12 Frames Per Second

A tribute to Andy Wahol.

2011-12-09T01:21:00.001-08:00

Made by the art department of Kingshurst Academy, on a recent teacher training day, the teachers wanted to create a fun resource they could use with their students to inspire understanding about Andy Wahol. As well as creating an animation example that could be used to demonstrate the process and be a starting point for creating other short animations based on famous artists.

The four teachers created the art work in about 1.5 hours.

Then using Animation In A Box they shot the animation and added the sound in just under 2hrs, using the software and camera.

This style of drawn animation was first created by some year 10 students, and is very effective for creating a sense of movement and time, and doesn't require a huge number of different drawings.

Hello from Pudsey Bear

2011-11-17T07:12:00.000-08:00

Animated Pudsey Bear. This is a great example of a simple idea, also only one feature on Pudsey is being animated at a time, making the short sequence easy to watch for the viewer.

This animation was made with Animation In A Box in only 2 hours. This great studio solution makes animating quick and easy for all ages and abilities.

Made for Children in need.

Remembrance

2011-11-11T03:54:00.001-08:00

This film was made yesterday, with a small group of teachers on a training event, from Wrington Primary School, in North Somerset.Touching, simple and very relevant for today. I love the way the rain drops, look like tears, falling onto the mud.Made on the day long animation masterclass, with Oscar Stringer

Special effects are also animation

2011-11-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

All the special effects we see in films, TV programmes and adverts, are a form of animation. Similar to stop-motion animation, special effects are drawn, painted or composited onto individual frames, one at a time. This short tutorial video shows you how to make a Lego Indiana Jones wink, drawing onto the individual frames, that have already been captured. Using the drawing tools that are a feature of the animation studio software that comes with Animation In A Box, from The Real Animation Company. You can draw and paint simple effects onto your already captured animation. The key to success here is making sure the effects are quick and don't last too long, also a sound effect can be added to them to give the effect more depth and have been planned in advance.Painting a wink onto a Lego character is a good place to start.

Using a sound clip to inspire

2011-10-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Space Moves from Gail West on Vimeo.

Animation tutorials, for Animation In A Box.

2011-10-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Two new video tutorials using the excellent Animation In A Box, perfect animation software for kids of all ages. These videos will introduce you to some basic principles of stop-motion animation, helping you to kick start your animation projects and improve your technique.This all in one package is perfect for children wanting to make their own animation films. weather they want to use lego, toys, felt or plasticine.More to come.

Animation at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery

2011-07-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

These animations are too brilliant not to share! Made by staff from the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and local children's hospital, on a day long training event, I delivered.

The staff from the hospital wanted to animate using felt, as potentially it would be easier to work with. Almost instant and simple to prepare. Some of the young patients they would be working with could be animating stories etc in their hospital beds.

I love the simplicity of this film. Just animating the legs on the big bird, is enough to really bring the character to life and give him a fun personality.

It's got legs from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

This film mixes felt and plasticine to great effect, retelling a local classic about George VI.

A right royal dipping from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

I like the special effects in this animation. Using a long strand of hair, instead of fishing line, they were able to make the objects fly though the air. They thought it was cheating, I think it's creative problem solving.

Helga's Spell from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

We used a fun and easy to use webcam, which delivered great results even in poor lighting conditions.

The snail and the elephant from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

This animation-cam is now available from the Animation for Education website.

Using Classic works of art, as scenery.

2010-11-02T03:26:00.000-07:00

A fun day working with year 8's, these films were made in short 2 hr sessions.

Working with the art teacher at Dulwich Prep, we both wanted to try something different with our approach to creating scenery.

We found large prints of classic, recognisable art work from the Masters. These small posters not only acted as a great source of inspiration for the students, but also made excellent backdrops to their films.

We shoot the animations using the Hue Webcam, which acts as a great Rostrum camera, allowing us to film, downwards.

Enjoy the films, there are 12 in all.

Selection of animated shorts, using famous art work as scenery

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Selection of animated shorts, using famous art work as scenery from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

Reducing your carbon footprint

2010-09-29T03:28:00.000-07:00

Most of us are aware of climate change and the effects of our carbon footprint, these are big themes, global issues on a scary scale, effecting a lot of people.

So for two twelve year old girls, from south Wales, who are part of a collective of creatives looking at these huge themes, the challenge was to share their thoughts, ideas, emotions and fears on this huge topic. And they have, brilliantly.

This short film, simply communicates with strong visual ideas, in true cartoon style, the magnitude of the problem.

To be able to take such a huge theme and reduce it down to a short 30 second animation is an important skill for all filmmakers.

The car from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

The Tate Movie project

2010-09-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

During the summer break I've been working as a facilitator for the Tate Movie project. This is a fantastic opportunity for children (aged 7- 13 yrs) to be part of an incredible animation film, due for release in 2012, at cinemas and on CBBC

The Tate are touring the UK, working in schools,at festivals and the Tate galleries, with children to create art work, plots, sounds and ideas for an animation film that is being created by Aardman animations.

Essential all the ideas for the film, come from the children, through these workshops. It's been a great summer, being part of this tour and over the weekend I worked at the Thames festival with the BBC in the Talk and Do tent, along side the Tate Movie Project.

