Lesson: An Animation of a Group Through iMovie

Grades: 5th grade through 8th grade
Objective: To create an animation of a group activity through still photographs
Time Frame: This lesson should take no more than a few weeks of class time.
Example Lessons: 1) my own class work from interactive new media.
2) “funny bones” in which the students animate a version of skeleton
shapes through a similar form of still photograohy.
3) butterfly animation techniques in which the students in question
have animated in a similar fashion the pre-drawn elements of
the butterfly.

Process:

This lesson would begin with an examination of different animation techniques. Class would begin with a viewing of different cartoons, such as the style of cell animation through the examination of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”. This is a significant animation in regards to the fact that it was one of the if not the first full length cartoon which appeared in color. There is also a scene in the film in which the family cat appears in a manner which allows for the viewing of the shadow created by the cell which the animal is depicted on. After we view other popular cartoon conceptions such as clips from “The Simpsons”, we will then make a movement into an internet presentation of different stop motion presentations such as the film which I created for this interactive new media course. This form of animation is significant to me in regards to how things are represented since they are simply photographs of what needs to be shown in the simplest form. After the students have viewed the desired “films” of animated ideas, they will begin to break up into groups of three or four in which they will begin to design their own ideas that will be animated. The students will hopefully have by the end of class a storyboard of their animation ideas.
At this point in time the students will hopefully have begun to animate what they desire to create within their world of art. They will do this by simply acting out by posing in a certain manner. They will basically use a digital camera to capture the motions that they so desire. The purpose of this is not for them to create a cartoon, since I will concentrate a great deal of my class time emphasizing how you do not need to be able to draw well in order to be a successful artist. The students in question will finally end the class time that they spend on this process with the final documentation of all of the desired movements. After they have finished this process of documentation they will finally be able to download the picture files into iMovie, where they will be able to create an animated film of still photographs. They will be able to choose what music they wish to either download or utilize from my extensive music collection in a manner that flatters the piece that they have created. We will then edit the pieces and create a group wide video of the existing animations.