Saturday, May 30, 1998
Grade school students learn TV's magic
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
GREEN SPRINGS - Students soared through the air on a magic carpet, and jogged down a street in Florida, without leaving Green Springs Elementary Friday morning.
They were taking part in a special production of ''Lights!Camera!Action!'', an interactive video experience that was brought to the school from Mobile Ed Productions Inc. of Redford, Michigan.
They were learning the magic enacted regularly on their home television screens, as Tom King from Mobile Ed presented the day's assembly to the students. He started by telling them that they were going to see an example of what goes on in a real television studio.
He introduced the equipment, which included two movie cameras, three VCRs, two monitors and a computer that produced special effects. And there were lights and a green area that functioned as the ''set'' for the presentations. ''That's where all the action will take place,'' King told the children.
He introduced the concept of transitions to the students, showing them how to go from one camera's scene to another, how to dissolve a scene, and how to move in or out with a particular scene.
Then he told the students of another type of transition that can be done in a studio, that of special effects. ''That's something that doesn't really happen, but we can make it look like it happens,'' he said.
After securing a willing volunteer from the audience named Joe, King directed Joe to sit on the chair that had been placed in the green area. At first, all the students could see on the screen was the chair. Then slowly, the screen changed so that Joe was seated on the chair.
King's assistant, Rachael England, changed camera and computer settings, to zoom in and focus on Joe's face, and gave him a fun house effect of thinning his body with the camera effects. ''If Joe was a television star in the 1950s, he would look like this,'' King said. At that moment, a black and white image of Joe appeared on the screen.
Two other volunteers, Stephanie and Kirk, took a run around a Florida neighborhood. They stood in the green area, running in place while a pre-taped scene, which King told the students had been shot out of a car window, was shown with their images juxtaposed on it.
Chelsea and Anthony took a wild magic carpet ride, flying through the air while sitting cross-legged on top of a box. King explained that the video had been shot out of a helicopter, and that the computer was programmed to replace the green area around them and superimpose their images on the airborn video.
In order to make the video more ''action-packed,'' King had both of them ''wave'' to people down below, hold their arms out like birds soaring and even jump off without the aid of a parachute.
King said the program was one of many educational productions that more than 30 company ''performers'' do for schools on a daily basis from coast to coast. Animals, recycling and a portable planetarium show are just some of the diverse subjects the group offers to schools.
At the end of the day, a select group of fifth and sixth graders took part in a hands-on workshop. Each learned the part of audio, camera, anchors and floormanagers. They could direct and have the technical option to write their own skits or television segments. The tape was then given to the school.