The reason for this posting is to let you know that children can still be part of this unique project, via their website.

www.tatemovie.co.uk

The website is one of the best websites I've seen for a while, packed with great ideas that are fun and inclusive. It's all completely free and all you need to do is sign up.

On the website you can find out what art work the animators at Aardman need, then draw it at home or school and send it, via a freepost address or email to Aardman. If the art work is included in the final film, the young artist will be credited in the film! fantastic, I'm jealous.

On the website you can; watch some demo clips, of art work children have created, that have then been brought to life by animators at Aardman. Submit ideas for the script and make noises for inclusion in the final film. This website needs your creative input!

Spend some time exploring the site and get involved. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in an amazing, creative, huge idea.

The clip below was created by animators at Aardman using art work made by children, it will give you an idea of the look and feel of the project.

www.tatemovie.co.uk

An amazing example of stop motion techniques and art

2010-07-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

This video speaks for it's self, it is huge, stop motion on a whole new scale. Fantastic creativity and with elements of Banksy thrown in towards the end. This technique and approach could be scaled down in the art room or if working on a graffiti wall.

Genre, Genre, Genre.

2010-06-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

This wonderful short adaptation of Humpty Dumpty was made in a day by English Teachers at Saint Lawrence School in Bradford On Avon. They took the Nursery Rhyme and gave it a totally new look and feel by focusing on using strong visuals and giving it a new treatment.

The two teachers treated the film with ingredients associated with classic French Film Noir. These ingredients are;

Black and White look
Slightly out of focus shot at beginning
Camera at strange angles, off centre
Close ups - hinting at the characters pain
A dark story/adaptation
French dialogue
Tragic sound track.

The English department at the school will be trying this next year with year 8's (13 yr olds) Taking a Nursery Rhyme, giving it a treatment, studying genre and rather then creating storyboards, students will make animations based on their ideas.

Brilliant! Enjoy the film, they really enjoyed making it.

Umpty- The movie from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

Mixing it up!

2010-05-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

This colourful, short animation was made in only fifteen minutes, by an art teacher wanting a visual teaching resource - explaining the rules of mixing primary colours to her students.

This is a perfect example of teachers using stop motion animation as part of their professional toolkit-to inspire students, bring areas of learning to life with visual simplicity and develop new skills.

This fun, unique approach to creating individual teaching resources, will contribute towards a personal teaching style, her students will warm to and remember for a long time.

Also a fun educational teaching resource suited to VLEs, handheld devices and blogs!

Mixing colours from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

The importance of using correct punctuation

2010-04-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

The following was made by teachers for use as a teaching resource on a recent teacher training event in Devon. The short film simply highlights the importance of using correct punctation when playing Pacman with your Granny and was made in a few hours using Zu 3D animation software.

They have used replacement animation on the Pacman. One model with mouth open, another with the mouth shut. This technique is common in the animation industry and helps speed up the process.

Zu 3D animation software is a newbie on the block, designed with the help of professional animators, it has some great pro features, as well as being able to add sound and titles within the application. Good education price too. More info here.

Let's eat Grandma from Animation For Education on Vimeo.

Never green screen with a frog

2010-04-17T01:53:00.000-07:00

This fun film was made by teachers from Elm Park Primary school on the recent ATI. (Apple Teachers Institute) Made in about 5 hours, after careful planning, it high-lights the pro's and con's of working with green screen in animation. Works and looks great in full screen mode.

The film industry use green and blue as their chroma key, because actors (Human not frogs) don't have any green and blue colour hues in their skin tones. So with animation projects, technically you could use any colour background to key-out.

Tips for working with a Green Screen;

1-Use green paper with a matt finish from the art department.

2-Make sure it's crease free.

3- Don't include any green in the models that you intend to animate, best stay away from some yellows that have green hue connections.

Lighting is key!

4- If you can, use a white room with no windows or a blackout, then use ordinary classroom lights. Mixing the light source can cause problems with some cameras and software. Light has different colour temperatures, daylight is blue and florescent can be more orange.

5- If you can't blackout windows and have to use daylight (The above film was made this way) Choose a location where there is a good natural light source. BUT not if there are clouds being blown in front of the sun or trees moving in the wind. Essentially the best natural light is flat light (a cloudy day) with an even light. Strong sun can cause harsh shadows which you want to avoid. A room that is north facing and doesn't see the sun direct would also work well.

6- Keep models 5 inches away from the green screen, so shadows don't fall on the green screen. Shadows will mean a slightly different shade of green which will result in a messy outcome.

Dans ma trousse

2010-03-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

Another inventive fun MFL animation made by teachers during my residency in Gateshead. I like the simple approach to pimping the contents of the pencil case, a quick and effective way of creating easy to animate characters. Made in a day, the song gave focus to the idea.

Look out for special guest, Pritney the glue stick!

Man on wire- The animation

2010-03-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

A lovely animation, made by two teachers, they arrived at the course prepared with the idea of animating the song Philippe Petit, we decided card cut outs would be easier to animate, with a mix of plasticine. The film was made as part of a week long residency for Gateshead education authority, during the four days, I worked with both teachers and students. In total 22 films were made and on Friday the schools involved will be able to watch their films on the big screen, at the Odeon cinema in Gateshead. More examples form the week to follow.

