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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
A digital story teller, educator, trainer and producer of resources and films for education. My passion is encouraging collaborative learning and giving people of all ages an opportunity to discover their creative potential using technology.
I have worked for the BBC, British Council and Apple and have been an Apple Distinguished Educator since 2002.
This year I've been traveling the UK and beyond presenting at conferences for BFI, Film Education,CILT, SWGFL and many education authorities as well as in Chile, Dubai, South Africa and China
