Lesson video

Hi there.

I'm Ms. Mia, and I'm so excited you're here as well.

Today, you'll be joining me for an awesome lesson where we are going to learn, explore, and have lots of fun together.

Are you ready? Let's begin.

In this lesson, you'll be able to create a stop motion animation to make your monster move.

Your keywords are on the screen now, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Stop motion animation.

Storyboard.

Digital device.

Fantastic.

Let's find out what these words mean.

So stop motion animation is a form of animation involving sequential photography of still objects, and I'll show you an example of sequential photography in a bit.

Now, a storyboard is a sequence of drawings representing the shots planned for an animation or film.

And lastly, a digital device is an electronic device, such as a tablet, smartphone, or camera.

Let's move on.

Now, this lesson is all about making your monster move, and we're going to be creating our stop motion animation.

This lesson is made of two lesson cycles.

Our first lesson cycle is to use a digital device to take a series of images, and then we're going to move on to creating our stop motion animation in the second part of this lesson.

I am super excited about this lesson.

I hope you are too.

Let's get started.

Now, you may remember creating a clay model monster and a backdrop.

This is going to be super important that you have these to hand because we're going to need it.

In this lesson, you'll be creating your monster stop motion animation.

Now, the tools and equipment needed to create your stop motion animation are: a background stage, your clay monster, a camera or digital device, and a tripod or steady hands.

Over to you.

Which devices can be used to create stop motion animation? Is it A, a printer, B, a tablet, C, a camera, or D, a remote control? You can pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So, what did you get? If you got B and C, you are correct.

You do not need expensive equipment to create stop motion animations.

Many people have access to a camera or tablet at home or at school.

So we'll be focusing on using a camera or a tablet.

Now, this is how you make a stop motion animation.

You move the object a little bit, and there we can see Izzy's moved the car a little bit, and then you take a photograph, and she's taken the photograph there.

Then you move it again.

And then you take another photograph.

And then you move it again and you repeat that process.

And this is what a sequencing of photographs is in stop motion animation.

You move your object a little bit and then you take a picture, and you move it again and you take a picture.

It's like creating a film with toys.

Over to you.

With a partner, discuss whether you agree or disagree with Sofia.

Sofia says, "Stop motion animation is the same as a video recording." What do you think? You can pause the video here and click play when you finished your discussion.

So, what did you discuss? Well, stop motion animation is created by taking individual still images and then playing them in quick succession to create the illusion of movement, whereas a video recording captures continuous motion.

So Sofia is incorrect.

We should have disagreed with her.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on.

The children discuss tips for creating their animation.

Aisha says, "Moving the monster a little at a time between each shot will create smooth motion." And I agree with Aisha.

By moving the monster just a little bit at a time means that your animation will flow so much better.

Now, when it comes to practise, doing this can take a lot of time.

It may result in frustration, but believe me, the output is so worth it.

So do stick to moving your monster a little bit at a time.

Jacob says, "Keeping the camera in the same place for each shot will avoid shaky footage," and that's correct.

So that's where the tripod comes into place.

By placing your digital device on a tripod will help to avoid shaky footage, which means your animation will look so much smoother and professional.

Sofia says, "Making sure lighting is consistent will help to prevent sudden changes in brightness or shadows." And again, it will avoid making your animation look a bit jumpy and unprofessional.

So if you do have access to torches, I would definitely use that.

Try and have your scenery placed where there isn't much change to light.

So this could be in front of a window as well.

Back to you.

Izzy has ordered the steps of creating a stop motion animation.

Is she correct? So she says, A, you take a photograph, B, you move the object, C, you repeat the process, and then D, you play the pictures quickly.

Has she ordered the steps correctly? Have a think, click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what did you get? Well, yes, Izzy is correct.

She has ordered the steps correctly.

Over to you.

For this task, you're going to be working in pairs and you will need a digital device.

This could be a camera or tablet.

You are now going to take a series of still images of your monster moving.

Do remember to move the object a little bit, then take a photograph, move it again, and then take another photograph.

You're going to keep repeating this process.

Now, you might choose to move your monster from one position to another position, or you might choose to have your monster do a quick little spin.

It's up to you, as long as you're following this process and taking a series of photographs.

So once you've finished taking all your images, you're going to swipe quickly through the images in the photo gallery to create the illusion of your monster coming to life.

And this is basically where the magic happens.

So make sure you do that at the end after taking your series of photographs.

Off you go.

Have fun.

Click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So, how did you find that? Were you able to make your monster move? Well, we had a go.

Have a look at this.

You may have taken a series of images that look like this.

Now, in your examples, you may have had quite a lot of images to document that movement.

I've just picked out the main photographs here to show you how my monster moved.

And then when swiping through the images quickly, this is what it might look like.

And we can see that Gloob is moving quite quickly towards us.

Now we're going to move on to our second lesson cycle.

We are going to be creating our stop motion animation.

Are you excited? I definitely am.

Let's go.

So Aisha now moves on to recording her stop motion animation of the monster.

Aisha says, "I'm going to look back at my storyboard to remind myself of the storyline." Now that's a really good point.

This is because by looking at our storyboard, we're going to remind ourselves of the most important parts of our story and make sure we animate those.

This will also make animating so much easier because we will have a clear idea of what we need to animate in our stop motion animation.

