Props & Sets for School Videos

There are times throughout the year that various people need to produce a school video. Whether the video is for a class project or in the form of a marketing tool for the school, the video can reach a high level of production. Make sure to have the best possible props and sets for school videos at your disposal. Here are some recommended props and sets:

Movie Clapboard
Every good production takes time and rehearsal. The final product usually is not reached until there are several takes to get the best video possible. A movie clapboard can help keep track of the clips, especially if there is editing involved in the project. The clapboard has a moveable clapper for a realistic movie prop or to use for editing. It comes with chalk to easily update the information on the clapboard.

Megaphones
During the making of a video, there are often times when actors or video participants are a distance away from the director of the video. Make use of megaphones to project the directions so that all participants can hear their cues and follow the director.

Wall Graphics and Banners
When filming a school video for marketing purposes, have a professional printed wall graphic in the background of the scene or a large sports banner displayed. Team spirit wall graphics are reusable and repositionable detailed graphics that are either small or large depending on the style you choose. A school banner in the background is also a good way to show your school spirit while displaying your school name, mascot, or event.

Background Materials
For creating a specific look for the video, there are tons of great background materials that will help set the scene for the viewers. Background materials include: gossamer, pattern flat paper, background illustrations, patterned corrugated material, poly vinyl rolls, and more. Choose the best background for your video based on the setting and the walls that the material will cover.

Create a well designed scene for your video without a Hollywood movie set budget. Include a variety of items and props for a realistic and high level production.

Get the Crowd on Its Feet for the Big Game

It’s not too tough to get the crowd on their feet — as long as you have a few tricks up your sleeve! Here are 20 tips for adding excitement before and during the game!

1. Silent Night. Shhh! Save your spirit for your team’s first touchdown. Instruct all the fans (at the pep rally) that they are to be completely silent until their team scores. Then unleash all that pent-up energy in a torrent of school spirit! This is a great way to intimidate your rivals while super-charging your fans!

2. Half-time Show. Give ’em a real spectacle! Play the loudest music, perform the hippest dances, and execute the most daring stunts during half-time. This will energize the fans for another round of game action!

3. Tug-of-War. Rally the crowd with a tug between your mascot and the rival team’s mascot! Rent the rival team’s mascot costume and recruit a student to play the part for the game. Your mascot and “their” mascot then fight it out-and your mascot wins! Mock fights between the mascots during the game also keep the victorious spirit alive!

4. Have a Ball. Get the crowd in the mood for fun! Provide one or two colorful beach balls for the crowd to bat around before the game. Once the game starts, have the fans autograph the balls as a fun gift for the coach or MVP!

5. Battle of the Lungs. Who’s got the most school spirit? Find out in a shouting contest (held before the game or during a time-out). It’s the left side of the crowd against the right in this exciting battle of spirit!

6. Sea of Fans. Create a sea of color in the stands! Give the first person in each row a 19″ roll of gossamer. As the roll is passed from person to person along the horizontal row, your school’s dominance unfolds. (A 100-yard roll covers the length of a football field!) When the fans are covered, start a giant wave. The opposing fans will be shrouded with embarrassment when they see a GIANT flag of your school colors.

7. Keepin’ It Cool. Show the competition you can’t be bothered with their presence. When their team members are announced, yank out your newspapers, and pretend you’re reading, or stand up and turn your back to them, or put on your sunglasses and act ultra-cool.

8. Noise Power! Sell a variety of noisemakers (cheerphones, cow bells, horns, kazoos, imprinted clicker poms, and spirit clappers) to the fans so they can distract the rival school and applaud their own team.

9. Wear It with Pride. Bandanas, foam mitts, spirit towels, and poms are great visual ways to increase enthusiasm.

10. It’s a New Wave. Start a unique wave in the bleachers. Instead of the normal wave where fans rise slightly and raise their arms, encourage them to do the “twister”. (Fans stand up completely, turn all the way around, and sit back down.)

11. Spread the Word. Put up sports banners and signs in the gym before each game. Use your opponent’s name, and give each battle a new weapon. A few rolls of our seamless paper in your school colors will work perfectly! (For big games, give the gym an extra boost with balloons and crepe paper too!)

12. Time for Traditions. Create Homecoming traditions. (Use the same cheer for free throws, feature your fight song each game, use the crowd’s favorite chant at time-outs, etc.)

13. Mascot Madness. Nothing gets a crowd more excited than their school mascot – brought to life! Put your rowdiest fan inside your school’s biggest hero and watch the crowd fire up!

14. Mega-Loud. If they can’t hear you, how can they join in? Use our megaphones to help project your voices, and get your cheers heard loud and clear!

15. Spell It Out. Make hand held signs with big, clear words to lead the crowd – our strong corrugated paper works really well for this.

16. Educate the Masses. Teach new crowd cheers at pep rallies so that your fans will know them in time for the big game.

17. Powerful Poms. Pass out our popular poms in your school colors. They are inexpensive, and your rival will be green with envy when they see the sea of your school colors on your bleachers.

18. Giant Flags. Run around the field with giant school flags to pump up the crowd.

19. Push-ups. Do push ups in the end zone for each point scored.

20. Noodles. Get foam noodles or other customized wavers in your school colors, pass them out to the crowd for sea-waving school spirit.

Decorate for School Spirit with Gossamer!

Gossamer Has Spirit!

Decorating is a snap with our colorful, lightweight gossamer decorating material! Transform your school hallways, stadium, and gym with the ultra-versatile, ultra-fun material. Available in a huge variety of colors, sizes, and designs, gossamer is the ultimate decorating solution for Spirit Week!

Give these ideas a try this school year!

