11
Michele Pettis
SEW 2011
Animation!
Interest Centers
*Set up for the entire Three Weeks
1. Sound Attack: One area of the room is devoted to the making of sound effects for animated movies. Students/Instructor Also included is a listening center for sampling music for animation.
2. Animation Attack: One area of the room is devoted to stop-motion animation center. Students will have access to Legos, toys, stuffed animals, clay, dry-erase boards, paper, coloring supplies, etc. (*Teacher supplied web-cam and computer with stop-motion animation software.)
3. Storyboarding Center: Center with storyboarding supplies/templates and supplies.
4. Computer Animation Center: Students create short computer animated films on “Scratch”, “Art Pad”, Flip Boom Studio, Animation-ish, Toontown. etc.
5. General Interest Center: DVDs, books on animation, flip books, picture books, various animated characters, etc.
Type I
1. Students generate a list of many, varied, unusual types of animation (Productive Thinking).
2. Students examine flipbooks and create a simple flipbook using index cards; teacher demonstration and modeling. Introduction to animation.
3. Students construct a simple thaumatrope; teacher demonstration. (see http://madebyjoel.com/2011/01/bird-thaumatrope.html for simple template)
4. Students observe various insects in their natural environment (or watching animal DVDs) and describe exact movements of their selected animals (intro to anthropomorphism in animation).
5. Students receive a demonstration and tutorial on “ArtPad” (http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/)
6. Students receive a demonstration and tutorial on “Scratch” (http://scratch.mit.edu/)
7. Students receive a demonstration and tutorial on “Flip Boom Studio” (2-D Animation Program)
8. Students receive a demonstration and tutorial on “Animation-ish” (2-D Animation Program)
9. Students view 1st Animated Film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) by J. Stuart Blackton.
10. Students watch cartoon clips without sound and practice adding sound effects to the cartoons.
11. Students listen to Looney Tunes cartoons while blindfolded and “guess” at what action is taking place while listening only to the sound.
12. Students generate lists(s) of many, varied, unusual VILLAINS (heroes, heroines, comic characters, animated characters that are anthropomorphic, etc) found in animated films/cartoons.
13. Students listen to sound samples and classify the type of music as suitable for villains, comic situations, heroines, battles, etc.
14. Students are given pictures of Mickey Mouse spanning 80 years and put them in chronological order.
15. Students listen to a speaker from UA on Cartooning.
16. Students create a storyboard for a common fairy tale or story (such as Three Little Pigs).
17. Students view examples of teacher-made stop-motion videos.
18. Students are given a demonstration of stop-motion animation.
19. Teacher gives a presentation on the History of Animation w/ visual aids such as picture, storyboards, and short animated film excerpts.
20. Students are introduced to the 12 Principles of Animation (i.e. Squash & Stretch, Timing, Staging, Exaggeration, etc)
21. What is a “grotesque”? Are Mickey Mouse and Spongebob grotesques?
22. Students watch examples of well-known animation from various countries: Russia, Japan, France, Argentina. Students compare/contrast animation from other countries on a chart.
23. Using index card prompts, students decide which objects to use to create the sound effect for their prompt. The students perform their sound, and the class tries to determine what sound they are trying to make.
Type II
Productive Thinking Talent
1. Students generate a list of many, varied, unusual artifacts to use in a stop-motion short film.
2. Students compile a sample of many, varied, unusual music samples to change the meaning of a scene in a viewed animation.
3. Students generate many, varied, unusual drawings to design their own animated character.
4. Students consider many, varied, unusual objects to create a Foley Sound Studio in the classroom.
Communication Talent
5. Students give many, varied single words to describe VILLAINS (heroes, heroines, comic characters, etc) depicted in animated films/cartoons using many, varied adjectives. (Skill 1)
6. Students give many, varied single words to describe a character’s emotions based on facial expression only (no sound, music, interaction with other characters, etc). (Skill 2)
7. After observing an insect or animal in their natural environment, students imagine that they are the observed animal and relate what the animal is thinking, feeling, and doing in their observation. (i.e. “I am a ladybug. I am lost and can’t find food! I twitch around back and forth on the leaf . . . maybe I’ll walk in a straight line for a while? . . . I stop. What’s that noise?”). (Skill 4)
8. After receiving an introduction on the 12 Principles of Animation, students attempt to act out various principles such as Squash & Stretch, Exaggeration, Slow In and Out, etc. (Skill 6)
9. Using items and music from the Foley Sound Studio, students act out a scene using sound only (no words, action, animation), while other students guess at the action of the scene. (Skill 6)