So Aisha's got the beginning, the middle, and the end.

So at the beginning of Aisha's animation, we can see Gloob is wandering alone in the forest.

Gloob then bumps into Snake, and by the end, Gloob and Snake become friends.

So Aisha will recreate this in her animation.

I do.

I'm now going to take a series of photographs following my storyboard.

And we can see Gloob is slowly making an appearance.

And he bumps into Snake.

They become friends and they go off together in the forest.

Your turn.

You're now going to take a series of photographs to capture your storyboard.

Now remember, the movements need to be slow.

You can pause the video here.

Off you go, have fun and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

Izzy started to take the photographs.

She moved the object a little bit, and then she took the photograph, and then she moved it again, and she took another photograph.

So she repeated that process till she was able to capture her storyboard.

Now, don't worry if you didn't manage to capture all of it, there will be more time for you to do this as the lesson progresses.

Let's move on.

Now, when taking your series of photographs, you may find that there is: camera movement, inconsistent lighting, out of focus shots, steps skipped accidentally, battery problems on your device.

Now, when it comes to camera movement, the camera might accidentally shift between shots causing shaky footage.

You may have also found that lighting may change between the photos, creating flickering or shadows in the animation.

Now, some photos might be a bit blurry if the camera isn't focused properly.

And lastly, the camera or device battery may die, or they may run out of storage during the process.

So it's super important that we checked all of those things before using our digital device to record our animation.

So, how do we get around this? You could use a tripod or have a friend that has steady hands to help you take the photographs for your animation.

You could also frequently check your lighting and focus.

Planning your shots carefully will avoid skipping any steps, and keeping an eye on your battery life will prevent any interruptions.

So those are the top tips for recording your stop motion animation.

Over to you.

Look at the series of images below.

What could you suggest to improve the images? Hmm, you could pause the video here and click play when you've got the answer.

So, what did you get? Well, the lighting can definitely be improved because I can barely see what's happening.

So you could use a lamp or flashlight, or setting up the scene in a place with better natural light to avoid taking really dark images.

We don't want dark images because we want our audience to be able to very clearly see what's happening in our stop motion animation.

Now, now to create a stop motion animation, you can use stop motion animation software.

So what you're going to do is start by opening the software.

You're then going to upload a series of photos that you took of your monster's adventure.

So that is what it means to import your photographs.

You're then going to put them in order that matches your storyboard.

So in this case, first Gloob was wandering, meeting the snake, and then them becoming friends.

And lastly, walking off into the forest together.

What you could do then is adjust the speed, and this is known as the frame rate.

So you're going to set how fast you want the photos to play so your monster's movement looks smooth.

And lastly, you're going to watch and save your animation when you're happy with what it looks like.

Back to you, what do you need to do first when you open the stop motion animation software? Is it A, add sound, B, import your photographs, or C, save the animation? You can pause the video here, and click play when you've got the answer.

So what did you get? If you got B, importing your photographs, you are correct.

That is the first thing that you're going to do when you open up the stop motion animation software.

Well done if you got that correct.

Good listening.

When importing your images, you should review your photographs first.

So before importing, it's important to check your photos to make sure that they're clear, well lit and follow the movement you want.

The last thing you want is importing all the images, trying to make sure everything's okay, and then when it comes to creating your stop motion animation, you find that your images might be blurry or they might be too dark, and then you'll have to go back and record the animation again.

So this part is very important.

Do review your photographs first.

So when you are happy, you're then going to import the images in the correct order.

Now, some software lets you actually import multiple photos at once.

This actually helps you save time.

This is also known as batch importing.

So you can use this feature to upload your entire series of photos very quickly.

So after importing, you can then drag and drop your photos if they're out of order to fix any mistakes.

And lastly, once the photos are imported, you're going to set the speed, so this is known as the frame rate, to control how fast or slow the animation plays.

More frames per second will create a smoother animation.

Over to you.

Jacob has arranged the steps for importing images into your software.

Is he correct? Step one, review your photos.

Step two, import in the correct order.

Step three, arrange and reorder.

Step four, watch and save the file.

And step five, adjust the speed frame rate.

What do you think? You could pause the video here and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So what do you think? Did Jacob arrange the steps for importing the images correctly? Well, he's incorrect.

Before watching and saving the file, you would adjust the speed and frame rate.

Well done if you managed to spot that mistake Onto the main task for this lesson cycle.

So what you are now going to do is use a stop motion animation software to create your stop motion animation.

So you're going to remember to open the software, import your photographs, arrange the photographs, adjust the speed, and lastly, watch and save.

Now, remember, if you didn't have enough time earlier to create your stop motion animation, you could also go back and do this now and then follow the steps here.

Pause the video here, have fun, and click play when you're ready to rejoin us.

So how did it go? Well, your stop motion animation might look like this.

So we can see here that the storyboard was followed.

Gloob is wandering around the forest, he meets Snake, they then become friends, and then afterwards they walk off into the forest.

Well done if you managed to create your stop motion animation.

Now, let's summarise our learning.

So in today's lesson, you were making your monster move by creating your stop motion animation.

You now understand that stop motion animation is used to create animations of clay models.

You also understand that stop motion animation involves taking a series of still images to create the illusion of movement.

And lastly, you understand that proper lighting ensures consistent and clear images.

Thank you so much for joining me in this lesson, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

Bye.