Integrate with Stop Motion
Stop motion animation is one of the best ways
to build digital communication skills and team work into any
curriculum. You don't need fancy equipment or temperamental actors,
just some craft materials and the digital cameras from your friendly
librarian.
Integration. The really great thing about stop motion animation is that
it can be used effectively with any subject and at most age levels. I
have worked with students that successfully animated subjects from
science (life cycle of a butterfly), social studies (scenes from Lewis
and Clark), math (slope), and of course language arts with any dramatic
or comedic narrative. Check out some examples at: http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/storytelling/example_stopmotion.html
Pre-Production (planning)
Stop motion is a great
way to integrate writing and decision making into your curriculum.
Planning is a critical step in the process of creating any story. I
start my students out with a simple treatment that helps them focus
their story by making some simple decisions about the target audience,
objectives and other basic parameters of the project. (http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/storytelling/handouts/treatment.doc)
Then we plan each scene out with a storyboard, but first we talk about
shot variety and do a quick exercise with our digital cameras. (http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/storytelling/handouts/Composition_still.pdf)
Storyboarding is an communication skill that is useful in most
disciplines so the time spent creating and reviewing storyboards is
very valuable. (http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/storytelling/storyboarding.html
) I keep a handful of three ring binders in my room so each group
can keep all this planning materials together and the group will always
have it even if a member is absent.
Team work
One of my favorite things about stop
motion animation is that it brings students together in such a natural
way that you will see amazing results. Throughout the process there are
multiple jobs that take different skills and abilities. During the
planning process you will have those that prefer to write the script
while others prefer to draw the storyboards. Next, some of the students
will naturally gravitate to building the sets and creating the
characters while others prefer to set up the cameras, lights and
computer. During the actual animation process we usually have one
student run the computer, one on the camera, one handling the lighting,
and two animating the characters. Then once we have shot all the scenes
and move into the post production process we usually have a couple
students work on editing the rough cut while the rest work on sound and
graphic design. No other activities I do brings students closer
together than stop motion animation.
Digital storytelling
Stop motion animation is a
powerful communication tool that students can control better than any
other digital medium. They can use a either a digital still camera or
digital video to express their stories through unique camera angle and
composition. I prefer to hook up a cheap digital video camera to a
computer and use Adobe Premiere Elements to capture our images. The
reason I like this method is that the software provides us with a
couple invaluable tools:
• Onion skinning - this is the ability to see a ghost images of the
last couple moves you make when shooting your scene. This makes your
shots smoother and easier to shoot.
• Preview and delete - this is the ability to watch a sequence of shots
as a video clip to judge the pacing and smoothness of your shots. If
you accidentally got your hand in one of the shots you can easily
delete just that one frame.
• Save as video clip - this is the ability to save a sequence of shots
as a video clip that you can then apply effects and adjust the speed to
easily.
• Editing environment - once you finish shooting you have a powerful
video editing environment that allows you to work with up to 99 video
tracks and 99 audio tracks!
I just have one twelve foot firewire cable for each pod of four
computers in my room. This gives the students enough room to setup
their camera and set, but is close enough to work with the computer
operator easily.
Control
One of the cool things about stop motion animation is that your
students have complete control over the small world they will be
shooting within and it will cost you very little! We usually use three
sides of an old card board box as our set and either legos, clay or
pipe cleaners for our characters. For lights we simple purchased the 8
inch clamp light for around $10. This really makes your colors and
images pop and allows the students some creativity with shadows.
Post Production
This is where those digital communication skills come into play. I
usually break up the group into three parts. One group is the editor(s)
that will put the scenes into the right order, adjust the speed of some
clips and usually adds titles. Another group is the sound designer(s)
that will create the voice overs, sound effects and find copyright free
music or create their own if it is called for. The final group is the
graphic designers that will create the movie posters, DVD labels/covers
or invitations to the movie premiere.
Sharing
Once you and your students have made your stop motion animation master
pieces make sure to share them with your community. Ask your local
theater if they will have a special showing, make DVD's for the
families of your students or post them online at web sites like School
Tube. Last year a few of my students earned an award of excellence at
the Northwest High School Film Festival for their stop motion film
"Kichinjo". Enjoy.
http://www.schooltube.com/video/40226/Kichinjo
Getting Started
Now it is your turn to get out there and have some fun with stop motion
animation. I have posted a bunch of video tutorials that will walk you
and your students through the process at: http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/storytelling/05session.html