• PAW PRINTS. Does your mascot have paws? Paw print gossamer is the perfect way to add pep to your school! Hang it on the walls, cover cardboard paw prints with it (for the floor!), drape it along the stands, and even use it to decorate spirit bags for the team or your squad. The possibilities are endless!
• STAR POWER. Your school will shine with our beautiful swirls and stars gossamer! These starry designs are perfect for covering ceilings, hallways, and stands. Use it to cover cardboard stars or create an entranceway to the pep rally. The sky is the limit!
• TRUE COLORS. Nothing says school spirit like your school colors! Pick your two colors from our wide variety of easy-to-use gossamer. Then braid, twist, swirl, and loop the colors together in the halls, cafeteria, gym, stadium-anywhere that demands spirit!
• SPIRIT STREAMERS. Don’t use crepe streamers again! Try colorful gossamer streamers instead. More durable, vibrant, and versatile than crepe streamers, our gossamer streamers are perfect for all your decorating needs!
DECORATING WITH GOSSAMER
Need pointers on how to get the best designs from your gossamer? Check out our tips below!

Tent-Style Gossamer Ceiling

Suspend a 3′ metal ring or a 3′ circle of 1/2″ plywood in the center of the area to be decorated. The distance above the floor is determined by personal preference, and ceiling height. If the gossamer strips that will make up the ceiling cannot be fastened directly to the outside walls of the room, run a wire around the room attached by inconspicuous screw eyes. The wire could be an all-purpose steel or aluminum decorating wire from a hardware or craft store. You could also use a monofilament line of 30 or 40 pound test.

Use 60″ wide or 107″ wide gossamer strips to run from the center to the outside walls. To determine the length of the gossamer strips, use a builder’s or carpenter’s measuring tape and measure from the center ring or plywood disc to the walls. Start by measuring the distance to the four corners – since those will be the longest strips. If your ring or circle is positioned correctly in the center of the room, you need only measure to one corner since all four will be the same. Allow additional gossamer to fasten around the ring or fasten on top of the circle and to fasten to the wall or around the wire.
Put up a test strip of gossamer to one corner. If you have a ring, gather the gossamer to 2″ or 3″ across, loop it around the ring and staple gossamer to itself. The stapled loop is on top of the strip of gossamer, out of sight. If you have a wooden disc, gather the gossamer the same way and use a staple gun to fasten it to the top of the disc. Carry the gossamer to the wall, loop it over the wire (or fasten it directly to the wall) and staple the gossamer in the same way – allowing for a swag or droop in the fabric.

At the outside wall, pleat or gather the gossamer to 1/2 its original width for the best appearance. The 60″ wide gossamer should be 30″ wide, the 107″ wide gossamer should be 54″ wide.
19″ wide gossamer is not practical to use for ceilings in any but the smallest of rooms. • Measure additional strips and fill in the complete ceiling the same way.

Side-to-Side Gossamer Ceiling

Strips of gossamer of any length can be swagged across a room from one side to the other. If you cannot fasten the gossamer directly to the walls, attach wires along two opposite walls. Use screw eyes to hold the wires. A wire on each side of a room will allow you to create a single swag of gossamer from one side to another. An additional wire down the center of the room, parallel to the two side wires, will create a double swag. Three equally spaced wires will create four swags in the gossamer from one side of the room to the other.

60″ or 107″ wide gossamer make the most successful ceilings. At the outside wall, pleat or gather the gossamer to 1/2 its original width for the best appearance.
Strips of any width gossamer can also be attached to all four walls and woven in and out (basket-like) for an unusual ceiling treatment.

Creating Gossamer Bows

Use 19″ wide gossamer to make bows from 18″ wide to 24″ wide. Cut a 6′ length of 19″ wide gossamer. Fold it in half the long way to 9 1/2″ wide. Find the center of the gossamer (length). Fold the ends in to the center and overlap slightly. Staple the ends in place. Repeat the process with three more 6′ lengths of gossamer. Line up the lengths one on top of another. Twist the top three lengths slightly at a few degrees of angle to create a wider bow. Staple all the lengths together. Cut a short piece of 19″ wide gossamer, pleat and gather it to about 6″ wide. Wrap it around the center of the lengths, pull it tight and staple it together in the back of the bow.

The same method can be used to make bows of any size, using 60″ wide or 107″ wide material.
The gossamer holds its shape beautifully. The bows have the same type of fullness that can only be created with wired ribbon, at a fraction of the cost.

Covering Walls with Gossamer

Any type of wall surface can be covered with gossamer. Gossamer looks best if slightly stretched and pleated. Pleat each gossamer strip to 1/2 its original width. Fasten the gossamer to a wall or run a wire at the top and bottom of the wall. Attach the wires at each end with a screw eye.

Braiding Gossamer

One, two or three colors of gossamer can be braided together to create roping to swag from walls or ceilings. Use 19″ lengths of gossamer and gather them to approximately 2″ wide. Braid the lengths of gossamer using the standard method. Staple the braid at each end to keep the lengths of gossamer in place.

Gossamer Rope

• An attractive, illuminated rope can be created by wrapping a strand of clear twinkle lights in a length of pleated gossamer. The pleated gossamer, with lights in the center, should be approximately 5″ in diameter.
• Tie the gossamer into sausage-like sections with curling ribbon pieces. Allow the ends of the knotted curling ribbon pieces to hang down several feet. Give extra curl to the ribbon lengths by pulling them over the open blade of a scissors.
• Hang the gossamer rope in swags from walls or ceilings.

Wrapping with Gossamer

Stretched, pleated gossamer can be effectively used to cover doors and columns, following the steps outlined for covering walls. Add gossamer bows or gossamer rope for easy-to-make accents.