Step+by+Step+Instructions


 * =Step by Step Instructions for Making a Stop Motion Animation= ||

 Our first animation was completed with the whole class which comprised 13 students from year 5 to year 8.

 We drew up a plan of a very straightforward sequence. The ‘Aliens’ (characters) were to wait outside the playground gates, and then rush in when they opened, run around the playground and then rush out and the gates would close. This was a very linear sequence just to see if we could get the ‘characters’ to move as we wanted and use the software effectively.

 The class put together some of the connecting maths shapes to make a ‘playground’ with a fence around it and made ‘Aliens’ to play on it, (out of corks, sticks and plasticine.) ||  Establishing a strict order in which things happen on the set is important, so you need a ‘Director’ to make sure the order is followed. The Director calls out when the ‘characters’ should be moved, when the set should be cleared of all crew, and when to take the shot.
 * [[image:making_playground_1.jpg width="272" height="207" align="right"]]

 ||  We set up our playground on a large flat board and positioned the playground on it and the lights on either side. The crew each had one Alien which they placed at the gates of the playground. They then stood around and waited for the cue to move their characters. ||  Some important things we stressed were that the ‘set’ must not be moved, the crew must not block the light for the shots and movements must be miniscule. It took a long time to complete the 150 odd shots necessary for the sequence. We did have some which were too dark because the light was obscured, and the playground suffered at least one major earthquake! Having so many in the crew and so many characters to move made it more difficult to co-ordinate everything, sometimes the odd hand appeared in a shot which meant it had to be discarded.
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 When all the shots were completed we downloaded them into a file on the computer. Then opened //Movie Maker// and went to the dropdown menu in //file// to click on //import into collections//. It was easy to browse through our photos and find the ones we had just taken. These then appeared in the //contents// pane and the students dragged them into the //storyboard// //frames// at the bottom of the page. ||  When you are working on an animation, each shot needs to show for a very short time to give the effect of motion. This means that the //transitions,// which sit between each //frame,// remain unused. This is tricky because they do have time allotted to them by default, so it is important to make them pass in as short a time as possible. Go to //tools, options, advanced//. On the //default durations// alter the time for //transitions// to //0.25 seconds//. This leaves you the //picture duration// (measured in frames per second) to play around with until you find the time that suits your animation best. Set the time and play through your frames. The students found this the most difficult part of the process and eventually settled on a duration of //0.375 (frames per second)// as the best choice for them. Remember that the total time it takes each frame to pass is the picture duration added to the default transitions duration, so our total time was 0.625 frames per second.
 * [[image:Mickey.jpg width="246" height="189"]]

 ||  Next step is to make a title page and a credits page. This is easily done by going to //Tasks// in the menu and following the instructions. ||  Finally, when we were happy with the result, we went to//finish movie// and chose the setting we wanted. It pays to decide what you want to do with the movie before you begin this step, and this means really, who will your audience be? The newer versions of Movie Maker have the ability to prepare your movie to be sent directly to YouTube or TeacherTube. We used this function and posted our movie on TeacherTube. Posting the movie here gives us the option to embed it on our class Wiki so anyone can view it with just one click.
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<span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Here is our first finished animation. || <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">media type="custom" key="2645303" || <span style="font-size: 110%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> We estimate it took 1 hour to make the Aliens and their playground, 30 minutes to set up the ‘stage’ and lights, and at least 1hour and 30 minutes to take the shots. We lost count of the time it took to process the finished product because the students worked on it at odd moments they had spare. Animation is not a short process but it can be completed in a series of shorter blocks of time.
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