Let's Animate!

the Guardian Guide to Making Video

2011-01-25T21:18:00.003Z

Here's a copy of a 2008 Guardian Newspaper insert I've scanned. I trust it will assist in a better understanding of film production and the essential steps to putting your ideas on screen.

Just click the images to enlarge the view and you're on your way!

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Introduction:

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The Guardian Guide to Making Video - Filming Techniques

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The Guardian Guide to Making Video - Editing

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The Guardian Guide to Making Video - Audio

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The Guardian Guide to Making Video

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[Published in reverse]

Go Figure - F.E. McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge

2009-09-10T20:42:00.003+01:00

The F.E. McWilliam Gallery has recreated the sculptor's work shed in he back garden of it's ideal Banbridge local and brought his machetes, plaster mock-ups and tools etc. into the mix.

This provided an ideal environment for creativity and ideas for our films which we filmed there this June as part of a summer animation workshop.

The clips combined in the 'Suite: Statue Esque' were all warm-up exercises done on the first day as a run up to the main film 'Go Figure' which took the remainder of the week's time. We shot right up to the very last second. Parents had to drag their children away.

Stay Or Play - DVD cover

2009-05-28T18:15:00.004+01:00

Create at the Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre in Cookstown with 10 very hard working participants over the span of 10 4 hour Saturday sessions.

This team came together and very quickly gelled as a force to be reckoned with.

A very ambitious story with very fine performances.

Stay Or Play

2009-05-28T18:12:00.001+01:00

The most recent and longest film so far.

Anim8ed- Good reference and project activity sheets too!

2009-05-28T17:59:00.005+01:00

http://www.anim8ed.org.uk/default.asp

A good site to explore for project ideas, tips and final films. 16 different school projects to read about and view.

Lurgan Youth Annexe Animation 2009

2009-03-17T01:20:00.002Z

What can be accomplished during a 'taster' session.

Parts of 4 taster sessions rolled into one.

Script Writing for Beginners

2009-02-06T07:27:00.027Z

Presently, I am working with two classes at Portstewart Primary School, scripting ideas for a film festival they will be presenting in June this year. There are seven groups of 5 children creating films for the festival. Not all of the films will be animated but some will have aspects of animation involved.

I was asked to join the teachers because of my experience with making films with children and to help solve the problem of some of the scripts leaning toward the fantastic and the unfathomable.

In preparation for our first meeting, I created a beginners template for film production and script writing that I thought would help refresh and introduce some of the basic film making methods I use in practice.

What follows, are Power Point images from the introduction.
[Click any of the images to see a larger image]

Script Example: From Boots To Books

SCROLL DOWN To find the video for the scripted film; From Boots To Books

Eochu's lake

2009-01-20T15:04:00.001Z

An Activison First Light Movies Award 2009 Nominee for Best Fantasy Adventure

Eochu's Lake from First Light Movies on Vimeo.

Shark Attack! - Forthill College, Lisburn

2008-12-07T11:01:00.003Z

Made in just one day session, This was one of 4 teams efforts to create a short story from idea, storyboard, artwork through to filming and editing their animation.

Sugar & Spice, Water & Ice - Mount St. Michael's P.S.

2008-11-26T17:38:00.004Z

This is a perfect example of how an animated film project can involve what children are learning in the classroom and be useful outside the classroom as well.
This film utilized the P6 Science curriculum about the water cycle and was also meant to reflect the idea of community as it was funded by a local community group for a Christmas window display. This played on a loop in a Randalstown electrical shop during the Christmas switch-on festivities for all to see.

Mid-Summers Dream: Lurgan, Craigavon, County Armagh

2008-11-23T15:29:00.005Z

A culmination of 6 weekly sessions of Garden Theme imagery inspired by Shakespears play. Participants were aged 9 to 90.

DVD cover art for An Creagán- Playing with Fire

2008-11-08T00:01:00.003Z

As part of the completed film package, artwork is created for the DVD case using a still or two from the animation project and printed on quality paper for the case insert. A crucial part of any showcase.

Playing With Fire - Two Full Day Workshops

2008-11-03T15:55:00.005Z

It was a challenge to complete a short film in two days. This workshop was run by An Creagán Visitor Centre in County Tyrone. The storyboard and all the art was created on the first day and the animation was filmed and voices recorded and edited on the second day by the ten dedicated participants aged 12-19. The sound effects, music and titles were added on a third day by Mike from Let's Animate!. Just think what we could have done in three days!

The Panchucker's Magical Loaf

2008-06-25T20:52:00.007+01:00

A Story of Zoological proportions!

^Cover Artwork for the DVD^

I think the word loaf is a funny sounding word. Sadly it is never uttered in this Holy Family Primary's after school animation club effort. Other funny things are said to make it all worth watching. This took several weeks at two hours a session to complete, but everyone enjoyed their involvement.