10. Students create a network of ideas to construct a character timeline for all Disney & Disney/Pixar films. (Skill 5).
Forecasting
11. What if Walt Disney was never born? How would your life be different? Make many, varied predictions about the effects on your life if Disney had never lived. (Skill 2)
12. After creating a short animated film on a computer program, consider creating the same film using stop-motion animation. How would it be the same? How would it be different? What would your main character do differently/same? Make many, varied predictions about the effect on your story/characters if you were using a different medium. (Skill 2)
Decision Making
13. After creating a storyboard, what is the best way of depicting your story? Stop-motion, 2-D computer animation? Using your decision making talent, decide which animation medium you will use.
14. After learning a brief history about the History of Animation, how will you create & present a time-line of your version of history? Could you create a short film? Comic Book? Poster? Comic Life computer program? Using your decision making talent, decide how you will present your timeline.
Planning
15. Student plan a story-board for a well-known children’s story (i.e. Three Little Pigs). (Introduction to Storyboarding, done as whole-group)
16. Students plan a History of Animation timeline (may be done in various formats!).
17. Students plan the creating of a Animation Music Library.
18. Students create 3 separate plans for 3 different stages of Animation: 1) Storyboarding, 2) Animation, 3) Sound Effects/Music/Voice.
19. Students create an organization plan for maintaining Sound Attack, Animation Attack, and Storyboarding Centers.
Other Type II
20. Students conduct character mapping exercises on a short animated cartoon of their choice.
21. What does it mean to be “anthropomorphic”? Look up word, take apart the meaning, and consider why it is so prevalent in animation.
23. It is the year 1893. What kind of animation could you make? How do you know? How will you find out what technology is available in 1893? Investigate.
24. It is the year 1938. What kind of animation could you make? How do you know? (etc, etc). Investigate.
25. Compare & Contrast animation methods and technology in 1938 to the present day.
26. How could you animate a board game to make it exciting?
27. Why is storyboarding important? Investigate examples of Pixar storyboards to answer this question.
28. What is anatomy and why is it important in animation?
Type III
Create a 15 minute animation with sound effects/editing and special effects using the animation medium of your choice.
Create a 15 minute animation using the animation medium of your choice that outlines the History of Animation in the U.S.
Do research on the history of one particular Disney character. Collect artifacts, information, historical documents, or write current animators of the character (if applicable). Create a display.
Study the movements, traits, habits, etc of your family members (or school teachers!). Create anthropomorphic characters based on the set of people you observed. Storyboard and create a short film based on these observations.
Select a subject/lesson in school that you don’t like, or are having a hard time understanding. How could you use ANIMATION to extend your understanding or interest in the topic? Develop a short animated film on the subject/lesson and share it with your classmates.
