Animation
Animation is a technique that really
interests children. It can be done in
classrooms with some fairly basic
equipment and provides a fantastic
IT opportunity. By linking the work to
a thematic curriculum the animation
can have links to previous learning
(eg. storyboard planning in Literacy
linked to a PSHE lesson).
Materials: thin card, drawing materials, scissors, paper fasteners, masking tape,
digital camera with connection to pc or memory card, tripod, large sheet of
card, computer with Microsoft Powerpoint and Moviemaker.
1) Create a landscape or background that is 3 or 4 times wider than the viewing pane
of the camera when it is placed on the tripod directly over the background.
2) Create a series of paper puppets or flat models. Use paper fasteners fixed on the
reverse of any moving part.
3) Set the camera on the tripod and check focus for landscape in viewing pane.
Place some of the paper puppets on the landscape and take a photo.
Repeat photo sequence many times, moving each puppet (or its moving part)
a little with each new photo.
4) Experiment with moving the landscape from one viewing edge, taking a photo
with each slight new movement as the landscape gradually pans across in front
of the camera. Small movements (5mm - 1cm) work best.
5) Load all of the photos into your computer. Save them into a labelled folder.
6) Open Powerpoint and create a blank presentation with no content. Go to ‘insert picture’
and select ‘photo album’. From the file menu retrieve your sequence of photos from
their labelled folder. Select all the photos and click ‘fit to slide’ and then ‘create’.
Powerpoint will automatically load all of the selected photos into a new presentation.
7) Select the second slide (the first in the animation sequence after the title or credit slide)
Right click the slide and select ‘slide transition’. In the bottom right hand corner is a
timer to adjust how long this first slide will appear: choose one second (for slow, steady
motion) or zero seconds (fast, frantic motion).
Click ‘apply to all’ and then ‘slideshow’ to see results.
8) Select the first slide and give this a suitable title and credits. Right click the first slide
and select ‘slide transition’. In the bottom right hand corner is a timer to adjust how
long this first slide will appear: select a few seconds.
Tip: you will need to take HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS to create an animation of any length
using this technique. Alternatively, create shadow puppets or a puppet theatre and use live action filmed directly onto a video camera and then basically edited using Moviemaker.
Disclaimer: These instructions are freely available for any responsible adult to use in a craft session or classroom. Craft knives, staplers and all art materials are the sole responsibility of the craftworker / teacher. You are advised to practise any unfamiliar technique prior to using it with children. No liability can be accepted as a result of using these instructions.
