Animation Station - Day 2
Tuesday, 14th February 2017
Day 2 at the Animation Station saw children developing their animation skills in new ways, we experimented with full body animation, made new characters using collage and perfected our skills using the i-motion app.
We began the day by looking at what we had achieved and watching a showreel of the films made by the children in Day 1, we discussed what went well and what we could improve:
The length of time between frames
How to use titles and backgrounds effectively
How to make sure fingers stay out of the shots by using sticks and strings to move characters.
How to include sound and music – which was beyond the scope of this course!
Click the image for a link to the showreel from Day 1.
Amy then introduced the idea of a full body animation like the one below
Click the image to view the film.
We got straight to work storyboarding ideas for a short narrative in our groups.
Amy showed the children how to suspend a camera and take individual shots from above to animate their bodies.
The children got to work making props, costumes and speech bubbles to tell their story.
It was a lovely atmosphere – the children were engrossed in making, enjoying the freedom of working on a larger scale. They had freedom to move about, choose materials and develop ideas in a larger space. It was a lovely contrast to the closer animation work using the app and an opportunity to stretch the legs and move the body.
As they finished, they rehearsed the sequence of their shots in order to tell their story, refining their ideas as they went.
While Amy helped the children film their final animation, the children went back to working with the app to refine their skills. They used a new technique to make characters animate.
We collaged characters from images in magazines and mounted them on card, making props to stand them up.
We had got much better at manipulating our characters and our films became much more slick.
Back in the hall the body animations were taking shape as Amy filmed each group. Children took on different roles. Director, actors and camera operator, swapping in and out of roles as they went.
As the day came to an end we began to prepare for our screening; tickets, leaflets and posters were made and the work showing our process displayed.
We had a great turn out of parents.
Click the buttons below to view the showreels of the animations made – we were particularly looking forward to seeing the body animation films.