Puppet Animation Laboratory

Transcription

1 Puppetry In Practice Puppet Animation Laboratory BRINGING STEM TO LIFE Applying Technology, Multimedia and the Animation Arts to the Curriculum for Effective Interdisciplinary Learning

2 Learning with Animation BRINGING ANIMATION into the CLASSROOM Animation in the classroom is a unique way to blend creativity with curriculum, while catering to the many different intelligences and abilities that exist in any group of students. Animation provides oppurtunites for teachers to incorporate: Writing and Storyboarding Teamwork and Group Project Skills Technology into the Classroom Hands-on Artmaking

3 What is Animation? Animation is the process of bringing inanimate, or lifeless objects, to life. This is done by taking many still photographs and using some form of technology to rapidly sequence them together in order to create the illusion of movement. Animation has been used in movies and TV since the beginning of moving-image technology. Whether claymation, stop-motion animation, or computer generated animation, students everywhere will be familiar with some form of animation from the cartoons they watch or the video games they play. A frames sequence from an animation with Flip, from the Flip s Fantastic Journal Series by Angelo DeCesare, leaving the library. Why Use Animation? Animation is a contemporary learning tool. It develops writing skills, visual art skills and teamwork skills. It fosters problem solving, critical thinking and self expression. Students must be collaborative, communicative and creative to realize success. Additionally, students will find that making an animation is an amazing amount of fun. Animation is a complete STEM tool. Teachers can use animation to help their students understand, visualize, interpret and finally re-create any concept from the science, math or social studies curriculum. Picture students making animations about the workings of the immune system, or perhaps a trip through the solar system, or maybe a story of a single ray of sunlight that goes through the process of photosynthesis. The content is limitless and the potential is endless! Animation brings technology into the classroom in the form of computers, webcams and software. Providing students with new multimedia technologies brings them into the 21 st century. Students are too often approaching computers with passivity, allowing the program to dictate the rules. With animation, it is the students activity and control that fundamentally changes their relationship to technology in ways that better prepare them for the future. Furthermore, technology offers them immediate, non-judgmental feedback that challenges them to improve.

4 Students often see animation as a form of magic. Helping them to understand the science involved means breaking down the process piece by piece, or frame by frame. Here are some key concepts to start with: Stop-Motion Animation When we talk about animation, we are specifically referring to Stop-Motion Animation. Similar to claymation, this is the process of moving physical objects, such as puppets, clay, or cut paper, using very small movements. Each movement is captured through photography creating a frame. The frames are then rapidly played back one frame after the other creating the illusion of an independently moving object. Thus, we animate the inanimate. Frame Rate or Frames per Second (FPS) The frame rate denotes the number of frames that make up a single second of an animation when it is being played back. Frame rate is oftentimes written as frames per second or FPS. Standard professional animation has a rate of 24 fps, which means that the animators need 24 individual pictures for every second of their movie. A 5-minute animation can have roughly 7,200 individual frames! When working with young students, frame rates can be greatly reduced to create less work. Teachers can introduce animation with 1 frame per second animations. The result will be a slower animation or SLOWmation. Building up to a faster and higher frame rate will develop patience and precision skills in students. Persistence of Vision Persistence of vision is a phenomenon of the brain and retina which creates the optical illusion needed for the magic of animation to work as it does. Essentially, the brain fills in the gaps between each still image frame it sees. Individual frames, usually at a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps), seem to blend into a fluid moving image. Even lower frame rates, such as 16 fps, will also appear continuous to the eye because of our persistence of vision. Early Forms of Animation Animation is a great place for students to begin learning the science behind vision and perception. Simple projects like Flipbooks, Thaumatropes and Zoetropes really help students understand perception of vision and the fundamentals of animation. Examples of early forms of animations. From left to right: Flipbook, Thaumatrope, Zoetrope

5 Exploring the history of animation in TV and Film Showing students a variety of sample animations done by students, amateurs and professionals from around the world sparks their imaginations, excites them to the process and introduces them to the limitless potential of the medium. King Kong (1933) Stop-motion animation by Willis O Brien Directed by Merian C Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989) Claymation by Nick Park Directed by Nick Park Find Sample Animations Change Animation by Saimon Chow, Sean Dougherty, and Chad Colby Bathtime in Clerkenwell (2003) Animation by Aleksey Budovskiy Toy Story 2 (1999) Produced by Pixar Directed by John Lasseter on the Born Free (2007) Web Animation by Curtis Baskerville

6 Introducing Flip s Neighborhood

7 Learning from the Author PIP teaching artist Angelo DeCesare, author and illustrator of the Flip s Fantastic Journal series shares his stories with 2nd graders as they begin a residency which focuses on neighborhood studies. Angelo reads his stories to the children while talking about how the book is influenced by his own life. Afterwards, Angelo teaches the students how to draw the characters in his book as community helpers in the neighborhood.

