The final animation

Here is our final animation. Unfortunately when showcasing it we had a few technical difficulties. However, Lois (luckily) filmed it on her phone. But please excuse the laughing as another group were in the room filming theirs.

The biggest part I played in the making of this animation was the making of the models and choosing the sound effects and putting them into the animation.

A review of another animation

Emma and Rhodri did their animation on an issue which not many people think about but is slowly happening which is why I liked it.
Their animation looked at how robots could take our jobs.
It was a funny, light hearted animation, but the message was clear.
They used Sir Alan Sugar's voice as the robots voice to fire the employees which was a different and funny idea.
Emma pointed out how she changed the colour of the buttons on the robot to make it look like they were lighting up. I have watched it since and now she has pointed that out I can see and it is a lovely touch. 
 I also liked the sound effects used in the animation. The sound of the factory gave it life and made it seem more real. 
 

click here to take you too Emma's blog to see the animation
 

How important is sound in animation?

"Sound effects play an important role in conveying action. Music helps express emotions" - Michael Geisler

Sound effects in animations are important as they give life to the characters in the animations. It makes it easier for the audience to connect emotionally when there is a soundtrack or sound effects throughout.

We listened to a short clip of an animation without actually watching the animation itself to see if we could guess what was happening. As a class we worked out what happened in the animation.

Likewise watching a favourite animation, like the simpsons for example, would be incredibly boring without sound.

Our task today was to create a five minute podcast of our own radio show, using a theme song and creating 'animating discussions' using a programme called Audacity.
I found the programme quite confusing to use at first! It does take time.
Below is our podcast. Not quite five minutes!

The process of our animation

Over the last few weeks we have been given different tips and lessons in animations, such as what software to use, how to make clay models, the importance of story boarding etc.
Our final task was to create an animation which could be used to explain something in an educational context. In our groups we brainstormed different ideas, and the one idea which stood out for my group was the 'cycle of life'. Something everyone can relate too. A baby growing up, finding love, marrying, having children and then dying, but the cycle continuing.

The first step of our process in making our very own stop-motion animation was to make a storyboard of our animation. This helped us to keep to the time frame of 2 minutes and kept us focussed.













After we had decided on our story, we began to think about what music we would use. We wanted this animation to tug at the heartstrings, so decided on a very uplifting song called 'on my way - Rusted Root' which people may recognise from the film Matilda.

The next task was to actually create our models.



This took us quite a while to do but was worth it when completed.
We followed the advice given to us on model making, making sure the legs were quite stumpy so they could stand and be moved easily. Also the faces were kept simple so facial expressions could be changed easily.






Then it came to filming our animation.
We used ZU3D software. After previous sessions using this it became quite easy to use.
However we soon learnt a lot of patience is needed when making an animation.
To film 40 seconds it took us two hours, as each movement of the model has to be small to have the correct effect.




Once we had finished filming we then added our sound effects.

Introduction to ZU3D - Basic Stop Motion animation

 Zu3D is software which helps you to create stop motion animations.
It is easy to use if you have enough patience!

As we've seen, stop-motion is an animation technique to make an object look like its moving on its own. The object is moved slightly in each frame and should come together in one sequence in the end.

Below is my first go at a stop motion animation:

Camera-less Animation

Animation:
the technique of photographing successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement when the film is shown as a sequence.

Illusion is the key word.

This week we explored the world of animation without using a camera.
There are five different types of 'camera-less' animation that we explored.

The one which I decided to look at was the thaumatrope.
 A thaumatrope is a disc with strings attached either side and a picture on each face. The idea is when the strings are pulled the disc will move fast enough to blend the two pictures on either side.

It was made by John Ayrton Paris in 1825 and the name actually means 'turning marvel' or 'wonder turner'. 

The thaumatrope was the first of many optical toys. 

This is the one we decided to do.

If the disc is spun fast enough it should make the 'illusion' that jack is holding his pumpkin.

It was really quite simple to make. 

Here is a short clip showing how easy it is to make:

Did it work? 
Not very well! Thicker card will be used next time and the slits cut were not long enough preventing the disc from spinning fast enough.

Animation For Learning

How can animation be used for learning?
Here are a few ideas we thought of as a group:

 Today practitioners must find it hard to create a learning environment that incorporates creativity and collaborative learning whilst using much of today's new technology. 

 Why is Animation being used as a learning tool?

• It can help learners to understand more complex ideas more easily.

• They can be used when wanting to show learners something that may not be seen as easily in the real world. For example, atoms and gas particles in science. 

• Some believe animation is a good learning tool because it is "motivating".

(Ainsworth, 2008)



Mayer, R (2002) explains in his article "Animation as a aid to Multimedia Learning", how animation can be used to promote the understanding of scientific and mathematical explanations. It concludes that animation does promote learning and understanding of a topic when it stimulates the mind and is consistent with "cognitive theory". 
 Ainsworth, S (2008) also explains the importance of cognitive theory when introducing animation into learning. This article explains how there are another five levels of explanations to think of when understanding learning with animation as well as cognitive, they are:

 expressive,  motor and perceptual, affective and motivational, strategic, meta-cognitive and rhetorical.

What was interesting about the article by Ainsworth (2008) is that it explained how animation can be used to improve social situations. It gives different examples of using today's technology and software to improve a learners social development and interactions. The use of the 'Kidpad' is mentioned. Children use this to work together and create a animation story which they then share with the class. This is just one example of how collaborative work and creativity can work together. 

I also looked at an article by Barak M (2011) who explored the idea of using animations to explain complicated ideas in science lessons in Primary Education. Findings proved that the use of animations in science lessons by teachers instead of textbook or still pictures promoted thinking skills in students. It also enhanced 'scientific curiosity'. This is probably because animation makes things that can be harder to understand more real and therefore makes concepts easier to accept.

Reference:
Lowe
Ainsworth
Mayer
Barak