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Over-Projection: a fun Drama and Video Teaching Technique

Combining projected video clips, music videos, or images with live actors and props to create a new work you capture on your video camera.

A  "manual" in progress
by Neil MacQueen

"Over Projection" is what we call the technique where you project video, music videos, or images onto a wall and have your students step into the projected light to act, pose, mouth the words, sing-a-long, hold signs, etc., --while you capture it all on your video camera for fun playback.  You can also project the content behind the students on the wall.

As a drama technique, it's a quick way to create "scenery" (by projecting it), and often can be done without a script --because the video or an off-screen narrator provides the "script" via words or song lyrics. It's a fun way for kids to interact with ready-made Bible videos and music videos. I particularly love the technique because it's a great way to incorporate Christian music videos into my lessons.

stand

We've used this technique a couple of times in Writing Team lesson plans (several linked below). This topic is meant to collect those thoughts, share them with all members, and provide us a place to add to them. We here at Rotation.org have pioneered this technique and welcome your suggestions and expansions.  See also "Taking the Trauma Out of Drama" article.



"Over Projection" Video-Drama Technique in a Nutshell:

Projecting Bible videos, music videos, images, transparencies on the wall, and in front of which our students act, move, hold signs in keeping with what's being projected. The presentation is videotaped and playback is a hoot! 

Why use it?

Its basic premise is that kids love to stand in front of a screen and act in the semi-dark projection light. 

Preparation is easy and the activity has a wide age range. LCD projectors and videotaping with cellphones is standard tech these days.projector

Over projection is a quick "scriptless" form of drama.  No kids standing and reading scripts.

Over projection reduces the need for "scenery" in dramas, because you can project scenes from a Bible DVD, images you've found online, or a YouTube video.

It's a great way to incorporate good Christian music videos which speak to your lesson. Instead of just listening and reflecting to music, the kids adapt or mimic the video and create new content in front of it -in the projected light --which you then videotape and watch together. They love that.

You project these images onto your kids using an LCD projector hooked up to a laptop computer or DVD player, or use an overhead projector.

camera-overheadprojector

As well, classroom-use LCD projectors --which can play video. can be found for under $300.

How To

Typically in "Over Projection" lessons, the kids study a story and the video material about it, then decide where and how they're going to act when they step into the projected light.  Kids can MIMIC the characters seen in the video, act out the action being described or sung about, or hold a sign that echoes what's being said or sung in the video.

The Writing Team lessons usually have some sort of outline of the song/video with lyrics and suggested "things to do." After a dry-run, the kids do it again, this time being videotaped by the teacher. It is a great idea to have a Director ushering kids on and off "screen."  The screen is where the images are being projected. Mark the floor with light color masking tape so they can see where they are "on" or "off camera."

One of the easiest ways to act out in the light is to hold signs that might be echoing or answering what the lyrics are saying.  In fact, this technique of "responding with signs" to music is often seen in music videos. Here's a great example from Matthew West's "Do Something" music video on YouTube...

Posterboard or flip charts are prepared by the class and/or teacher can call out what to do at key scenes and lyrics. These are positioned next to the video camera and facing the actors who are in standing in the projected light.

Yes, this type of dramatizing does requires some tech equipment, but I'm not going to apologize for it being 2018. You do need an LCD projector hooked up to a computer or DVD player. And you do need a cellphone and YouTube/video sources. All this stuff is (or should be) readily available and understandable to today's generation of teachers. If not, get help. There are plenty of techies in the congregation, including your youth group.

See the "what you need" notes below. 



We have a number of Writing Team Lessons that use this technique, and not all in the same way.

Here are a few:  (Because these are Writing Team lessons, the links can only be opened by Supporting Members.)

We used Zach William's phenomenal "Chainbreaker" music and lyrics video in the Ten Lepers Drama Workshop.

Projection-Technique

The Writing Team's Emmaus Story Drama-Music lesson used the song "I Can Only Imagine"

seeyounowjesus-our-cue

The Writing Team's Esther~Purim Art and Song Workshop uses a super-cool music video Raise Your Mask song parody that was shot by students in Israel. Though that lesson doesn't have time to "over project," I always thought the lesson could end with the song playing in the background wall for a minute or so while the teacher videotaped the kids showing their masks.

RaiseYourMaskimage

What you need:

  1. uh-oh.cue.cardProjecting equipment, such as, an LCD projector connected to a video source (computer or DVD player)
  2. A music or video source, such as, as DVD, our a YouTube video.
  3. A teacher with a cellphone/videocamera to capture the  kids' production. Tripod recommended as well. The camera microphone picks the kids, what's projected and the audio from the projected source.
  4. A way to view the teacher's video of the kids production. (Cable to connect the cellphone or video camera to the projector/computer or TV.

Option: The Over Projection technique can be done in front of a large screen tv, though the kids will not be projected upon, and that's not quite as fun.



An Excerpt from our "Taking the Trauma Out of Drama" Article where we first discussed the technique and called it "Over Projection."

Below are two girls acting out lyrics from a Mercy Me music video, "I Can Only Imagine." 

danceforyoujesus

The first time I ever did this it was like an epiphany...

I had a cheesy 10 minute David and Goliath video (which I didn't like very much, but it's what we had back in the pre-internet days). We watched it first, discussed it, then assigned roles. I projected the video from my DVD player through my LCD projector onto the wall, and told my actors to "jump in and act out the parts" --trying to stay in sync with what was happening on the wall behind them.  Their attempts at lip-syncing, and inevitably realizing they were out of sync and needed to move/match/catchup to the screen actors was not only hilarious, they asked to do it again (repetition!).  And what were they focused on lip-syncing? The video's script

Evolving the idea to include music videos...

A few years later I saw a YouTube music video that featured people holding poster-board signs DURING the song. The signs reflected on what the singer was singing about. That gave me the idea to project another Christian music video onto the wall (which didn't have kids with posters in it) and have my kids MAKE the posters and step into the video on cue with the lyrics.  Essentially, we made the song our script, and the song's graphic our stage.  We rehearsed then videotaped their performance over-projection performance. The poster prep was teaching gold. The song stuck in our brains. And they were transfixed watching themselves on video.  It was also a great way to introduce and discuss some of the terrific Christian songs being written today.

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Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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