Vote for your favourite animation

2010-03-01T12:18:00.001-08:00

Animated science- Light And Shadows

2010-02-24T10:09:00.001-08:00

This short animation was made today in Bristol by teachers on a course I was running, a simple way to demonstrate how the sun moving through the sky during the day effects the length of our shadows. Students in key stage 2 look at light and shadows as a science topic.

Using animation to visualising processes and outcomes of simple science experiments is an effective way of cementing understanding.

London's Burning- The making of.

2010-02-01T02:52:00.000-08:00

London's burning for KS 2. Animating a historical topic area is a great way for students to cement and consolidate their learning and understanding of the topic. Cram in facts and information on location, number of deaths, when, etc.

I have also included a behind the scenes, "The making of" clip. Shows how the teachers without their music trolley used technology and a crisp wrapper to create a simple sound track.

On the iPhone he used the app Ocarina for the music and she uses a crisp wrapper for the sound of fire ripping through the buildings. Using a plastic wrapper is apparently the method used in films during the 1940' - 1960's to create the sound of fire, very effective. The sound is captured straight into the laptop with the built in webcam on a HD webcam.

Of Mice and Men - Three short scenes

2010-01-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

These three short extracts were made by year nine students at the Newline Learning Academy in Kent. The students did a great job of adapting their understanding of this fantastic classic in just one day. Each group of five students chose a scene from the book they wanted to bring to life.

They were able to choose any scene from the story and all four groups veered towards the most dramatic scenes, involving plenty of conflict. This enabled the students to explore both the character's inner conflict and the external conflict situations the character's were in.

These two short extracts really demonstrate how animation, like drama, is a great way of exploring in detail the essence of a scene or a character.

Enjoy the clips.

Working with sound- POV. Keep it painfully simple. Part 1

2010-01-20T01:08:00.001-08:00

My latest project is in Devon with a small group of Primary teachers on stage two of the Persistence Of Vision Project. Briefly this project aims to use animation in a variety of forms with different education authorities to explore poetic themes and poetry at both key stages in Primary. Running over a year there will be four training sessions for teachers from five schools within Devon.

Yesterday's session focused on two areas;

1- Group discussion and evaluation of their first attempt of animation with classes.

2- Working with sound.

In this blog I'm going to share the excellent work the teachers created and elements of the approach to achieving the outcomes in a short space of time.

So the afternoon was given over to "Working with Sound".

My aim during any training session is to encourage simplicity when devising ideas, so for this sound effect session, I played the group four sound effects that I thought had a poetic quality and would encourage visual ideas.

They were only allowed to use 1 or 2 of the sound effects in their animation, from the four I played them.

The groups then brain stormed ideas and created simple models from plasticine, this took about 30 minutes.

Then the groups filmed for 45 minutes.

Then using Movie Maker added the sound effects to their animations, as well as titles and transitions.

The whole task only took 2.5 hours to complete.

This approach to encouraging visual thought processes and focusing minds is a fun challenge and can be used with all age groups and abilities. Using a sound effect to stimulate ideas within groups also creates restrictions which again focuses minds and prevents ideas and stories from becoming too ambitious.

If the ideas feel uncomfortably simple I think that's good. Simple doesn't mean boring! Using only one sound effect to inspire falls into that bracket of painfully simple.

Poetry is about reducing an idea/experience etc down to a true and uncluttered essence, there is no reason why animation and film shouldn't do the same.

Here are their films.

The teachers now spend the next three months, working with their classes using these techniques for adding sound to their animations and allowing sound to influence ideas for visual story telling and as an opening to exploring poetry. I will meet them again at the end of April when we shall be able to watch and evaluate the work they created.

A short warning for the festive season!

2009-12-18T01:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to students at the Institute Of Education for this short animation, made in a day on a recent course I ran.

Merry Christmas to you all, where ever you are!

Best wishes

Oscar

Music copyright issues

2009-12-10T02:06:00.000-08:00

Working as judge last term for several local authorities, running animation/video celebrations (prefer the word celebration rather than competition) revealed a pattern regarding music. Schools still don't use copyright free music or create their own sound tracks for their animation films. Consequently the LA can't screen the film during or use it in any way, the film can't be added to a website or Youtube, esentaily it can't be published any where outside the school.

It's a big issue, you can't use a music track by Robbie Williams or Don Maclean or any one else regardless of they are alive or not. You also can't use just a snip of the track, 30 seconds or less. You can't use other peoples music at all, ever! Even if they're your friend and you went to college with the lead singer of Blur! (which I did, sorry had to name drop)

But music does add a huge amount of atmosphere, meaning and depth to an animation or film project, so including it is crucial and also an important part of the process, so how do we get around this copyright issue?

Simple, make your own music. The animation below is a great example of a very simple sound track that was recorded with the voice over in about 5 minutes during a student teacher training day at Hope University in Liverpool. A student with very basic piano skills played the melody while another student acted out the voice over, perfect collaborative learning.

Use your student's music skills, or friends, family and work colleagues., if you want your film to have life outside the schools walls and be published or celebrated in the wider community.

Enjoy!

