For those wanting to discover more about animation in education
Our first attempts - Science Project Animations by Years 5 and 6
I am so proud of my Year 5 and 6 group. Today I hope to upload the animations they have been making to show off to you all - lots and lots of praise please everyone because this is our first attempt. We started 3 weeks ago - to celebrate end of SATS and because we were ahead of ourselves (for once) in Science. I had asked each group to choose an area of Science to present to the class, to show what they had learnt, when it suddenly occurred to me that if we linked this with our Literacy work - planning and structure - we could make animations. I didn't quite think through the logistics at first - I wanted to concentrate on getting the children to plan together and get the Science right.
So lesson 1 - in groups of three, the children brainstormed Scientific ideas they felt they knew. Then when they had chosen they talked the 'story' through to check they all agreed on the sequence of events they were going to film. Back in groups they used A3 paper to storyboard their ideas. Emphasis was on a tiny SKETCH, then a few sentences describing the action and fnally a note about any sound / tricky points they might need to consider when filming, for each of the stages of their story. This took a whole lesson as lots of groups needed support to make the steps simple and small enough. For example - one group had originally planned to do 'Habitat and Adaptation' using about 18 scenes and 30 plus animals. It took a while to get them to narrow it down to one animal - a polar bear, and then show him in a desert scene before moving him to the arctic.
Lesson 2 - preparation. We did this during an Art lesson, while yr3/4 (it's one huge whole ks2 class) were finishing off their paintings. Groups made the objects they were going to animate, along with scenery. Some used plasticine and others paper. They also rehearsed 'filming' so they could discover for themselves that plasticine does not stick too well to paper backgrounds.
Lesson 3 - filming. This was the bit I felt least confident with, but which actually went extremely well. We only had one webcam (£5 Tesco's) and had downloaded Stop Motion Animator (free). As a class we animated a box of tissues across the desk, by just plugging in the webcam and doubleclicking Stop Motion Animator. We talked about starting off with 12 clicks of the mouse (or 'grabs' as Stop Motion calls them) to give the audience a chance to understand what they were looking at. Then we moved the tissue box millimetre by millimetre, two clicks (grabs!) at a time. We practised the cameraman (ie the person clicking the mouse) saying 'Action' to let the animators move the object. Then the Animators practised saying 'Clear' to let the cameraman know he could click without fear of fingers in the way. Each group had a go in turn and I let them continue throughout the day, going in groups with our work experience lad and a TA. Emma (said TA) had never done anything like it before but was soon in the thick of it, having a great time and feeling very proud of herself. We decided not to let the other TA's know how easy it is and have let everyone believe she is an overnight ICT sensation. If we had had more than one camera we could easily have let the groups film all at once as they were so focussed
And actually once all the groups had filmed we could have let it like that. But instead we decided to take the next step and try out the free Windows Movie Maker software. Before today I had never touched this program before. I have never even edited the 'red eye' out of a photo. But Oscar had said to just have a go. So we did. Each group sat at a computer (we have access to 6 in total) and clicked 'import video' to find the clips they'd made in Stop Motion Animator. Then they fiddled. They pressed all the buttons. They tweaked and cut and stretched and explored. It was great fun. And hopefully I am now uploading what each group made - all by themselves. The Head saw them too and has gone to buy some more webcams already!
So lesson 1 - in groups of three, the children brainstormed Scientific ideas they felt they knew. Then when they had chosen they talked the 'story' through to check they all agreed on the sequence of events they were going to film. Back in groups they used A3 paper to storyboard their ideas. Emphasis was on a tiny SKETCH, then a few sentences describing the action and fnally a note about any sound / tricky points they might need to consider when filming, for each of the stages of their story. This took a whole lesson as lots of groups needed support to make the steps simple and small enough. For example - one group had originally planned to do 'Habitat and Adaptation' using about 18 scenes and 30 plus animals. It took a while to get them to narrow it down to one animal - a polar bear, and then show him in a desert scene before moving him to the arctic.
Lesson 2 - preparation. We did this during an Art lesson, while yr3/4 (it's one huge whole ks2 class) were finishing off their paintings. Groups made the objects they were going to animate, along with scenery. Some used plasticine and others paper. They also rehearsed 'filming' so they could discover for themselves that plasticine does not stick too well to paper backgrounds.
Lesson 3 - filming. This was the bit I felt least confident with, but which actually went extremely well. We only had one webcam (£5 Tesco's) and had downloaded Stop Motion Animator (free). As a class we animated a box of tissues across the desk, by just plugging in the webcam and doubleclicking Stop Motion Animator. We talked about starting off with 12 clicks of the mouse (or 'grabs' as Stop Motion calls them) to give the audience a chance to understand what they were looking at. Then we moved the tissue box millimetre by millimetre, two clicks (grabs!) at a time. We practised the cameraman (ie the person clicking the mouse) saying 'Action' to let the animators move the object. Then the Animators practised saying 'Clear' to let the cameraman know he could click without fear of fingers in the way. Each group had a go in turn and I let them continue throughout the day, going in groups with our work experience lad and a TA. Emma (said TA) had never done anything like it before but was soon in the thick of it, having a great time and feeling very proud of herself. We decided not to let the other TA's know how easy it is and have let everyone believe she is an overnight ICT sensation. If we had had more than one camera we could easily have let the groups film all at once as they were so focussed
And actually once all the groups had filmed we could have let it like that. But instead we decided to take the next step and try out the free Windows Movie Maker software. Before today I had never touched this program before. I have never even edited the 'red eye' out of a photo. But Oscar had said to just have a go. So we did. Each group sat at a computer (we have access to 6 in total) and clicked 'import video' to find the clips they'd made in Stop Motion Animator. Then they fiddled. They pressed all the buttons. They tweaked and cut and stretched and explored. It was great fun. And hopefully I am now uploading what each group made - all by themselves. The Head saw them too and has gone to buy some more webcams already!
Add a Comment
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Comment by Jo Rhys-Jones on July 7, 2008 at 11:48pm -
Thanks Lisa! And thank you for commenting on each of the children's videos - they will be so chuffed ;-)
I wish I'd checked the blog first for spellings, grammar and capital letters - my year 6 will be most upset with me...
Good luck for Wednesday!
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Comment by Lisa Stevens on July 7, 2008 at 11:41pm -
Well done Jo! Really impressive stuff from the kids and as usual, well blogged! Gives me hope for Wednesday when we try to finish our Spanish film! Let's hope it's as successful as your class's efforts.
Lisaxx
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