This is a document I wrote to assist both my fellow students, the staff(both Hereford Cathedral School and BCU) and the pupils, in understanding what the day entailed. Also what they where doing, how they where doing, but more importantly why they where doing it.
Lesson Plan for Hereford Cathedral School for Boys
Equipment list:
2 x sheets of black card
1 x digital SLR
2 x DVD cam – Standard
2 x Tripods
2 x Top down rings
6 x sticfas kits
10 x blank DVD’s
1 x bucket of plasterscene
All equipment has been reserved in the stock room. Plus we already has stickfas and plasterscene.
Ben W: Stop motion workshop
Using plasterscene to create explosions using primary and tertiary colours. In smaller groups (of no more than 3) assign each person a particular colour. If a group does consist of four or more pupils they can be split into two groups and therefore have one group for each rig. This allows everybody to be simultaneously involved and helps with time constraints; it will also improve the one to one aspect of the tutorial.
It will be shot on black card for visual impact, making colours more pronounced.
The aim of this tutorial is to teach pupils the fundamentals of stop motion animation. (Both the principles and the practicalities)
The reason for the theme of explosions is to use an exciting, vibrant and engaging exercise to provide an enthralling learning environment for pupils.
Ben S: Flash Tutorial
Ben will give a brief introduction to flash, What it is and what it is used for.
An explanation of Ben’s wonchop character and universe will follow.
Also a small glimse into weeble stuff and bens showreel to show pop culture use of flash.
There will then be a flash basics tutorial.
This will include: drawing tools, tweening (automatic movement of symbols between key frames) easing (slowing of speedy or snappy motions near peaks) FBF (Frame By Frame traditional animation) and onion skinning.
Also a brief teaser of advanced flash techniques and also how flash is used in other mediums such as Fosters, castle crashers and yellow pages.
The tutorial will take place in 004 in order to gain use of the projector.
The use of a graphics tablet is integral for drawing accuracy. I have made prior arrangements with the stock room for the loan of a graphics tablet. Ben will bring memory stick containing a powerpoint presentation.
The aim of this tutorial is to teach animation principles such as exaggeration, squash and stretch and also encourage an interest in Flash animation.
Kyle J: Editing and post production workshop.
The aim of this workshop is to show the importance of post production. I intend to take source footage from the stop motion explosion work shop and edit with titles, credits and sound effects. I will provide a brief outline as to how and why certain editing techniques are used. This tutorial will be based on Imovie. The main reason for this is that it is intuitive to use and doesn’t have the complexities and subtle nuisances as final cut pro for example.
The objective of this workshop is to bring the animation process to a tangible conclusion, allowing the pupils to gain a brief yet concise look into the world of animation and film making.
Once all of the above is complete I shall take all of the photos, test footage and final footage and commit it to DVD Disc complete with stills gallery, functioning menu’s etc.
The day will wind down with a feedback session where pupils are encouraged to ask any questions raised by the days activities.
Schedule:
10.20: arrive at new street
10.45: Arrive at BCU – introduction by Neil Hadfield
11.00: Tour of university equipment and studios lead by Neil Hadfield, Kyle J, Ben W and Ben S
12.00: Stop motion workshop with Ben W. A look at fundamentals of stop motion.
13.00: Lunch Break in cafeteria with staff and pupils.
14.00: Flash Animation Workshop with Ben Smallman.
14.30: 15 minute break.
14.45: Post Production workshop with Kyle Jobson.
15.30: Conclusion, feedback ad Q&A
16.00: End of the Day