Teacher Training at the IOE, London

2009-11-15T03:14:00.000-08:00

The three films below were made by teachers new to the world of stop frame animation. A variety of ideas, an animation for KS 1, a Gok inspired make over film and a simple story with a happy ending. We used the Hue webcam and I can animate animation software. Great for team building the day brought individuals together from different schools around the country and gave them confidence to use animation in their school. One teacher noted that is was the "Best course she has ever attended!'

There is an advanced animation course happening on the 4th December 2009.

Visual Literacy in Boston, Linc's.

2009-10-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

These fun animations were made by Primary teachers embarking on a visual literacy project as a cluster group. Retelling and adapting stories familiar with the class, some of the adaptations may not be totally recognisable to their students. Especially Bear Hunt!

Enjoy. These examples were made in a day on recent teachers CPD day, short, focused simple ideas.

Not one, but two!

2009-10-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

These two excellent animations were made today at the Hampshire languages conference in Basingstoke, in just 20 mins. A willing participant from the audience created the plot for each film, animated the fuzzy felts and then added the voice overs using iMovie. Simple but effective.

We used I Can Animate software to capture the animation sequence

And a Hue webcam, HD quality.

Animation with MFL's

2009-10-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hola! Today at a golf course in Sunny South Gloucestershire we animated fuzzy felts! On the fram Fuzzy Felts. I was hoping to create a new film genre, using the subtle tones of the French language with Fuzzy Felt, but no volunteers so we used Spanish instead. This film was made in just 20 mins proving that it doesn't take a long time to make an animation, by Ben and Elena. Thank you!

Sleepy Sheep

2009-10-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

A fun short animation made by teachers in Devon in 60 mins. as part of the Persistence of Vision project happening in Devon, Norfolk and Warwickshire this year. I like the sound effects and the clever use of blur to highlight the dreamy state. The blur was created with the focus ring on the front of the Hue webcam. Toes could have been made bigger and wiggled more!

2D animation made on a bus

2009-09-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

This brilliant short film was made on a Bus by young people in Bristol working along side Helen Hewitt, who works for Animation For Education.

The technique is simple and effective and took only a day to complete, working with one laptop, camera on a tripod, I Can Animate and iMovie.

The project was funded by the fire service and their objective was to raise awareness around fire safety with young people.

Sketch out simple ideas around fire safety.

Create the art work using plain white card and a thick black maker.

Decide on features that will be animated.

Set up kit, so camera on tripod is pointing down ( As a rostrum camera would) towards

the art work, blu tak is required to keep back ground still and clean hands help.

Notice in the film that only a few features are animated at a time, this makes it very

watchable as well as close shots with the camera draw the audience in.

For information on courses for teachers and workshop opportunities for students you can contact Animation For Education Here

Animated sticky Notes

2009-08-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

This is a great example of a simple idea, fun and engaging. Will have fun trying this out and stickies are cheaper than plasticine!

Shapeshifting Post-It Notes from mrmayo on Vimeo.

Close ups, close ups, CLOSE UPS!

2009-07-21T02:22:00.000-07:00

My objective this summer, running animation workshops around the UK, will be to develop a method of encouraging students to use close ups or at least move the camera closer to the action. Close ups draw the viewer into the world being created and thus engage. Too many animations that I've watched this year and for several animation competitions that I have had the pleasure of judging, have been filmed in one entire long shot, fine for the first 15 seconds, but then it can get boring.

Photographs that are close to the subject are far more interesting than long shots, long shots are used to show the huge mountains or wonderful sunset on the beach, but with lego and model animation in schools we must get closer to the action and not worry to much about excluding the set ( That may have taken a long time to create). An audience want's to follow the action of the story foremost.

Animations from Team Building day

2009-07-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

These are the outcomes from a recent team building day at the Institute of Education, London. Much fun was had by all. Quote from organiser of the day below. The films were made in just 60 mins and each group was a given a title to help focus minds and keep within the theme of the day.

Why talking is better than email.

What makes a team?

‘One of the best staff development days we have had.
It was a great way to get to know other members of staff, work as a team
and of course have a fabulous animation to show at the end!
I would highly recommend it!’

Team building- part 2

2009-07-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

The session is only 1 hour long in total 15 mins planning, 30 mins
filming and finaly 15 mins to add sound

Team building using animation- part 1

2009-07-15T03:15:00.000-07:00

I'm at the Insitute of education, London using animation as a team
building activity.

The title for their film is, "Why is talking better than email?"

Primary languages

2009-07-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Two fun short animated fuzzy felt moments created today in just 60 mins at the Primary languages conference in Telford.

The teachers emptied the boxes of fuzzy felt bits and created their stories, then shot the action and finally added their voice overs. Proving that animation doesn't have to take up huge amounts of time and can be used for creating short MFL scripts and stories.

Enjoy.

Collaborative learning

2009-07-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

Teenagers can get a lot of bad press, for their attitude and
behaviour. But one area teenagers excel is when working together as a
team or in a group. They can do this so naturaly compared to other age
groups. Animation can allow these natural soft skills room to develop.
Below the students are working as a team sharing and communicating
their ideas, this is a great skill for life, the ability to be able to
communicate ideas and thoughts clearly to others in away that can be
understood.

Of course we want all students to be able to read and write but to
have the skills of sharing ones passion and vision are just as
important for success in life.

