11 Aug, 2010
Switching gears with a different kind of project
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Multimedia experiments
I can’t take full credit for this one as it was almost entirely Mark’s doing.
Stop animation productions (aka stop motion/stop action) are fairly easy to do with kids and the results are amazing. Some great examples of stop animation (clay animation, actually) include the show Pingu as well as Wallace & Gromit.
And you can make your own!
To create your own stop animation movie you will need a video camera or digital camera, a tripod, some video editing software and some characters. They don’t need to be clay, just look around the house and find something fun that’ll fit your storyline.
Step 1: Choose your characters. We went with a Playmobil and Fisher Price combo. Stick your camera of choice on a tripod and plan your scene. Kids might find writing out a script or drawing a storyboard a bit boring (although I’d encourage doing it as part of the creative process), so at the very least, talk it out. Ask yourself: What’s going to happen? What are the characters going to do? Where will they go? What will make sense? (Hint: bathroom humour is a popular option.)
Emma’s advice here – if you’re keen to know – is to “try to pick a scene that you’re interested in so you’ll have fun making it.” I would agree with that.
Step 2: Once everything is in place and your camera is set up on the tripod, take the first shot. Our Sony video camera has a really cool setting for this kind of project called “frame recording.” Love. It. Press the record button and it shoots six frames and pauses for the next shot. If your camera has this setting, find it. It will really speed up the time you’ll spend on the editing side of things. (BTW, there are a couple of iPhone apps that do stop motion too, just don’t forget, you REALLY need a tripod.)
When the first shot is done, move your characters a tiny little bit and take the next shot. Smaller movements will result in a smoother animation. Don’t move the camera or tip over the tripod. Keep it still!
Repeat, repeat, repeat until your scene is complete. At this rate, you’ll need five different shots to make one second of footage. Patience is a virtue. Stick with it!
A note about lighting: try to keep it uniform. Our video was shot on the back porch and it shows.
Step 3: String your shots together using the software of your choice. Mark used Final Cut Express. Add some tunes to make it more fun, but be forewarned, YouTube will strip the music out of it if it’s protected by copyright.
If your video camera shoots a few frames at a time you won’t need to do much editing. You’ll be able to render it out and export it in a file format that works for you, like Quicktime.
I am immensely proud of my brood for their first animation project. They persevered and worked really hard. Toilet humour aside and the fact that there is no real storyline, I think it worked out really well for a bunch of first timers.
We uploaded ours to YouTube for all to view. The girls are eager to hear what you all think.
Here it is:
