Before embarking on my E-Fellowship I had developed an interest in exploring to a deeper level the use of animation with our children after using it during our participation in the ECE ICT PL Programme. I had only used it a handful of times, with great pleasure for myself and the children I was working with. To introduce animation to a group of children who had not previously participated in the process I decided we would try creating the frog life cycle using animation. This was a group activity with around 6 children helping, each taking on a separate role in the filming process and problem solving together. The trickiest part was the creation of the frog spawn and one of the children found the solution, using our 'googly' eyes that we put on puppets etc. A very successful outcome. There were a few problems, the first being that I have changed my operating system since last using I Can Animate and the software I was using did not work properly in OSX.6 and would not export to IMovie. Disaster I thought, after all the work the children had done. Luckily I attended an AKA ICT cluster meeting soon after and discovered the change and once I downloaded the new version everything worked. I was so relieved and was then able to edit and finish the movie to share with the children.
Shortly after completing the frog animation I was awarded my E-Fellowship and was now inspired to explore animation and its relationship to literacy to a deeper level. This is proving to be very interesting as I work on inspiring children to start creating their own movies. The first step is discussing with them what makes a story - how we need to have a beginning, a middle section and an ending. We have been looking at books and how every story in them contains these elements. Some children have said "I want to make a movie" but are still finding the story element difficult. I am therefore looking at recreating some of their favourite stories with them to further enhance this.
However two of our children understood the process from the beginning and have created wonderful animations in recent weeks, both of which have come from their own imaginations and using models they decided on themselves.
First is Cade's animation and when he decided he wanted to make it he came to me with the dinosaur models already in his hands and the story ready to dictate to me. We filmed it very quickly as he had planned it all out before he started. He chose his background in KidPix and after we edited everything in IMovie, he dictated his narration and it was done in one take as he was very happy with what he had done. We shared it with all the other children, and his mother and grandmother who came along especially, at mat time and the children have regularly asked me to replay it ever since. This was a great start for me for my current research and has provided the stimuli for the children to start discussing and thinking about what they could create.
The second animation is Ryan's. He was very keen to create an animation too and decided it had to be about his favourite Superhero - Spiderman. We discussed what models he could use and he had a look at the block area people and found a model of a surgeon to use as the Green Goblin. He then found a wooden man to use as Peter Parker back in his 'normal' clothes and we decided it would be best if he brought one of his Spiderman models from home to use for his movie. Ryan decided that he needed two Spidermen for his movie, for different elements he had planned. When we started filming he quickly 'acted out' each part before setting it up for the photography elements.
His story had developed somewhat from that he initially dictated and it appeared that he had every part of it planned out ready for the filming session. I was impressed with the thought he had put into planning his movie and the way he worked confidently and with each element already thought out. The only glitch for him was how he would get his Spiderman to climb up the wall (a piece of blue paper for the 'blue screen' to Chroma out with his chosen background) and we solved this with some handy 'Blutack'. He had thought that because his model had 'sticky pads' on his hands and it worked on windows etc it would work on the paper - another learning process for him.
Once filmed he chose his background in KidPix and then we exported his animation to IMovie to edit. Ryan told me what sort of music he wanted for his titles and of course the background of the title page had to be red. He dictated his story and it took two takes as he had trouble fitting all his story in with the first take. I love using the microphone headset when doing this with the children as they seem to be so much more focused on what they are doing than if I use just a microphone.
At the mat time at the end of the session when we finished Ryan's animation he shared it with all the other children and the final confirmation of his success was the spontaneous applause when it ended from everyone. The pride on Ryan's face was wonderful and he later shared his movie with his grandfather and his parents. I have made a Quicktime Movie copy on CD for the children of their movies for them to take home and keep as well. One interesting comment from a child was when I was asked if it was the real Spiderman - how wonderful children's imaginations are and it also shows just how visual images can affect children and how careful we must be in what we expose them to!
Things I have learnt so far -
Shortly after completing the frog animation I was awarded my E-Fellowship and was now inspired to explore animation and its relationship to literacy to a deeper level. This is proving to be very interesting as I work on inspiring children to start creating their own movies. The first step is discussing with them what makes a story - how we need to have a beginning, a middle section and an ending. We have been looking at books and how every story in them contains these elements. Some children have said "I want to make a movie" but are still finding the story element difficult. I am therefore looking at recreating some of their favourite stories with them to further enhance this.
However two of our children understood the process from the beginning and have created wonderful animations in recent weeks, both of which have come from their own imaginations and using models they decided on themselves.
First is Cade's animation and when he decided he wanted to make it he came to me with the dinosaur models already in his hands and the story ready to dictate to me. We filmed it very quickly as he had planned it all out before he started. He chose his background in KidPix and after we edited everything in IMovie, he dictated his narration and it was done in one take as he was very happy with what he had done. We shared it with all the other children, and his mother and grandmother who came along especially, at mat time and the children have regularly asked me to replay it ever since. This was a great start for me for my current research and has provided the stimuli for the children to start discussing and thinking about what they could create.The second animation is Ryan's. He was very keen to create an animation too and decided it had to be about his favourite Superhero - Spiderman. We discussed what models he could use and he had a look at the block area people and found a model of a surgeon to use as the Green Goblin. He then found a wooden man to use as Peter Parker back in his 'normal' clothes and we decided it would be best if he brought one of his Spiderman models from home to use for his movie. Ryan decided that he needed two Spidermen for his movie, for different elements he had planned. When we started filming he quickly 'acted out' each part before setting it up for the photography elements.
His story had developed somewhat from that he initially dictated and it appeared that he had every part of it planned out ready for the filming session. I was impressed with the thought he had put into planning his movie and the way he worked confidently and with each element already thought out. The only glitch for him was how he would get his Spiderman to climb up the wall (a piece of blue paper for the 'blue screen' to Chroma out with his chosen background) and we solved this with some handy 'Blutack'. He had thought that because his model had 'sticky pads' on his hands and it worked on windows etc it would work on the paper - another learning process for him.
Once filmed he chose his background in KidPix and then we exported his animation to IMovie to edit. Ryan told me what sort of music he wanted for his titles and of course the background of the title page had to be red. He dictated his story and it took two takes as he had trouble fitting all his story in with the first take. I love using the microphone headset when doing this with the children as they seem to be so much more focused on what they are doing than if I use just a microphone.At the mat time at the end of the session when we finished Ryan's animation he shared it with all the other children and the final confirmation of his success was the spontaneous applause when it ended from everyone. The pride on Ryan's face was wonderful and he later shared his movie with his grandfather and his parents. I have made a Quicktime Movie copy on CD for the children of their movies for them to take home and keep as well. One interesting comment from a child was when I was asked if it was the real Spiderman - how wonderful children's imaginations are and it also shows just how visual images can affect children and how careful we must be in what we expose them to!
Things I have learnt so far -
- I need to change my backdrop from blue to chroma green asap as when trying to add a background (especially with so much blue on Spiderman) it is difficult to keep all the image with so much blue in the models. I plan to get my husband to create a screen I can use in different places rather than having to use a screen on rollers as my backdrop.
- The table we used for our animation was too wide and the next one will be done on a narrower surface.
I have several other children working on what they want to create - I'm going to interpret a favourite story book with a child next (he has chosen it) and I have two boys working together on a story they are creating themselves - watch this space!
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