This workshop is designed to be completed in two days or two sessions. Each portion is about 1.5 – 2 hours long. You may want to leave time between sessions for students to make their pieces. Depending on how intricate their story is, they may need more time for cutting out shapes, making “characters,” etc.
Context for Use
You can watch the 27 min it took to film the demo animation described in this workshop guide here (sped up a lot so this video is only 1.5 minutes). Note that the video does not include time spent coming up with the story, sketching, or making my pieces.
Workshop created by Dr. Emily Fairfax from California State University Channel Islands.
Stop Motion Animation Workshop Graphic
Goals Header
What Students Will Do
Day 1: Storytelling and Crafting Before You Start
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Brief Code of Conduct Discussion (10 min): Discuss rules of engagement.
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Think of a Story (15-20 min): Each person thinks of a story they could tell a friend or a family member about water.
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Narrow Down to One Sentence (5-10 min): Some stories are long and complicated, and that is fine! But for animating stories, we want them to be as short and sweet as possible.
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Sketch It Out (15-20 min): Sketch out 3-5 pictures like a comic strip that tells your story using the provided handout or on a sheet of paper.
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Identify Key Elements (15 min): Look at your sketched story and identify the key elements and “characters” in the story.
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Let’s Get Crafting! Set up your filming space and use construction paper, felt, markers, and other crafting supplies to create all the pieces for your story!
Day 2: Filming Your Stop-Motion
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Lights, Camera, Action! (20 min set up together, 30-45 min filming): Follow this general sequence for filming:
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Take a picture in the Stop Motion Pro app
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Move pieces <1 cm each. Smaller motions = smoother animations.
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Take another picture in the Stop Motion Pro app
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Guess the Story (10 min): Show a classmate, peer, or friend your stop-motion story, but don’t tell them what you were trying to show! Ask them to guess what your one story was. Did they guess correctly?
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Reflect (and Revise) (10 min): Think about the feedback you got on your animation, and also what you liked and didn’t like about some of the animations your peers made.
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Film It Again! (Optional): Go ahead and try filming it again! I find that the second filming is MUCH easier than the first.
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Adding Sound and Special Effects (Optional): You can take your exported movie file and add sound effects or video effects in video editing softwares on the computer like iMovie, Adobe Premiere, Blender, Shotcut, etc.