The finished films from E2BN Day one

2009-06-23T07:57:00.001-07:00

Four shorts edited together, made in just 2 x 1.5 hour sessions during the excellent E2BN conference. The groups all decided to work with nursery rhymes and adapt traditional ideas.

I love the way the mouse eats his cheese.

Animating a wave

2009-06-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Animating the mouse's arm for a wave you can see that the moves aren't very small.

More Fuzzy Felt animation and MFLs

2009-06-15T04:02:00.000-07:00

The idea of animating Fuzzy Felt seems to appeal to all age groups. These animated shorts were made in under 90 minutes by teachers at the eTwinning conference held in Nottingham over the weekend. Participants loved the "Out of the Box' simplicity of it and the fact that it can be instant.

The aim of the session was to introduce teachers to some advanced techniques so we used Fuzzy felt characters on a green screen and using I can animate we keyed out the green screen and replaced it with a photo. Simple but very quick. Would love to be able to add a movie clip instead of a photo and animate over a video clip.

The tricky part is the lighting if there are shadows it doesn't quite work and the venue was basically a very smart greenhouse so there were lots of shadows and too much light. That's why you get that grainy effect on the animation

When having ago at green screening make sure you have an even light with few shadows.

You can use a big sheet of green paper from your art department, doesn't need to be expensive green screens.

Winking and Blinking with Stop Motion Animation

2009-06-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

This short extract was made today on the advanced animation course for teachers as part of the software demo in just 10 minutes. I wanted to show the participants simple and effective methods for getting your models to wink and blink easily. Great for reacting to action.

Animation broadcast for Glow

2009-06-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

On Friday I flew to Glasgow to work with P5 and P6's at Highdykes Primary School in Dumbarton. The animation demonstration broadcast was for Glow, part of Learning and Teaching Scotland.

It was a small experienced group of four animators, who had been studying a poem called Tam O"Shanter by Robert Burns. This year is his 250 birthday, so he's well established as a poet! And as part of Scotland's home coming celebrations, LTS wanted to use Glow to broadcast to schools all over Scotland two simple animation sessions for students and teachers to watch and follow.

The 90 minute animation session was filmed using 3 cameras and a feed from my laptop and broadcast live via Glow to schools all over Scotland.

Students and teachers could watch and follow the animated activity as well as ask questions via Glow.

We chose a short extract from the poem and made the models and set before the broadcast begun.

Below is the animation made by the students in Just 90 minutes while being filmed live!

Animation with art teachers

2009-05-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

A few animations made at Eagle House school this week during an animation INSET day for art teachers. They made their models so quickly! And they were all excellent, notice the simple scenery in the films, again made extremely fast, with paper, chalk and blue tac.

The scenery doesn't need to be great, just enough to give us a sense of location. So don't spend ages on fantastic designs and art work, invest that time in creating engaging stories.

This first film I like lots, simple and easy to follow, visual story telling. We just ran out of time to add more sound effects. The more sounds the better. The scenery here is made from a card board box with, maker pens.

In this film, there is a lot of copy and pasting of the frames. Which is a great trick to make a scene last a little longer.

The simple back ground in this short, makes it easy to follow the action.

Animation with year 1 at Mayflower Primary, Tower Hamlets

2009-04-03T02:35:00.000-07:00

Two shorts films based on the same story created by year one students at the Mayflower Primary School, in East London yesterday.

The year 1 students have been working with artist Maria Amidu since the beginning of term on the topic of Toys. This has included a trip to a museum, a toy shop (Hamleys) creating their own toys with Shrinkles and papier mache, drawing maps of their adventures with a beginning, middle and end. Reading stories about a naughty bus and other toys and creating their own original story based on all their discoveries.

This story was then turned into two animation shorts, we used all the art work that had been created, busses and robots, their story map was used as the back drop.

Enjoy.

Animation with Reception (Early Years)

2009-03-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

This was a day I was slightly dreading, animation with 4 and 5 year olds. But it was great fun, animating fuzzy felt, on the farm fuzzy felt, so didn't have to make models, was straight out the box animation. I worked with small groups at a time, four or five, there were times when some of them did it on their own, moving the farmer and then taking the required shots, counting together as the did, as a team. I worked with the groups for about 20-30 mins at a time.

We created short scenes, then added them together in iMovie and using a USB Mic on a Hue web cam we added our short script.

The animation day was held at Church View Primary School in East Barnet, London. The first of three days, introducing animation into different Key stages, with a focus on literacy, encoraging students to plan a story, write a script, acting out their script using iMovie and a Mic and then sharing their finished work.

According to the Reception class teacher the students had to watch their film about 20 times before they got bored!

So if you're planning on animating with reception you can't go wrong with fuzzy felt!

Sue Baylik From East Barnet LA, arranged my visits and observed the days, below are some of her thoughts on the various outcomes.

Visiting Oscar’s Animation Workshops in Barnet

When I visited and observed a series of animation workshops run by Oscar, I felt that what I was watching was what education is all about. Oscar worked with a YR class, Y6 class and a Y8 class.

The first obvious element present was enjoyment. Throughout the days, the learners were smiling and laughing while working happily alongside each other. There was no difficult behaviour to manage in any of the classes.

