Stop Motion Animation Class Day 2

Today the children created most of their sets and refined their storyboards. It was a busy second day as we plan to start filming tomorrow.
Below: a few sketches from yesterday and the cages and animals created by the boys:











































Shadow set for Ed's insect:
















































Shadow puppet parts for Mitchell's Thorny Devil desert scene:






























Cole used a lot of real plant materials for his sets both in the cage and for the main set. It will be interesting to see how he uses these for his shadow elements.


































The boys created smaller version of their animals to sail away in paper boats in the conclusion of the movie. These animals will also be used in the main pet shop scene. Ed taught the other boys how to make paper boats.






































The main stage for the boys set. The Pet Shop doors will slide open to show the pet store.

















Lights for the pet store.

















The girls created the set parts for their fairy story. Large trees were created of wallpaper sample sheets spray mounted onto tag board. These trees are in the background.

















Sketches:





































































They also created element for the shadow screen. These they created of real plant materials
from the yard. We hot melted these to wooden boards. This will be dramatic when back lit against the shadow screen.

















Below: images of the fairy set in progress:



































Creating the fairy party invites.























Doll in dress. The girls challenged themselves to create costuming for their fairies. Tomorrow they will make the wings and the rest of the dresses and the children will start filming!

Stop Motion Animation Class Day 1

Today was the first day of my summer stop motion claymation classes. The children created rough storyboards and began to make their clay figures. They first sketched their clay protagonists by looking at reference books. The boys chose to create animals and the girls chose to make fairies.






































































After they had sketched their figures, I created wireform skeletons for them to build the clay upon. I used 24 gauge thread covered floral wire. This is much cheaper than using armature wire.
This below is the base form for all the fairies.












































































































Below: base form for snake.







































Above: A piece of screen mesh was used to create texture on snake skin.
Below: base form for Thorny Devil lizard.






















































The children build up the creatures using Van Achen Toon Clay. I cut the clay into small blocks so that it is easier to manage. I also had a pasta maker and an extrusion tool on hand for them to use. The extrusion tool was used for the hair on the fairies and the pasta maker was used to create flat sheets of clay for the undergarments.


































































Cole had the good idea of pressing his snake eyes into a block of clay to hold it still before he created the pupil. All the children then used this technique to create the pupils on their bead eyes. Tip: make the opening of the bead the pupil and draw with a permanent marker a ring around that hole. Apply vaseline to the socket before you put the bead eye in. This will make the eye move more easily when you move it with a pencil tip while animating.























When creating the face it is good to build up with small layers on the face. I created a sample character and used a half moon shape to build up the cheeks. I didn't want the eyes to look surprised, so I put a small banana shape of clay above and below the eyes to create the eyelids. Be sure you stick the bead eyes in deep enough that the eyes don't bulge. I should have painted the pupils before sticking the eyes into the head. My husband noted that at this stage the face looked like Lord Voldermart!


















Adding hair, eyebrows and color to the mouth help the face look like a face.














































Tomorrow the children will add more detail. The girls will use lace and fabric to create the garments. They will create the sets and refine their storyboards.

2009 Summer Camp Stop Motion

Monday is the start of a week long stop motion claymation animation workshop. I will be teaching a second workshop later in July as well. The children will be using black box stages made from cardboard boxes. Lights from IKEA are attached to ceiling of stage and to floor of stage. A dowel is hung from the ceiling so objects can be suspended across the stage. I have made two stages so that I can have two groups of three children filming at the same time.

1. They will be making shadow puppet set elements to attach behind the shadow screen.
   
2. They will created set elements for mid stage that can be fixed or slide on and off stage.
3. They will create elements that suspend from the ceiling
4. They will be able to place different colored celophanes to create different light effects.

SAMPLE SET LIGHTING AND PROPS (Created by my 5 year old)
The children will be able to play with different types of stage lighting to create different moods for their stories.
Front lit stage:


















Back lit stage:


















Front and back lit stage:


















If you want see some inspiring set design mock-ups check out these sites:
Erik Flatmo (Amazing San Francisco based set designer)
John Lee Beatty
Han Feng she does costuming for opera (I had to include her...so inspiring)
Also, for amazing San Francisco based shadow puppet organization check out this website (I have blogged about them before):
ShadowLight.

The children will start with a blank set.
BLANK SET


















The back of the box was cut out of these to create a shadow screen that can be incorporated into the set design. White cotton muslin is the screen hot melted to the back edge of the box opening.


















Below: Tracks (painted chopsticks) in the floor and slots in the side of the box can be used to slide sets on and off the stage.




















Below: My stage design helpers.


















WORKSHOP SCHEDULE (sample inspiration animations will be viewed throughout day):
Monday: Storyboarding, Camera Angles and begin characters. Lots of movie watching.
The children will watch:
Sound of Color
Peter and the Wolf
Last Time in Clerkenville
for variations on a story:
The book The Stonecutter and the following two videos
The Stonecutter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MOcLtEUD4A&feature=related
for storyboard: Joust
for camera angles and mood and props: I Lived on the Moon
Tuesday: Props and Figures, refine storyboard
Beringer, Making of a Video
Wednesday: Film
Child
Thursday: Sound record voices and music. Field trip to De Anza College's Animation Department
Friday: Edit in Premiere Elements, create invite for screening and create take home shadow boxes for clay figures and set elements, end credits filming