Digital Animation Club @ Eckington Junior School

Over the past 5weeks, we have been running a Digital Animation club and using Stop Motion to create some amazing animations at Eckington Junior School.  The children soon got to grips with the tablets, tripods, animation app and props and set about planning, directing and editing their stories.

Here is a brief breakdown of what we did…

Week 1  – What is Stop Motion Animation?  We explored different types of stop-motion animation techniques including paper, clay, 2D, 3D, props & green screen.  We got to grips with how the tripods worked and what features the app would give us.

Week 2 – The children used storyboards to help plan their ideas and formulate their stories.  We got stuck in with setting up scenes and creating props and started shooting!

Week 3 – Now we had experts – the children were able to focus on their main animations.  It was interesting to see such different approaches being used.  Some children used tripods, while others positioned their tablets on tables and bookshelves.  Some used the library space, while others filmed on the corridor.  We experimented with using the timed capture feature to avoid camera wobble, but 5 seconds seems like a long time between shots when you are aiming for 500-1000 shots!

 Week 4 – For those who had not quite finished filming, there was a bit of time to finish off, but most of the children spent the session having fun with editing.  We found lots of exciting and scary background music and added other sound effects too – some of these we recorded ourselves.

Week 5 – Last week, so all editing had to be completed.  We also added the title credits and themes.  There was a little bit of time at the end of the session, so some children had great fun making mini animations!  We even had an attempt at animating the Floss dance!

Check out the children’s fantastic animations below!

Well done to all the children who have taken part – We are looking forward to coming and doing robotics with you soon!

If you are interested in Digital Animation or other STEAM activities at your school, visit our website or contact us – enquiries@steamworks.org.uk