am very happy with the results and we have used it multiple times in the classroom. I am positive I will get good use out of it.
So, here's what I did. I went to Joann's and looked in the clearance bin and to my surprise I found green stretchy fabric. I bought what was left on the bolt . (3 yards)
As you can see in the picture, I also bought some dowel rods. The first time, I bought two 3 ft dowel rods but they were not long enough to wrap and roll up all the fabric. So, on another day, I went to Home Depot and purchased a longer dowel rod that was about 6 feet long.
Above my dry erase board is a cork board. I stapled the end of the fabric to the cork board. I stapled the fabric all the way across. I also didn't leave much of a gap between each staple. My hope was the many staples right after another would help support the weight of the fabric.
At home, I had some green ribbon. I cut the ribbon into 5 strips about 10-12 inches long. I took out a few staples along the top of the green screen and placed half of the ribbons behind the green screen and let the other half hang over the top of the green screen. To hold the ribbons in place, I stapled the ribbon and green screen back on to the cork.
It was important to me that the green screen covered the floor so we could get video of students from head to toe in order to make it look like they were in a completely different place. The downfall to our green screen is that it isn't very wide. If I could have made my green screen wider, I would have. With that said, it isn't perfect but a small group of 3-4 kids can appear in front of the green screen and it works pretty well.
When we are ready to roll the green screen back up, I simply place the long dowel rod (about 6 feet long) back on the floor and wrap the fabric around it. Once we roll it back to the top, someone holds the rolled up fabric while the other ties the 5 sets of green ribbon around the fabric. It holds everything nicely in place. That's it!
Below are the supplies I used to create my green screen. While I am sure your classroom is different from mine, I am sure you can do something similar with a little reserach, creativity, time and $$.
Supplies: (Total cost, $50)
3 yards of Green Fabric (Consider the width of your fabric. Mine was about 60 inches wide) Remember, I got lucky and found my fabric in the clearance bin.
1 long dowel rod (6 feet long)
stapler
green ribbon