A Taste Of Candyland

2008-06-01T16:45:00.002+01:00

All isn't sweet, when Ella and Jasper find themselves in a land made of candy. A magical chocolate bar. An Evil Doctor and a Tooth Fairy combine to make it an interesting trip!

Dinosaur Dilemma! - St. Mary's P.S. , Killyleagh

2008-05-14T20:31:00.004+01:00

Jed and Jody try to calm a dinosaur down before it wreaks their little town. Things don't go as planned after they take him home as he takes a few nibbles of things along the way. Confused and shouted at, Dino goes back to the cave where he was first found. He soon finds out he is not alone after all.

This project took 10 full school days to produce. I constructed the dinosaurs from polystyrene balls, wire, plasticine and glass beads previous to the days in school to save time and build a character that would last through the weeks of filming. as is usually the case, time ran out and some scenes that should have been re-shot, were not. Like the one where the statue of the mayor is off his plinth!

From Boots To Books : The Story of the Magic Doctor- St. Luke's P.S., Belfast

2008-05-14T14:38:00.007+01:00

The 33 children of Mr. K. Shannon P6 class at St. Luke's Primary in Twinbrook, Belfast, came up with this story based on one they were studying at the time. As one half of this year's SEELB Digital Literacy project, St. Luke's took two days out of each of 8 weeks to complete the script, artwork, acting and animation for this film.

The other half of the project is in Ballyhalbert's, Glastry College and will be completed within the month of June as most post primary's can not take as much time out of their routine scheduled roster of subjects to spend a whole day on just one project. Yet, the cross-curricular advantages of filmmaking are still enjoyed when the proper incentives are in place. The schools are acquiring equipment to continue their filmmaking pursuits after I'm long gone!

A Silky's Tale- St. Mary's P.S., Belfast

2008-04-01T21:38:00.004+01:00

A Studio ON project spanning 8 weeks.

St. Mary's P.S. Belfast, a school mostly comprised of children from the traveling community, had read this story in class and had also heard it told at home.
A Silky is a mythical sea creature not unlike a mermaid that can take the human form on land after shedding and hiding it's silky skin. If the skin is lost, or has been found by a stranger the skin is no longer in his control. If the Silky returns to the sea without it's skin, he is doomed to forever be a seal, his usual form. If someone finds his skin, the Silky is bound to do that person's bidding.
Miss Hurdman's P4,5,6's, although the level of attention needed was sometimes a challenge, thoroughly enjoyed the process of making this film. Narrator and main animation assistant, Niaomi was particularly keen in all her tasks.

Do You Want Fries With That?

2008-03-18T12:37:00.006Z

Created in Randalstown over 8 x 2hr Saturday 'Picture A Story' sessions with fellow artist Emma Andrews. 10 children aged 11- 14 came up with this story of world domination. Fat Gus, Miss Kitty and Lil' Miss Powerful are the Super Trio of school girls who thwart Evil Doctor Bug and his henchman Mr. Chicken's plans to turn people into fast food.

Volcanic Vacation!

2008-01-31T22:46:00.000Z

Volcanic Vacation was made over the span of 4 visits to this post primary school. As the pupils were older, the style of the characters could be made with more detail to allow the animation to become more fluid than seen in the primary school films.

How studying volcanoes in Science class tied in with the focus of this project was not a coincidence. The making of this film gave hands-on proof to the teacher of how much they had taken in from their studies and also provided an 'end of project' treat for the whole class.

Finn's Puddle -The Three Sisters - Parkgate P.S. , Antrim

2007-11-25T15:34:00.003Z

This film was part of a two film project produced by Antrim Borough Council and First Light Movies that centered on a connecting theme of Lough Neagh and the Myths surrounding it.

Taking place at two Antrim Borough schools over the span of 6 months time, 4 hours at each school per week.

At the start, the children had the experience of listening to storyteller, Stephen Hall relate various legends and myths of Finn McCool and stories of how the Lough was thought to have been created.

Then, the next week, I began to draw a story out of the class through the use of drawing and a storyboard that they created themselves.

As the production progressed the children used plasticine and cut-out versions of their character designs and prepare background art and set material.

This took many weeks to finish as there was a 6 page script we wrote and acted out as well. Auditions for the roles were voted on by the class and recording of the parts commenced.

Soon editing of the sound got underway and we were able to see how long our film was going to be before it began. It was vitally important to know this as the project funding required a minimum of 5 minutes for our each of our films.

The cut-out style animation process took more time than the usual claymation style. It's requires a lot more patience and is a little more fiddly.

We hope you enjoy the results.

