Technology: Claymation

GRADE / AGE 3rd – 12th grade TEACHING GOALS/OBJECTIVES To learn the concept of stop motion animation using plasticine clay, ipad, and istop motion. To learn teamwork. MATERIALS There are 6 “Claymation kits” that are stocked with

• Ipad • Plasticine clay • Construction paper • Scissors

• Modeling tools • Glue stick • Blue tarp for tables

BACKGROUND Claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each object or character is sculpted from clay or other such similarly pliable material as Plasticine, and then arranged on the set, where it is photographed once before being slightly moved by hand to prepare it for the next shot, and so on until the animator has achieved the desired amount of film. Upon playback, the human mind of the viewer perceives the series of slightly changing, rapidly succeeding images as motion. LESSON DESCRIPTION Tips and curriculum ideas for a six-week Claymation residency A Claymation residency will require you to teach the students you are working with to work in groups. This will be a harder task in some classes then others. You may split your students into groups in whichever way you are most comfortable with. You may arrange the tables and chairs in the classroom so it is impossible for students

to sit any other way then in the groups you want (you may have to ask some students to move to create equal groups), you may devise a system to split them into groups (ex: having each person call out a number: 1,2,3. . .1,2,3) , or you may have the classroom teacher you are working with divide the class. It is possible to have six groups if you are the only Claymation class going out on a particular day, but there will be times when only three ipads are available. All Claymation videos will be uploaded onto the Claymobile's youtube channel upon completion. The name of our channel is ClaymobileTCS, and you can find it by going to youtube.com and typing our name into that website's search bar. (http://www.youtube.com/user/CLAYMOBILETCS) For uploading: Username: ClaymobileTCS@gmail.com Password: Claymobile0TCS The six-week residency and best Claymation practices

• The first class will be an introduction to the medium with examples—If the school does not have a smartboard, a DVD will be made available to show videos

• The first assignment is to have each student animate their name—you may set up four filming stations and work with students individually as they finish creating their letters. If necessary this project can take several days, with the students saving their work in a plastic bag with their name written on it. These animations can latter be used as credits for the film created as a group.

• The second assignment will also concentrate on moving an individual character—this can be an animal or some other sculpture—this can also take multiple days if necessary and may involve simple backgrounds.

• The final assignment will be the group created video. Students will storyboard and then create a short video on a theme assigned by the Claymobile teacher.

Editing and the finished videos

• Students may work up until the last day on their project and will most-likely need to

• The Outreach Program Director will edit together the final video and create something with all the other assignments that will be posted to YouTube. Please make note of the full names of the students who worked on each video so that the video credits will be accurate.

• Remember to take a picture of the studentʼs name and school before each film for editing purposes

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS CURRICULUM IS A SUGGESTION. THIS IS A GROWING IDEA--IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANT TO TRY PLEASE DO AND LET US

KNOW HOW IT GOES. Curriculum should vary to accommodate student skill level, interest, and the number of days you have in your residency New materials and carry-cases

• Using plasticine clay and keeping it nice. We need to treat these colors as we would underglaze, which means no mixing of colors!

• Instruct students to create sculptures that are primarily one color with simple details that can be moved and taken off

• Have students return clay to proper container when finished • Sculptures can be saved and used to animate several class days, students will

be able to keep their sculptures in a plastic bag in between classes—these can be stored in the plastic tub with the rest of the Claymation equipment

• Bins and ipads are numbered—please make sure the correct ipad goes back into the correct bin

Day 1: introduction and claymation exercise This class will be divided into three sections: 40 mins will be reserved for introducing the class through words and video 40 mins will be used to give a demonstration and learn to use the ipads—you may begin the first assignment if there is time 10 mins is for clean-up 40-minute introduction: “Hello we are (introduce yourself and your assistant), we are all professional artists who work for the Claymobile program and we will be coming to your class for six weeks on (day of the week) to provide you with a very special opportunity: you will receive Claymation classes through the Claymobile. For six weeks you will learn all about what Claymation is and you will be making short videos on ipads that will later be published on youtube, and hopefully be shown at outside film festivals. Our goals for class today are to 1: explain to you what we'll be doing, 2: stress to you the importance of working together in groups and sharing equipment at you Claymation station and 3: finally to actually make our first short animation and learn how to use the ipads. Is everyone familiar with the idea of Claymation? Can someone tell me what it is? Now, we want to show you some examples of Claymations” How to show videos A DVD with video descriptions will be made available for those classes that do not have Internet access--classes at libraries will all be held in a room with a Smart Board and you will be able to show any videos on youtube.

