The animation is completed!
At a school with no computer lab we did something pretty fun and innovative on super low budget. We created this stop motion animation using a borrowed laptop, a $15 dollar mike, two still digital cameras, clay, two small stages and an assortment of freeware and donated software.
I just ran the voice files through another filter in my audio editing software (freeware called Audacity) to completely eliminate the humming. It turned out that I had the "gain" volume up all the way on my digital microphone when I recorded. I now know better. I thought this would make the volume of the speaker louder. Turning the gain up all the way actually makes the microphone pick up all the ambient noise around...fridge, air conditioner, rustling paper, etc. It takes a bit of digital acrobatics to eliminate the ambient noise and get the voices clear.
The children had gotten a taste of using the freeware Audacity in class when I recorded them and they tried some filters on their files to clean them up or make their recorded voices louder.
The children did a great job with this very involved animation project. I was very impressed that they challenged themselves to create two transformations for their cubes rather than the one transformation I had suggested. I hadn't planned on that and was happily surprised to see how well the two transformations worked out.
On Tuesday (if my family doesn't get hit by the flu I had last week) I will be going into Horace Cureton to give each child his/her DVD of the animation and to give them a hands on demo of the software I used. I will have a few students try out editing some of their clay images in Photoshop and a few will import into Premiere Elements. It would be great for them to have a taste of the software used. This workshop series was composed of 8 one and a half hour sessions in the classroom, plus the additional editing time in my studio. I can't believe it is done!
Showing posts with label Alum Rock Education Foundation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alum Rock Education Foundation. Show all posts
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Claymation Day Six, breather sequences and sound
Yesterday was the sixth day of the animation workshop at Horace Cureton Elementary. The children filmed three breather sequences which I inserted in between sections of their animation. They did a fantastic job! It was nice to see them use a concept from the Sony Bravia Bunnies video as I think actually trying these cube movements gave them a better understanding of how time consuming and precise that particular stop motion animation was
This animation workshop series is the first time these 29 4th/5th grade students have created a stop motion animation. We have not completed the animation yet, but the results so far are beyond what I had expected. There is a combination of planned organization and free form creativity that is required of each child. I like conducting these animation workshops as they require each child to exercise a blend of different skill sets. Most importantly, it is a project that is impossible without teamwork.
TEST ANIMATION WITHOUT SOUND:
Above is the animation so far with all the stop motion parts inserted. It needs to be tweaking it a bit. The pacing will be adjusted (credit screens will linger longer). I also need to add a few credit screens to give credit to the Alum Rock Education Foundation for the mini grant, the egg company for the egg carts and a few other people who have made making this animation workshop possible. I also want to add a few process screens at the end showing the kids at work making the animation. These kind of images at the end of animations are always fun...kind of a peek behind the magic.
What remains is the voice recording and the music. I hope I can get this completed in the next week. I estimate that the final run time will be five minutes as I will need to lengthen each animation sequence to match the voice for each child. I also might break up the animation sequences a bit more. I placed the third breather at the very end, but I think I need to divide up the animations a bit more. I'll be experimenting with that.
VOICE RECORDING
We also started recording their voices yesterday. This was an interesting challenge as the air conditioner would turn on and off frequently and was very, very loud. Also, an elementary classroom is no sound stage...you just cannot expect kids to be totally silent as they needed to be working on other assignments as I recorded their voices one by one.
I hope the ambient noise will filter out OK. I borrowed a pop filter from a friend and that will hopefully help at least with the voices a bit.
MUSIC
A guitar ensemble group of elementary and junior high school students will be recording the music...an original composition titled "Marching Ants." More on that in another posting.
Got up at 5:00am to complete this animation build here.. Kind of can't see it clearly anymore and need to work on other projects now.
This animation workshop series is the first time these 29 4th/5th grade students have created a stop motion animation. We have not completed the animation yet, but the results so far are beyond what I had expected. There is a combination of planned organization and free form creativity that is required of each child. I like conducting these animation workshops as they require each child to exercise a blend of different skill sets. Most importantly, it is a project that is impossible without teamwork.
TEST ANIMATION WITHOUT SOUND:
Above is the animation so far with all the stop motion parts inserted. It needs to be tweaking it a bit. The pacing will be adjusted (credit screens will linger longer). I also need to add a few credit screens to give credit to the Alum Rock Education Foundation for the mini grant, the egg company for the egg carts and a few other people who have made making this animation workshop possible. I also want to add a few process screens at the end showing the kids at work making the animation. These kind of images at the end of animations are always fun...kind of a peek behind the magic.
What remains is the voice recording and the music. I hope I can get this completed in the next week. I estimate that the final run time will be five minutes as I will need to lengthen each animation sequence to match the voice for each child. I also might break up the animation sequences a bit more. I placed the third breather at the very end, but I think I need to divide up the animations a bit more. I'll be experimenting with that.
VOICE RECORDING
We also started recording their voices yesterday. This was an interesting challenge as the air conditioner would turn on and off frequently and was very, very loud. Also, an elementary classroom is no sound stage...you just cannot expect kids to be totally silent as they needed to be working on other assignments as I recorded their voices one by one.
I hope the ambient noise will filter out OK. I borrowed a pop filter from a friend and that will hopefully help at least with the voices a bit.
MUSIC
A guitar ensemble group of elementary and junior high school students will be recording the music...an original composition titled "Marching Ants." More on that in another posting.
Got up at 5:00am to complete this animation build here.. Kind of can't see it clearly anymore and need to work on other projects now.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Thinking Outside The Box, Claymation!
