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Animation
Dreams and fictional worlds are full of characters, movement and narrative. They can be real or imaginary worlds where very normal, or strange things happen. Can you create an animated dream with movement and life? Can you animate everyday objects to bring into the dream? Here are some ideas and suggestions to help you get started.
Making Connections
Take time to think and talk about animations you have seen with others. This will help you to develop your ideas!
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- What does the movement of a character tell us about them?
- How does movement help us understand what is going on? For example, what does it mean if an animal or person moves very quickly?
- What materials and resources could you use to tell a story or send a message?
Developing Skills
Can you list all the skills that you develop whilst you are learning how to animate? Do you need different skills to use different software and devices?
Challenge 1
Create a character out of playdoh and make it move
Digital Game
Playdoh Touch (Free with in-app purchases)
Download
Activity from MakerSchools
Online Tutorials:
Review of some features
Website
Make your own play dough with everyday ingredients
Challenge 2
Animate an object so it looks as if it is moving across your desk
Stop Motion
Stop Motion Studio App (There is a free and paid version)
Download
Introduction to Animation
Online Tutorials:
First Steps with Stop Motion Studio
Website
Make your own play dough with everyday ingredients
Challenge 3
Make an animation that responds to your movements
Programming
Scratch Video Sensing
Download
Educator Guide (Video Sensing)
Online Tutorials:
Introduction to Video Sensing Blocks
Website
Examples of Video Sensing Projects
Asking Questions
Asking questions about the animations we watch helps us to understand that other people may have different views to us. People interpret things differently because everyone has different knowledge and experience.
- Audience: Who is the dreamer and how do you want them to feel? Will they understand the dream? How will you represent yourself or the dreamer?
- Purpose: Why are you making the dream? Will your dream inspire, persuade, entertain, inform? What effect do you want the dream to have?
- Context: Will the dream reflect the dreamer’s everyday life or will it be filled with fantasy? How will you send the dream to the dreamer? How will the digital dream be similar or different to other animations?
- Methods: What effect might the will the the sounds, colours and movements have on the dreamer? Why have you chosen this approach?
Making a Dream for a Penguin
Tinkering and Remixing
Now you have explored animation and developed your skills, have a go at making a dream! You can make a dream for anyone. Everyone needs dreams, even animals.
Far, far away on a distant iceberg there sits a penguin who dreams of understanding more about different places. Can you create an animated dream for the Penguin and help them to imagine, and understand different worlds?
Here are some books and animations to inspire you:
Stories about penguin adventures:
Penguin animations:
Making Connections
- How did the 🐧Penguins feel in these stories?
- What did you 👍like or 👎dislike about the stories?
- Do you have any questions?
- Do the stories remind you of anything else?
- Have you ever been lost? 🤷🏻♂️ How did you find your way? Who helped you?
- If you could take a 🐧penguin on an adventure with you, where would you go? 🧭
Applying Skills
- Digital Game
- Time 1-2 Hours
Suggested resources:
Create a penguin out of playdough and use the Playdoh touch app to take it on an imaginary adventure. What kind of place is it? How can you transform the place to make it more exciting or interesting for the Penguin? How will the penguin feel when they explore your landscape? Which parts of the landscape will look familiar to the dreamer or strange?
- Stop Motion
- Time 3-5 Hours
Suggested resources:
First you will need a penguin to animate. You could draw a penguin on card or paper and cut it out or you could make a playdoh model or use toy penguin figure). Next you will need to think about the place that the penguin will explore. You could use a printout of a scene or you could choose an area of your house or the playground. Can you make familiar places seem wonderful? What fun could the penguin have with that mug on the table or a pencil?
- Programming
- Time 1-5 Days
Can you animate a penguin, so it responds to your movements? Can you make a dream using this software that changes when you move and interact with the Penguin?
Asking Questions
When you have made your dream ask yourself three questions about your animation.
How can you find the answers?