Leading on from this, was their ability to cooperate and support each other. One teacher spoke about how pleased she was as the class did not always work in this way. Also, at the end of the session, the learners were eager to look at the films of the other groups and were positive and enthusiastic about their colleagues’ efforts. Animated(!) discussion not argument was the order of the day. Some learners did have to be ‘helped’ not to be camera, animator and computer person all at the same time, but by the end all the groups were working well together. It was interesting to observe the dynamics of the very successful, focused groups and those who needed more TLC.

Animated poems

2009-03-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

This is one of five short animated poems made by year 10 students at Bishops Candellor School in Birmingham.

The poem is short, making it ideal for animating and adapting in a day, also it's very visual and the students made great use of sound to help the narrative. In fact the sound is crucial to this idea working.

A mix of fun shorts made by year 11 students.

2009-03-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

I love these short animations for their inventiveness and simplicity. They were made in only four hours!

The students were taking part in a creative day to de-stress before their exams.

Enjoy

Animation in Cornwall-Mixed media

2009-03-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

The first animation, made by teachers in Cornwall is a great example of mixing up your media.

Fuzzy felt is great fun and instant, good for KS 1 and early years. Very easy for them to animate.

These films are fresh from the Cornish coast, made yesterday. Enjoy, great models and fun simple stories.

Creative literacy day at the Institute of Education

2009-03-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hope these films don't disturb you, they have been made for eight year olds! By trainee teachers on a one day creative literacy day. The films are to be screened at the BFI to a select group of year two and three students, after the viewing the students will be given the opportunity to discuss the films with the trainee teachers who made them. They're all adaptations of books Year 2 and 3 could be familiar with.

Another cycle of life.

2009-03-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

This short animation was made today with teachers in Taunton. The small group of Primary teachers used the Hue webcam. A colorful webcam costing £20.00, great quality, with a focus ring and digital zoom feature, works with I Can Animate and SM Animator. Another great quality webcam being used on the course was a Creative webcam. The new generation webcams on the market are much better quality and also very affordable.

Science project using animation

2009-03-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

A simple but effective way of showing a class how the water cycle works. This animation was made during a school day in Dorset as part of the SWGFL animation training scheme. Great for VLE's.

Animation ideas for early years

2009-02-26T05:37:00.000-08:00

I love this simple animation example, made yesterday with teachers in Plymouth. Focused ideas result in watchable outcomes. The small group of KS 1 teachers knew the story of The Rainbow Fish very well and had the confidence to make their own adaptation.

Rainbow Fish is a great story to adapt and bring to life with animation. Simple, visual and short.

The workshop was one of about fifteen courses happening in the South West, organised by the SWGFL.

Another group of teachers on the same course went for a more random approach.

MFL's get animated

2009-02-25T11:17:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday 24th I ran an animation INSET day with twenty MFL teachers from both Primary and Secondary schools in Salisbury. In groups of five the teachers created four fun animation shorts focused on foreign language projects and ideas, retelling popular stories in French, and creating a surreal Spanish myth featuring a Bull in Love with a flower, who fancied a cow!

The films below demonstate how a clear and foucused story can be created in just a few hours. There was a lot of laughter during the day and much fun was had by all.

The idea of using the animation clips in class without any sound was discussed towards the end of the day, as a fun way to encourage students to write their own short scripts in French or Spanish. These scripts would then be added to the animations with a microphone and video editing package like iMovie or Movie Maker.

I think this idea has loads of potential and will have a go, next week at the CiLT conference in Liverpool.

Enjoy the films.

Make IT Happy

2009-02-11T02:50:00.000-08:00

This look's like a great opportunity for creating a fun animated short or video project.

Make IT Happy (click on the link)

There's prize money! Fame! And will be lots of fun!

Good luck.

Animation with gang members in Bristol

2009-02-02T03:08:00.001-08:00

At last this project has started and it's going very well. We have two interviews with recent victims of gang related crime and two interviews with local community police officers.

The young people involved have had a day of animation with me, making models, thinking up a short scenario and working with a green screen, the results can be seen here. This was to give them an idea of the process and principles of animation as well as introduce them to the ideas of the project. They all did brilliantly and so far no one has got uncomfortable with the theme of understanding the emotions and feelings of others when they've become a victim of crime often within their own home.

The five young people involved listened to the interviews last week, there was a surprisingly quiet moment of reflection for the small group as they listened to the lady talk about her house and car being targeted by a small gang of youths. She sounds like a lovely lady!

So the group decided that as she was talking about her home and feeling like a prisoner in it, while the gang targeted her, she should be a tortoise! Pictured below.

Another small group decided the community police officers being interviewed should be penguins again pictured below.

Next week we will start to film the characters, animating to the words of the interviews.

2009-01-21T05:27:00.001-08:00

Posted via Pixelpipe.

An animated Christmas card

2008-12-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

Have a great Christmas and a happy, healthy new year!

These short animations were made by year 10 ICT students at the Baxter College in Kidderminster. Their brief to create a short animated Christmas greeting that can be used on Youtube, sent via email or posted on a blog entry. The idea of the animation day was to introduce all 40 students to the software, principles and possibilities of animation within GCSE ICT. Next term they're planning a lot more animation as part of the course work.

Enjoy!

Adapting and animating

2008-12-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

Keeping ideas short and simple is a good starting point for any animation project, if the class have a familiar theme, story or idea it will keep everyone involved focused, which will influence the final outcomes in a positive way. The random, "lets make it up as we go", approach, will be good fun but the final product/outcome won't be as good.