Tomorrow I begin teaching stop motion animation workshops at a San Jose School in the Alum Rock School District. It will be in the 4th/5th grade class of Ms. Arlyn Illa at Horace Cureton Elementary. I have been teaching free art workshops in her classes for about four years now. This year we received a mini grant from The Alum Rock Education Foundation http://www.alumrockef.org/ for an eight class claymation animation workshop series I have titled" Thinking Outside The Box".
Below: Emily my diligent helper. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours cutting clay in to cubes for this workshop series. We will be using CLAYTOON Modeling Clay by Van Aken. This is an oil based clay specifically designed for claymation.
I am so grateful for having this opportunity to conduct these classes and it has been wonderful to work with Ms. Illa's classes over the years. Her classes have always been a good testing ground for my art projects. The students always are super well behaved and curious to learn. Much credit here goes to Ms. Illa! She is an inspiration to me and I have absorbed a lot from watching her teach. The children arevery hungry for art which I think they pretty much only get after Star Testing every May.
Above: Clay cutter I made from two chop sticks and wire. You can purchase these clay cutters, but free is cheaper!
Below: cut cubes.
ANIMATION DEMONSTRATION SAMPLE- CUBE TO BUTTERFLY
Below: Animation sample test. This will demonstrate to the students how to start with a cube, transform it into something and then have it transition to the next student's cube of a different color. This sample test took 15 minutes to make and only a few clay parts. I am creating a set table so the children can create interesting and varied sets and lighting.
CONCEPT
The theme of the children;s animation workshop is "Thinking Outside The Box". This workshops series introduces students to the multi-stepped process of stop motion animation through hands-on creation of an animation start to finish. The project is based on the theme of thinking outside the box and what that means to each child. Each child will be given cubes of clay and each student will create an animation sequence that represents to him/her what thinking creatively outside the box means by transforming that cube of clay into something else. The children will also create transition sequences that link each box story to the next child's. The children rotate through the different roles of photographer, animator, director and narrator.
HISTORY AND CULTURE COMPONENT
The springboard for ideas will start with the reading of three different cultural legends about magical boxes: Pandora' Box (Greek), Raven and Seagull (Nootka, British Colombia), and Anansi and The Box of Stories (West African). The children will be shown sample of artistic styles form each of these cultures to help inspire their designs.
The children will also be watching this Sony Bravia Bunnies video. I love it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdDUlptT_60
An artist friend recently questioned why I keep a blog and expressed a belief that it was frivolous and peripheral to an artist's process and art creation. I disagree. For me, keeping a blog is very important for documentation and organization of my thoughts, especially as I engage in more school and public art work that it grant funded. Two other artists in the last month have already referenced my blog in their collaborative grant applications. Every foundation and organization wants to be able to track the process and evaluate the success of what they fund. This is a way to keep them posted on that process. More on this later. I am always eager to learn other artist's processes if they are willing to share it. I believe that explaining process makes art more approachable, interesting and understandable. I am beginning to conduct school assemblies centering around my process, repurposing of materials and the historical context of recycling on the Plantations of Hawaii.
http://www.okadadesign.com/workshop.html
Below: Emily my diligent helper. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours cutting clay in to cubes for this workshop series. We will be using CLAYTOON Modeling Clay by Van Aken. This is an oil based clay specifically designed for claymation.
I am so grateful for having this opportunity to conduct these classes and it has been wonderful to work with Ms. Illa's classes over the years. Her classes have always been a good testing ground for my art projects. The students always are super well behaved and curious to learn. Much credit here goes to Ms. Illa! She is an inspiration to me and I have absorbed a lot from watching her teach. The children arevery hungry for art which I think they pretty much only get after Star Testing every May.
Above: Clay cutter I made from two chop sticks and wire. You can purchase these clay cutters, but free is cheaper!
Below: cut cubes.
ANIMATION DEMONSTRATION SAMPLE- CUBE TO BUTTERFLY
Below: Animation sample test. This will demonstrate to the students how to start with a cube, transform it into something and then have it transition to the next student's cube of a different color. This sample test took 15 minutes to make and only a few clay parts. I am creating a set table so the children can create interesting and varied sets and lighting.
CONCEPT
The theme of the children;s animation workshop is "Thinking Outside The Box". This workshops series introduces students to the multi-stepped process of stop motion animation through hands-on creation of an animation start to finish. The project is based on the theme of thinking outside the box and what that means to each child. Each child will be given cubes of clay and each student will create an animation sequence that represents to him/her what thinking creatively outside the box means by transforming that cube of clay into something else. The children will also create transition sequences that link each box story to the next child's. The children rotate through the different roles of photographer, animator, director and narrator.
HISTORY AND CULTURE COMPONENT
The springboard for ideas will start with the reading of three different cultural legends about magical boxes: Pandora' Box (Greek), Raven and Seagull (Nootka, British Colombia), and Anansi and The Box of Stories (West African). The children will be shown sample of artistic styles form each of these cultures to help inspire their designs.
The children will also be watching this Sony Bravia Bunnies video. I love it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdDUlptT_60
An artist friend recently questioned why I keep a blog and expressed a belief that it was frivolous and peripheral to an artist's process and art creation. I disagree. For me, keeping a blog is very important for documentation and organization of my thoughts, especially as I engage in more school and public art work that it grant funded. Two other artists in the last month have already referenced my blog in their collaborative grant applications. Every foundation and organization wants to be able to track the process and evaluate the success of what they fund. This is a way to keep them posted on that process. More on this later. I am always eager to learn other artist's processes if they are willing to share it. I believe that explaining process makes art more approachable, interesting and understandable. I am beginning to conduct school assemblies centering around my process, repurposing of materials and the historical context of recycling on the Plantations of Hawaii.
http://www.okadadesign.com/workshop.html
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