Mallory Sample & Lavonne Herron
Type I Activities
Interview a cartoonist to hear about what it takes to be a cartoonist, creating cartoons, and anything else that kids choose to ask so that they can explore the world of cartooning. ( Talents: Communication #5; Use communication skill #5 to develop a set of many and varied interview questions.) (Employment Possibilities - Newspapers; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists; Representations of Cartoons-Comics/Editorials)
Examine the changing appearance of Mickey Mouse through history and design your own Mickey for modern times in order to understand how Mickey has represented the ever-changing face of present-day America. (Talents: Productive Thinking – Think of many, varied, and unusual ways to represent different aspects of Mickey, such as his facial expression, clothing, etc.) (Cultural Analysis - Who’s Who in Cartoons - Disney Characters; History; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists-Creativity and Drawing)
Watch cartoon clips that end in a cliff hanger and then create your own ending to the scene to learn the importance of a proper sequence of events in creating cartoons. (Talents: Forecasting #2 - Think of many and varied predictions of what could happen as a result of the previous scenes.) (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Creativity and Perspective; Representations of Cartoons – Drawing)
Pick a scene from a Toontown video clip (watch and pause on favorite scene) in order to reenact through a frozen tableau to help students consider the importance of choosing important scenes to convey the message and story in comic strips. (Talents: Communication #6 - Reenact the scene without using words to convey information, ideas, and feelings.) (Representations of Cartoons; History) *
Piece together a puzzle depicting a scene from a cartoon and then view the corresponding cartoon clip. (Representations of Cartoons)
Browse various Peanuts cartoons and create your own cartoon using Snoopy, Charlie and the gang to familiarize kids with the classic comic strip. (Representations of Cartoons – Comics; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Production and Creativity; Who’s Who in Cartoons)
Take turns drawing scenes in a comic strip with a partner to show kids how one scene must “piggyback” on the next in a good comic strip. (Talents: Forecasting #2 – Think of many, varied predictions about what could happen in the next scene.) (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Drawing; Representations of Cartoons – Comics)
Create your own Disney princess using pictures from magazines, drawings, paintings, etc. to emphasize the creativity necessary for cartoonists. (Who’s Who in Cartoons; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Drawing, Creativity) *
Create your own superhero using pictures from magazines, drawings, paintings, etc. to emphasize the creativity necessary for cartoonists. (Who’s Who in Cartoons; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Drawing, Creativity)
Interview your favorite cartoon character, making a list of questions and then doing research to find the answers to show the importance of researching to understand topics more deeply. (Talents: Communication #5 – Make a network of questions and ideas using any and varied complete thoughts in oral or written language.) (Who’s Who in Cartoons; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Knowledge of Topic; History)
Select a facial expression from Usborne Young Cartoonist (page 6-7) to replicate and practice doing so to emphasize the importance of the attention to detail. (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Skills for Creating Cartoons)
Type II Activities
Compose sound effects using the Foley method of sound production. Students will learn the skills required to produce sound through performance and apply this skill as they create a variety of different cartoon depictions. (Talents: Productive Thinking – Think of many, varied, and unusual ways to create the sound effects you are looking for. Communication #6 – Communicate the feelings and effects your cartoon will convey without using words. Communication #1 – Give many and varied single words to describe the sounds using onomatopoeia.) (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Tools and Technology; History – Purpose, Major Events – Theatrical, Color and Sound; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists)
Choose good topics and themes for a cartoon. Students will inspect a variety of cartoons to determine the topic, or subject, and the theme, or message, of each. Discuss the open-endedness of choosing a topic and theme, and emphasize choosing ones that are useful and interest them. (Talents: Decision-Making – Use DM to decide on the best topic/theme for your cartoon.) (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Perspective, Knowledge of Topic, Creativity, Humor; Representations of Cartoons; History – Purpose)
Operate the Toontown animation program to create cartoons strips. Students will learn to navigate the website in order to create different settings, characters, and other features of a cartoon. (History – Major Events – Computer Animation; Characteristics of Good Cartoonists; Representations of Cartoons; Who’s Who in Cartoons - Disney)
Learn how to create a wheel book to show various facial features. Using multiple wheel books, students will learn to draw the different facial features and expressions that characters must have in order to convey different moods and feelings to the audience. (Talents: Communication #6 – Show feelings, thoughts, and needs without using words.) (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Conveying Mood, Drawing and Animation) *
Create thaumotropes in order to give students experiences creating cartoons without the use of technology. This will give children insight as to how cartooning has transformed over time. (Talents: Planning – Use the planning worksheet to plan the creation of a thaumotrope.) (Representations of Cartoons – Thaumotropes; History – Major Events)
Create short comic strips depicting a historical event using 4”x4” stamps for printing. (Talents: Decision-Making – Choose the historical event. Planning – Creating the stamps and printing the scenes.) (Representations of Cartoons; History; Cultural Analysis)
Use a variety of techniques to show movement and motion. Students will learn how simple lines can be used to convey this motion. (Characteristics of Good Cartoonists – Skills and Techniques of Good Cartoonists)