Another Animation

This is the next animated advert to come in from my Yr9s. A cute, simple advert for Stabilo Sharpeners. Turn the volume up to appreciate the cool sound effects.

Year 9 Animations

After studying the art of animation and the many styles and techniques that can be used, we opted to go for real-life 2D or 3D stop-motion animation. The brief was to make a short advert, promoting a product or service. The Yr9 students used their iPads to shoot their frames, mostly using the free app iMotionHD. Above is an example, made by Amelia, Jacqui and Vy Wien, which was shot and edited completely on the iPad. Pretty good, eh?

Teachers Geeking-Out

- a dozen great teachers
- heaps of creativity
- a stack of Apple technology
- an endless supply of food & coffee
- piles of energy and enthusiasm
- loads and loads of quality learning

That's how I spent the last 3 days.

Year 4 Animation

This week Year 4s have been trying their hands at animation. They are working on a top secret story that will be told in next week's assembly. Here's a sneak peak at what they've been up to. This scene is made up of about 400 frames and took about an hour to shoot (no sound track has been added yet). Lots of concentration, creative ideas, trial & error and patience was needed. They've only got a few more days to shoot the remaining scenes and edit them together.  Good luck Yr4!

Movie Making Club

We looked at the concept of shooting and editing for continuity today. We looked at some examples of using multiple shots to show a sequence, and the importance of accurate editing to create the illusion that it's all happening as a single event.

The challenge was to shoot a sequence of 5 shots and edit them. The end results were really good - for first timers. Here's an example...

Mad about Maths

Entering my classroom this morning for registration, this is what I saw. Most of the class were huddled together with their iPads getting quite excited. Was it YouTube or Modern Combat that had them so engrossed? No, it was Maths. Yes, Maths!

They are all signed up for World Maths Day, and what better way to practice number skills - competing against each other and other students around the world...on an iPad...for fun :-)

Paperless Classroom

For the first time in Digital Studies, since we started in September, we have used paper. And in two year groups as well.

Year 7 have done some work on Film Language and understanding the way different types of shots are combined to tell a story, while Year 9 are shooting short animated adverts. The planning stages for these involved creating storyboards. By far the easiest way to do this is on paper, so off to the photocopier I went, realising that this was the first time I'd copied anything for any of my classes. Although technology has largely replaced paper in my lessons, there are times when it's the right tool for the job.

Some groups even went on to produce paper-based animations as well. They're already taking shape so I'll share some when they're ready.