Over the school holidays my son has had the opportunity to participate in a stop-motion animation workshop, hosted at our local art gallery.
He’s a huge fan of animation, like most boys his age (early teens), and has already dabbled quite a bit in making his own movie with Lego characters, etc.
There are heaps of apps and assorted software for budding directors to now make their own masterpieces. The workshop teacher personally recommended this app in particular for creating stop-motion movies: Stop Motion Studio, and it can be found here. http://www.cateater.com/stopmotionstudio/
It’s apparently quite easy to use and gives really good results. Will have to have a play and see what it’s like.
But it made me think of how much animation has evolved over the years, from primitive inked cartoons, revolutionised by Walt Disney, to the extravagant lifelike CGI pieces that easily blur the line between reality & fantasy. There are so many different themes and styles in the world of animation. Once the realm of specialists, it is now available to everyone, and so easy to do.
Like animation, cartoons and comic strips were also once the realm of dedicated artists, but now are available in so many different easy-to-use formats, that anyone can have a go. Check this blog out here for some more ideas.
I think anything that encourages students to be more creative, is a great thing. So what if it doesn’t involve pen & paper anymore? The important thing is that they enjoy themselves through creative visual expression.
This is one of the great benefits of ICTs, in that it has provided accessible opportunities for younger generations to unleash their own creative spark and make something really extraordinary. Regardless of how they achieve this, it can never be a bad thing.
(film projector by Geralt, obtained under CC0 Public Domain, https://pixabay.com/en/film-projector-movie-projector-596519/)
He’s a huge fan of animation, like most boys his age (early teens), and has already dabbled quite a bit in making his own movie with Lego characters, etc.
There are heaps of apps and assorted software for budding directors to now make their own masterpieces. The workshop teacher personally recommended this app in particular for creating stop-motion movies: Stop Motion Studio, and it can be found here. http://www.cateater.com/stopmotionstudio/
It’s apparently quite easy to use and gives really good results. Will have to have a play and see what it’s like.
But it made me think of how much animation has evolved over the years, from primitive inked cartoons, revolutionised by Walt Disney, to the extravagant lifelike CGI pieces that easily blur the line between reality & fantasy. There are so many different themes and styles in the world of animation. Once the realm of specialists, it is now available to everyone, and so easy to do.
Like animation, cartoons and comic strips were also once the realm of dedicated artists, but now are available in so many different easy-to-use formats, that anyone can have a go. Check this blog out here for some more ideas.
I think anything that encourages students to be more creative, is a great thing. So what if it doesn’t involve pen & paper anymore? The important thing is that they enjoy themselves through creative visual expression.
This is one of the great benefits of ICTs, in that it has provided accessible opportunities for younger generations to unleash their own creative spark and make something really extraordinary. Regardless of how they achieve this, it can never be a bad thing.
(film projector by Geralt, obtained under CC0 Public Domain, https://pixabay.com/en/film-projector-movie-projector-596519/)