So adapting a story the class/group are familiar with is a very good idea.

I did a project with year fours last year adapting and animating the Twits!

The class had to decide on which scenes should be included in their animated adaptation, as not all the scenes would be possible or easy to film.

The clip below is a good example of a simple scene from the Twits, Mrs Twit adding worms to Mr Twit's Spaghetti. A simple fun visual scene. This clip has no sound, so make sure you set aside time for the sound, voices etc.

I like the look of this competition being organised by Film Street.

Film Street, the award winning filmmaking website for children, has just launched an animation competition for children and schools, Animate IT ’09: To cut a long story short.

In partnership with Kudlian Software, the Picture Production Company and the National Year of Reading we are inviting children under 12, primary schools and after school groups to make an animated trailer to promote their favourite book; our patron is CBBC’s Ed Petrie.

You have until April to enter your work and there are prizes!

Advanced animation ideas

2008-12-07T04:47:00.000-08:00

Here are the outcomes from the advanced animation course for teachers held at the Institute of Education on 5th December.

The day long course was intended for teachers who have been using animation in the classroom and wanted to discover new ideas and practice they can use with their students.

So the day included the following:

1-Chroma Keying with I can animate and a green screen.

2-The use of different shots, long shots, mid shots and close ups.

3-Reaction to action. This really brings characters to life!

4-Pausing the action and creating beats within the animation, links to the above point.

5-Using multiple sound effects and music to give added depth to the animations, animation is 60% sound.

6- And finally creating much simpler story ideas, reducing the ideas down to a raw essence, keeping it painfully simple. Simple doesn't mean boring and unimaginative.

So there was quite a lot to do in one day! The participants worked in small groups of four and each group came up with a fun simple idea. Only one group could do the chroma keying as I only have one green screen. The green screen cloth was sourced from Kudlian Soft.

In the past I have worked with students using a large piece of green paper from the art department which provided a perfect key. (Traditionally green and blue screens are used in the film industry because there are no blue or green hues/colours in our skin tones.)

Remember when making your models don't include any green modeling clay if you're using a green screen.

The key to a successful chroma key is light, an even spread of light on your green/blue screen.

The chroma key in the animation below isn't great because of the poor light, also I think using a video camera will generate better results, both films were shot with webcams.

I like the sound effects in the Christmas surprise and the reaction to action by both the Christmas tree and the bird. The sound effects were sourced from www.findsounds.com

Animation project with gang members- Part 1

2008-10-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

This project is still in the planning stages and is going to be one of the most challenging I've ever done, but also exciting and potentially very rewarding.

A creative form of crime related reconciliation.

Working with a CLC in Bristol, local community police, three secondary schools and hopefully some of the amazing talent in the animation industry in Bristol , we are going to give young gang members the opportunity to confront the effects of their gang related crime; muggings, beatings, knife attacks. theft and general intimidation.

The first stage will be introducing the young people (aged 13-16) to the principles of animation through a hands on workshop.

Then they will devise, with our help a series questions that we will put to victims of gang related crime. This will happen in a different location without the young people.

The interviews, thoughts and feelings of the victims will be recorded with a voice recorder, then edited down to 60-90 seconds.

These interviews will from the skeleton to the animation shorts that the young people will then create. Similar to Creature Comforts, where interviews form the structure and inspiration to the models, set and finished film.

The young people will then study the interview edits and create models, sets and an animated short in small groups of three based on the interviews.

This project will have many different outcomes;

1- The animation shorts, which we will aim to use in other schools, screen at festivals host on Youtube.

and

2- ?

It's hard at this point to say what the other outcomes will be, I know what I and every one else involved would like them to be.

So over the next 5/6 months I'll blog the process, progress and outcomes.

Sharp-Shotz animation competition

2008-10-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

A great opportunity for any budding young animators, Sharp-Shotz is in it's second year and is organised by Aardman Animations and UWE.

The themes for the competition are drugs, knives and guns! With the aim of delivering awareness messages.

For years I've been telling students not to include knives, guns, chain saws, rocket launchers and other items of death and destruction in their animation films, as the finished outcomes are always a bloody mess and resorting to violence isn't very creative and imaginative. Now I have until December 22nd 2008 to give students a legitimate opportunity to include weapons in their films, they will love it!

Animation, specially stop motion animation with plasticine is the perfect medium for allowing young students to explore these ugly issues. No one gets hurt and plasticine models bleed well! Animation and violence go hand in hand, and kids love it!

To find out more about Sharp-Shotz CLICK HERE

Below is a film made in the summer by students from the Bewdley school. The idea behind the film was about a guy with a knife reacting to quickly and without thinking assumes the worst.

Flickr for art lessons

2008-09-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

This link I found by accident and I love it! The art work of Banksy lives and breaths on the streets of the UK, I think a book has been published but this link is a pool of photo's taken of Banksy's art work. So now you can appreciate the talent in the comfort of your home or art class!

It's a great use of Flickr, creating a focused pool of photos on an artist/theme. Perfect for the art teacher who wants to access a large collection of resources on a particular artist for use in class.

