Student project: Cutout animation in elementary education” I have transcribed the interview here for your interest..

“My name is Kerry Hopkins; I’m a graduate student in film studies. The project that I was working on was cutout animation with 5^th grade students.

We made a short film which was an animated film so to begin with the students had to come up with their own idea which was probably the hardest part of the process. And they made a time travel movie. This way they could be broken up into groups and students could work on their different areas of interest in history and bring that into writing the script about where these time travelers were going through time. So they wrote the scripts and then started to create the components for the animation which was included the background where the characters would be on as well as the making the characters. And to do that they used pictures of themselves to have for the faces and then construction paper to make the bodies of the characters.

We decided to use the students’ faces because by putting their faces would give them a sense of ownership in this piece. And we also used the students’ voices for the characters. So once all the pieces were ready, then we had to shoot the individual scenes. So we set up just a still camera and took still photos for each frame of video and the students moved the characters through the scene according to the script they had written.

The students who came up with the idea for the time machine movie had a great time being in charge of how the other scenes were going to fit in to their film. And it was great because these students were the ones that really were the outcasts of the class and their teacher was really glad to see that they could take a starring role in this project.

I think at the end all the students realized how time consuming animation can be and how many things were involved that you couldn’t just set up the camera and shoot the movie in one day; that you had to really think things through, come up with a good story and have a plan for what you are going to do.

When we had the final screening it was the first time that the students had seen the entire piece put together and their reactions were great.

The best part about working with the younger kids is that they’re just so open and they’re just so full of ideas; I find it very refreshing to work with them, to get their perspective on things and to see how excited they get with their finished products.”

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StopMotion At Art Fair

took centre stage in the home arts building at the 60th Annual Prince William County Fair. It seems like he is truely hooked on stop motion, just look at all the movies he has made already and he is only 10 years old. Check out his YouTube channel and dont forget to subscribe http://www.youtube.com/dweezildna. Wonder how he came up with that name?

It says he attends Bennett elementary school. I must try and get in touch with them, they might like to get involved in our “Getting Schools Animating Initiative”. You’d never know ! Prince William County Schools had a very impressive Summer Art Enrichment Program this Summer. Maybe given the success of one of their students making stop motion movies they might consider including stop motion animation in their 2010 Program. Who Knows? I’ll give them a call….