8 Professional Development Teachers participated in several professional development sessions to learn the animation process. Their involvment plays a vital role in the strengthening of the program as they are able to assist their students and help them towards successful animations.

9 Introducing new Technology and Software by Creating a Full Class Animation Introducing new devices, software and animation processes to K-5 students can be daunting. A solution to this problem is to create a simple, group animation project that the entire class can actively participate in. In the following examples, students engage in a hands-on learning experience which quickly familiarizes them with new technology, introduces new vocabulary and ways of working, and generates a successful animation on just their first attempt.

10 EXAMPLE of a FULL CLASS ANIMATION: A Map of the Neighborhood In this example, students design an abstract, birds-eye view of a city map. This quick and easy instructional animation serves students as an introduction to the hardware and software they will be using on their own in the weeks ahead. Proper planning can produce extraordinary animations that can be used later when a final DVD is compiled.

11 Making a Neighborhood Map Neighborhood studies, particularly in NYC, offer a broad range of topics that span the curriculum. Constructing a city map can introduce concepts of math, science, engineering, systems thinking, model making and geography. Free online software such as Google Earth are great tools to use before making computer animations because internet tools such as these are generally more familiar uses of a computer to young students. Google Earth Take students on a tour of their neighborhood with Google Earth. Start in outer space and let the program zoom in all the way to the school. Ask students if they recognize places, landmarks or streets. Have them identify shapes and patterns. What shapes do they see? What letters (X, T, L) do the streets make when they intersect? Teachers may want to compare the school s location with places around the world where students and their families might come from. What kinds of things are the same or different about these various places? Teachers can rely on simple technology tools like this to provide an immense amount of information, interaction and inquiry for their students.

12 Piecing Together a Neighborhood Materials: Posterboard, masking tape, tripod, webcam, laptop, construction paper, scissors, SAM Animation software. Making a full class animation requires a large workspace because of the number of students, as well as the scale of the artwork itself. Pre-cut strips of black construction paper for the streets and cut many different squares and rectangles from other colored papers to serve as buildings. Tape poster board to the floor. Plug webcam into laptop and start up SAM Animation. Set-up tripod and camera so poster board is framed nicely in the viewer. Explain to students that they will be placing one piece of paper at a time and then taking a picture. Students will take turns so that everyone in the class gets a chance. Begin by placing the streets, one at a time. Allow students to capture the image by pressing the space bar after their piece is placed. Once the streets are laid out, students begin placing small colored squares that represent buildings, parks or anything else unique to their neighborhood. Students may wish to write what their building is on the paper before placing it. When no more room is left, show students their first completed animation of a neighborhood block being built!

13 EVALUATE THE PROCESS AS IT S HAPPENING! One of the major advantages to the animation process is the ability for students to evaluate their project as they are working. We often ask students how long it takes for their teachers to grade their homework and tests. Most say they get their results back in a day or so. With animation, the results are immediate. Students just press the PLAY button and their project will play back providing them with instantaneous, non-judgmental feedback. Encouraging students to watch their animations repeatedly and critique their work speeds the learning curve, fosters communication about what they can improve and ultimately produces better quality animations that they are proud of. Making Relationships to Art History and Abstraction This project offers additional opportunities for teachers to open up discussions about art with young students. Building the map is no different than creating an abstract painting. Artists, like Piet Mondrian and other Abstract Expressionists throughout history used simple shapes, colors and lines to express their thoughts and feelings and not just represent things in the world, as in our mapping animations. Expanding students imaginations through the use of related art images will strengthen their confidence in their own creativity and, in turn, themselves. Piet Mondrian. Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue. 1921

14 Final Animation Preparation Before jumping into the creation of an animation, some simple steps should be taken in order for students to be fully prepared. The following section covers the necessary steps of storyboarding, making background collages, and creating the puppet characters that will star in the movie. Once these pieces are in place, students will be ready to bring their own stories to life.

15 Working in Groups Animation is an excellent way to have students work in a group. The experience of writing, drawing, collaging, animating and performing as a group allows for each student to demonstrate his/her particular strength while learning from the strengths of others. Working in groups to create animations starts with collaborative story writing. Every student will say they have written a story before, but most will say that they have never written a story along with other students. When a group of four to five students are asked to create one story on only one piece of paper, arguing, fighting and frustration can ensue. While it is important to emphasize taking turns writing and drawing, it can be more effective to tell students that generating ideas and communicating them to each other is the most important task of all. Successful group work includes collaboration, communication, and creativity. Emphasizing support and encouragement within the group will result in each student feeling a powerful sense of ownership. Storyboarding The first step in creating an animation is for students to generate a storyboard. Like a comic strip or book, a storyboard is a set of pictures and text that sequence, or map out, a story. Essentially, the storyboard is a plan for students and teachers to reference throughout the entire animation process. It is a visual organizer which shows the scenes of a multimedia presentation in rough drawing form.