LINK HERE

An animated teaching resource from South Africa

2008-09-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

This short animation was made during a two hour animation session for teachers in Cape Town, South Africa. The five music teachers involved had never animated before and had very limited resources, the brief I gave all eighty teachers was to create a short animation they could use with their class as a teaching resource.

This animation makes great use of sound and has a very simple theme, easily achieved in the short amount of time we had, simply explaining an area of music theory.

This speed animation approach I use for conferences and mixed training days produces some great results from participants who focus on subject/topic areas that are familiar to them. These teachers produced a resource that they knew would have relevance to an area of their curriculum and subject. Maybe in the past they had wondered how they could teach this nugget of theory in a fun engaging way. That quickly got the important points across to their students.

My First Flip Video- From Cape Town

2008-09-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

This isn't my first flip movie, but the results of my first video training session using the very popular and affordable Flip Video Camera, involving eighty teachers in Cape Town, South Africa. Another short session, introducing video editing with iMovie, then a brief explanation of using the Flip Video ( This is the easiest camera I've ever used) participants in pairs filmed for about 15 mins then edited their footage in iMovie adding titles, music etc. finally exporting the finished results via Bluetooth on to mobile phones.

Mobile phones in South Africa are the main device everyone has a phone and it's a crucial form of communication more so than the internet.

The light in Cape Town is fantastic and it's the reason why the images from the Flip Camera look so good. It's also why the film and video production companies of South Africa are based here.

The results from this camera are great for a product that cost's about £100.00

1- Easy to use

2- Records up to 60 mins of video

3- Perfect for schools as it's so small and user friendly and doesn't require any leads! (They always vanish just when you want to download your footage)

4- Works with Mac's and PC's.

5- Affordable

I highly recommend these cameras for education, the only downside is they don't work with Stop Motion Animation software. If they did then the Flip would be five star!

Animation in Cape Town

2008-09-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

Day two of a six day tour of South Africa, training teachers to use
Apple technology in the classroom. Cape Town is the creative hub of
South Africa home to video and film production for the advertising and
TV world. Beautiful beaches and sceanery, fantastic light and most of
all low production costs.

During the two days 80 teachers have learnt to edit and shoot video,
work with digital still images, create podcasts and short animation
films designed for use in their class. 20 of the teachers involved had
never used a laptop before and had no experience of a track pad or
drag and drop. But by the second day these less experienced teachers
were creating content that was just as good if not better than the
teachers who had years of experience with IT. They where empowered
with simple and easy to use tools, that allowed them to learn and
develop new skills quickly for use in their classrooms.

These skills will be valued and understand in this creative capital of
South Africa. If education supports the main industry and the industry
supports education then Cape Town can develop this world class
industry with pride and confidence.

Getting the work seen on TV.

2008-09-12T03:38:00.000-07:00

There's a fantastic opportunity for young creatives aged 13- 19 . BBC Blast want films, animations etc work for possible screening on BBC 2 and at the BFI in London in December. Click here for the link. There's also information about funding for students to develop their creative skills working with the BBC.

Why use Youtube?

2008-09-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

An important area of digital creativity is to ensure any work created is shared with the community. Now this can be a global community via websites and Youtube or a more local community with DVD's/ CD's. But it is a crucial part of the process for students finding and thinking about an audience. When a filmmaker or musician steps back from their work and lets it go, they'll look at it very differently and are forced to look at it objectively. To be able to do this instantly via Youtube is fantastic.

I'm a great fan of Youtube as it also encourages interactivity between creatives and audiences.

On Youtube most of the comments left along side the animations made by students on the courses I've run are very positive. They're from their friends, families and some times teachers, all very short notes of encouragement, but positive.

This is an example

"tht was sick!!! wish my teachers took time to teach with some type of character.....it must of took some time to do tht but it was well worth it bce it made for an enjoyable video"

Check out these comments left by students from all over the world, funny, positive and encouraging.

Using animation to explore issues around mental health.

2008-09-08T08:27:00.001-07:00

As I travel around the UK, Europe and occasionally further, my aim is to collect, information and evidence of 21st Century learning and share via this blog with photo's, videos, interviews and what ever I can get my hands on. Exposing the impact of schools, authorities , individuals, (students and teachers) conferences and companies who are having an effect on driving education into the 21st Century. In some cases people may not even realise that their project, school or methods are in any way related to 21st Century Learning.

My first entry is about a school I worked with for a week last term.

The head of Art at the Bewdley School, Worcestershire , UK encouraged a small group of year ten students to apply for funding from a local organisation called FLOSS. The students filled in the forms themselves and raised the money to pay for me to work with both year ten art groups and create a series of short animations. Nearly fifty students in all made twelve films over four days.

The criteria for the funding was that the work must be of benefit to the wider community, so the students chose mental health as the focus for the animations. The finished films have been made into DVD's and will be sent to local schools for use in class as a starting point for discussion on this tricky subject area, mental health.

Animation is a great medium for exploring mental health as the film Kalypso below shows. A short animation film about eating disorders written and filmed by the students. They were able share their experiences, feelings and thoughts using various art techniques familiar to them.

I think this is great example of 21st Century Learning, not only did the students make the films, but they also raised the money to make the films and had a strong idea about where and how the films should be distributed.

All the films are currently on Youtube.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GRsNNrUYLBE