Welcome back once again to my Digital Technologies reflection blog. How are you enjoying my reflections so far? If you have come this far then I’m proud, you don’t have much further to go. 

This week we were looking at stop-motion animation. This was part 1 of 2 on the animation lessons. We used the iPads and the iStop-Motion application to complete this task.  The task was to “play around” and “Tinker” with the stop-motion app and get a feel for how it works, producing a short stop-motion animation. The purpose of this task was to prepare us for next week’s task using the same application. 

So, what is stop-motion animation? How does it work? Is it feasible to use it in the classroom? Can stop-motion enhance the learning experience for children? As always, the answers are up ahead. Happy reading. 

Stop motion animation is a series of pictures played in a short time in order to give the appearance of movement. Object are placed and photographed, the objects are then moved ever so slightly and photographed again. This process is repeated many, many times until there are enough photographs to play and give the appearance of motion. Each picture is called a frame, there is a specific number of frames played in every second in order to give the appearance of motion. However, the difference in the picture taken for each frame has to be very small or the end result will turn out jumpy and not smooth. This means that creating a good stop-motion animation film takes a very long time, a lot of patience and a lot of “footering about”. 

This task once again was carried out on the iPads, by this time I’m starting to get less apprehensive about using the iPads since the apps we have been using have been fairly user friendly, the actual device for other functions still bewilders me. However, I was very proud at how my stop motion animation turned out.  

We were presented with a box with different coloured bendy people and my first idea was to have one of these people walking up to the camera and waving. I then encountered my first hurdle, the bendy people can’t stand up themselves without the aid of blue tack or being physically held, to overcome this I adapted my idea to have a bendy person sitting on the edge of the table and waving out to the audience (camera). This idea worked well and I decided to develop my film and add in another character. I got another bendy person and made them appear to slide along the desk to join the first character. They started off as friends and held hands, they then had their arms around each other and suddenly my idea escalated and took a darker turn. This turn or plot twist got a good laugh from classmates as it was quite unexpected. I will leave the video below for you to enjoy and I won’t spoil the ending. 

The process of making the stop motion animation was fun, frustrating and eventually it was tedious. It took a good 3 hours to make my short animation film. Granted at the beginning I had to learn how to use the app in the first place but after three hours of working on the project it became a chore. It was tedious as it was such a slow process moving the bendy people such a small amount.  

Another challenge I encountered was keeping the camera in the same position for every frame. Without this positioning, the pictures jump about as they’re not being taken from the same angle every time, thus adding another challenge in quality stop motion animation. However, all of the challenges and frustrations were worth it once I saw the final product, I was very proud at what I had created and achieved. 

Although I was proud and happy with my end result, I cannot ignore the length of time it took to create this work. This call into question the practicality of using such animation software in the classroom. Initially it would be an exciting project for young learners to undertake but they would very quickly get bored by the slow progress.  

To use stop-motion animation in the classroom t tach also does not appear practical to e, as it too has to be created and take the same long time. Teachers do not have time to spend days on end creating a short stop-motion animation that will only last in a 5-minute task. The work and the effort would not be beneficial in my opinion. 

Signing off.