An Overview of the Week 4 Animation Progression

Big Idea: To masterfully produce a 30 second film including music, dialogue or voice, and starring not only the same character elements (popsicle sick, straw, pipe cleaner, and single lego piece of their choosing), but also a COMPLETELY new character creation!! This character could be, but is not limited to, being birthed from clay.

Dates: April 10th thru the 14th

Groups Participating: Bluedot and Pico ALA students, Jonathon, Crystal and Sammie

Materials: Laptops, power cords, popsicle sticks, straws, pipe cleaners, various lego pieces, package of crayola polychrome modeling clay, quaint resealable storage containers

Associated Concepts: Storytelling-Theme, character, and plot development. Stop motion animation techniques with fluid motion movement and sound effects. New creative freedom is bequeathed upon the picos from their bluedot mentors this week, as they are allowed to explore new effects. Time management is a key concept we hope to see the Bluedots master and enforce.

Best Part: Creativity is streaming from their minds straight to the screen!! What began as a simple exercise in filming techniques using a popsicle stick, straw and pipe cleaner, has now progressed into a thirty second musical jewel starring lego pieces and clay figures. From troll staff surfing snowmen to cowboy lego men braving the mighty seas upon disgruntled marine monsters, the characters are diverse and interesting. Students have created evolving stories that have branched past the basic fighting scenes, and given the viewers a chance to see the events leading up to the quarrel. With each week, they are exploring new ways to enrich their scenes. For example, with the addition of text boxes, students are able to present title scenes at the beginning as well as subtitles throughout the film. They have also constructed backgrounds and props such as trees that interact with the characters.

Worst Part: Due to the limited number of available outlets in the room, groups are corralling around one table. At times, many cords are fanning off of the table, making it hard to navigate through a sea of cords. We have encouraged them to spread out, but they seem to be too engrossed in their projects to worry about personal space. :)

Improvements: YEA organization!!! All groups are now assigned their very own computer. Therefore, groups are able to work on their projects any time they choose to do so. They have all scheduled when they are working, so that proper supplies are made available. They are saving their work in Animation Projects 2006 folders on the desktop for easy access.