Please compile a playlist of videos that you are interested in showing to the class on our youtube channel--some lists have already been made. In the event there is no Internet access and no projector or other device to show a DVD you will have to have students watch videos off of the ipad itself. A playlist will be created for this purpose on each ipad. Learn how to use the ipad: Before setting up “Claymation stations” you will want to teach students about the ipad and materials we use to create claymations. Your demonstration can be animated your own name (see day 2), which will be the studentʼs first assignment—or you may choose to do a group project such as: Activity: Move the ball and take a picture (20 minutes) A ball of clay is created by each student and each ball is placed in a circle in the middle of the field of the cameraʼs vision. Rotating in a circle around the ipad—each student moves a ball and then gets to take a picture on the ipad until everyone has taken a picture. Watch and review the film. The purpose of this activity is to get each student to take a picture and move the clay, the basics of using istopmotion Emphasize the importance of the tripod, keeping the camera steady—and small movements so the movement of the ball is fluid. The importance of groups: A very important part of making videos and movies is working with a group. Explain to the class the importance of sharing materials and working together at their Claymation station—their last assignment will be to make a movie together. Divide the class into 2-6 groups (there are six ipad kits—but you do not have to use them all), using the natural seating formations as a guide. “While making a movie people have to work in groups. Can someone tell me some of the jobs people have to make a movie?” (Prompt class to discuss directors, camerapersons, background designers, etc.) “Just like in movie production we are going to have to work together/share to make our videos.” If students start their name projects make sure that sculptures are put into zip-loc baggies to be saved for next week. The bags should be stored on a bread tray and not in the claymation kits as these may be used for other classes.

Day 2: (assignment one) Name Animations Students should sculpt and animate the letters of their name. Emphasize sculpting quickly and trying to get students to move the individual pieces of letters or even transform one letter into another. Use this assignment to make sure students are steadying the camera, composing their shots thoughtfully, and making small “smooth” movements. IF YOU FEEL YOUR STUDENTS ARE READY YOU MAY MOVE DIRECTLY FROM NAMES TO STORYBOARDING A GROUP MOVIE (Option 1). IF YOU FEEL YOUR STUDENTS NEED MORE PRACTICE MOVE ON TO CHARACTER STUDIES AND INCLUDE SIMPLE ELEMENTS OF BACKGROUND/SCENERY. THE CHARACTER STUDIES CAN BE YOUR FINAL ASSIGNMENT (Option 2). OPTION 1 Day 3: Storyboard in groups Give students a prompt (For example: When dinosaurs ruled the earth, What would you do to make the world a better place?, Alien invasion. . . ) and have them story-board a general idea together. This can be done on a simple piece of paper folded into four parts, using each “frame” like a comic-book. Remind students that simple ideas work best and they should think of their film like a commercial, not a feature-film. It would be helpful to show more youtube examples that deal with the prompt you assign the students. If students are ready to start, have them begin sculpting characters and making backfgrounds. Day 4-6 Finish videos—remember that sound can be recorded. OPTION 2 Day 3: (assignment 2) Character Studies Have students sculpt a character—this can be a person/animal or anything. You may limit the possibilities as you think necessary. The character should do something on screen—show how it moves and interact with some element of background that the student has created. YOU MAY WANT TO REVIEW NAMES BEFORE INTRODUCING THIS PROJECT: this is easy if your classroom has a smartboard—contact Alicia to get all your name

assignments uploaded to youtube so that you can show students how they did and talk about it. Day 4-6 Continue and complete character studies, students may create more then one If possible the last day can be used to watch the studentʼs finished videos and perhaps watch some other inspiring claymations. LINKS http://www.youtube.com/user/CLAYMOBILETCS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_animation WHICH VISUAL ARTS CONTENT STANDARDS (VACS) AND BENCHMARKS (B) WILL BE ADDRESSED IN THIS LESSON AND HOW? CATEGORIES Technology