16 How to Make a Storyboard Making a storyboard can be as simple as folding a piece of paper in half and then in half again. This simple, four panel storyboard is perfect for students to create a short, yet complete narrative. It is best to use a larger, 12 x18 size sheet of construction paper. This type of storyboard works well for younger students because of the size they can draw their illustrations. For longer, more complex stories, a storyboard like the worksheet on the next page, can be used. This kind of storyboard emphasizes the writing of text rather than the illustrations because of the size of the picture boxes. Depending on the theme or area of study, students may need prompts regarding how to start or end their story. For example, when making animations about their neighborhood, student groups were given a particular location or place in the neighborhood such as a restaurant, pet store or park. Students were asked to begin their stories with a character walking down the street to that location. Once inside the given location, students were asked to create a silly vignette about what might happen there. 12 x18 construction paper. Fold it in half. Fold it in half again. Open it up. Trace the folds.

17 STORYBOARD Names

18 Sample Storyboards related to Flip s Neighborhood created by 2nd Graders

19 Making a Background Having students work in groups to create animations provides every student in the group with an opportunity to shine. While some students excel at the storyboarding stage, others will be better visual artists. Backgrounds and character puppets are where the artists of the group will feel most comfortable. Using the storyboard as a reference, ask the students to identify where their story takes place. More often than not, stories take place in more than one location. Students must then create a collage, drawing or painting to serve as the background for each location. Making a colored paper collage for animation backgrounds is best in terms of group work. Making art as a team takes away a lot of the inhibitions that are often associated with young students who sometimes show frustration with their perceived inability to draw or represent the things they see in real life or in their minds. Collage reinforces this further. We teach that making a collage is like a puzzle that has many pieces. Everyone in the group is responsible for making all the pieces and all the pieces have equal value. Unlike a real puzzle however, a collage can be put together in many ways. There is no right or wrong answer! This generates a confidence in students that allows them to feel included and proud of the finished product. More often than not, these pieces are simple shapes that any student can make (circle, rectangle, square, triangle, line, etc). It becomes the responsibility of the students to decide what those pieces are and who will be making them. Here are some examples of collaged backgrounds created by 2nd graders. One shows the outside of the grocery store, the other shows the inside view. All collages are made with Colored Construction Paper, Markers, Crayons and Glue

20 2nd Grade students work on completing colorful, paper collaged backgrounds of places in the neighborhood where Flip and his friends will visit in their animations.

21 Using the Flip Characters Students write their stories and create their storyboards using any or all of the Flip characters. After they make their backgrounds they are given movable cut-outs of the Flip characters to use in their animations. Using these recognizable figures allows them to focus more on trying to tell their stories.

22 SAM ANIMATION SAM Animation is user-friendly software designed specifically for K-12 students and teachers, allowing for quick and easy creation of stop-motion animations in content ranging from photosynthesis to Newton s Laws to poetry to fractions. SAM was originally developed at the Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach and is now an exclusive product of icreate to Educate. In the following pages, learn how SAM Animation can bring classroom curriculum to life through a visual, hands-on approach to learning that utilizes technology, art and imagination.

23 Using SAM Animation How to make a Stop-Motion Animation When we talk about animation, we are specifically referring to Stop-Motion Animation. Similar to claymation, this is the process of moving physical objects, such as puppets, clay, or cut paper, using very small movements. Each movement is captured through photography creating a frame. The frames are then rapidly played back one frame after the other creating the illusion of an independently moving object. Thus, we animate the inanimate. SAM Animation makes animating easy for students and classroom teachers. Students learned to set-up their work stations and using their storyboard as a guide, began taking picture after picture, or frame after frame, to tell their story. The basic instructions are move the character a little bit, move your hand, then take a picture and repeat. In four 50 minute sessions, 3rd and 4th grade students, in groups of four will average 500 frames! A project like this has students demonstrating collaboration, communication, and creativity; problem solving, comprehension and patience; all while being introduced to new technologies and new ways of expressing their ideas.

24 PIP s Program Developer Jason Leinwand demonstrates how to use SAM Animation. Students learn to start their new project, set up their webcams and begin capturing frames.

25 Making an Animation Using SAM Animation software, laptops and webcams, students are able to create a stop motion animation. They delegate roles to each other and work cooperatively in order to bring their stories to life.

26 Animation Share Day To close out the residency students gather in the school s auditorium and get to see their finished animations on the big screen. This kind of share day allows students to enjoy the work of their peers while showcasing their hard work and effort to parents, teachers and administrators. Additionally, we often hold share days in the classroom. Using a projector and a screen, we transform the classroom into a movie theater complete with popcorn. After lining the kids up and giving them all little movie tickets, Angelo (left) collects the tickets and ushers students to their seats to view their movies. Having special movie viewing events to end the residencies is a great way for students to see the work of other classes in their school. It is also a fun and exciting way for them to view their work which had previously only been seen on a small computer screen.

27 Puppetry In Practice COPYRIGHT 2011 This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cutural Affairs.