Finn's Puddle - Eochu's Lake - Carlane P.S. , Antrim

2007-11-25T15:11:00.000Z

This film uses both flat figure art and three demential figure art. This was done to solve the issues caused by layers of art needed when moving convincingly through space, such has when the King passes through a door as he enters the great banquet hall. If we did this with flat art it would have been too much to ask of the children to do as new filmmakers...too many moving parts and levels of art. It also helped solve how to blend the two techniques.

All the music was performed by a student in the class.

The Pumpkin Spell - W5/ Studio ON

2007-11-02T16:50:00.000Z

W5 Studio ON Halloween School - TRICK Or TREAT

2007-11-02T15:41:00.000Z

Is it a trick or a treat? You decide...

Created during the 3 day film school at W5 by 5 young teens and myself with the help of 3 trainers from Studio On.

Day 1 - Story meeting and drafting of the storyboard. Begin design and models of main characters.

Day 2 - Build sets and continue modeling characters. Begin filming first scenes. Start edit of timeline/ shots.

Day 3 - Continue filming remaining shots. Record main character dialogue and edit sound effects to timeline. Add credits and music.

This is the first film I've made using the software iStop Motion. It is used with Macintosh computers and a video camera and it very user friendly.

Watch and beware! ...or is that, 'aware' ?

Clay Ball Morphing Loop - McCool's Club, Craigavon

2007-10-08T10:53:00.000+01:00

A beginners excerise, able to be played over and over again, results in a quick way to show morphing ideas and the magic of the Stop-Motion technique. Every frame is an new idea.

The Magical Box Car - Part of McCool's Club, Craigavon

2007-10-08T10:26:00.000+01:00

This is the introductory excerise I use to illustrate the patience and thought needed during the 'stop-motion' animation process.

Friendly Street with Intro by James Nesbitt

2007-10-03T21:03:00.000+01:00

Made at Belfast's WAVE Trauma Centre with a group of enthusiastic children. [ 2.5 hours per week for 10 weeks. ]
WAVE works with the families of the missing and disapeared.

The film promotes living in harmony with your neighbour.

The main character is the local postman. We follow him on his route as he introduces us to a remarkable neighbourhood.
Filming outdoors to create the cast shadow effect of the trees on the sets proved to be a little tricky but created a very unique result.

A recent viewing by Wave Trauma Centre patron and actor James Nesbitt [Jeckle] has lead to the addition of an introduction to our film. It's a behind the scenes look at the process and outcome of a few animation workshops.

Animate! - Day One - The Magic Box & The Wedding Dance

2007-09-08T18:47:00.000+01:00

The Magic Box has developed as a tool to introduce children the principals of stop-motion animation. The NFB's, Norman McClaren, is an influence used here. [click the NFB link to view his films] Day One-Characters are made as we gather ideas for the following day's film, 'The Moon And the Stars'. We then draw the main images that will be used in the story, like the characters and the place where they live. This also helps to visualize the set artwork the children paint.

The Music: That's pupil Ceara Tonna-Barthet on the piano. We used the piano in the room where we were working and added it for the wedding. [Maybe she'd like to leave the name of the piece in a comment when she sees his].

ANIMATE! - Day Two - The Moon And The Stars

2007-09-05T19:48:00.000+01:00

Created in two 6 hour workshops in Templepatrick for the Antrim Borough Council's Animate! summer project. The concept was written in mind-map form then used to write the narration.

St. Peter's Youth Club,Co. Armagh-Animation Excersices

2007-08-27T11:44:00.000+01:00

This is an example of one of my shorter workshop sessions where, there really isn't time to make a short film, but time does allow a demonstration of different techniques to develop an understanding of animation principles.

[Some sequences are repeated to allow the children to see their work without starting the video over again.]

Darkley Mill - Darkley P.S. , Darkley, Co. Armagh

2007-08-27T00:25:00.000+01:00

A town's linen mill, once a hive of activity in it's day, is now mostly known for it's chickens and the eggs they lay.
This focal point of the small town of Darkley became a labour of love for a remote classroom of P6 & P7 students and their hard working teacher Miss Rice.
Mr. Robinson, a former employee of the mill, now 85, was kind and brave enough to read the narration in front of a studio microphone.
While in the AmmA Centre sound studio, the children had the oportunity to create their own sound track by using music loops and effects provided there.
The result is a successful, touching and charming short film.

Fast Forward>> - Crumlin Youth Development Group, Co. Antrim

2007-08-27T00:04:00.000+01:00

What would you do if you had one wish? Would you want to meet Elvis?

Two girls go to the Cockle House in a Glen near the town of Crumlin to make a wish in a special chair. They toss a penny behind their backs and make a wish that changes history and Elvis's diet.

The intention of this film was to promote community health and well-being without being too condesending.

A Small Dragon - Edendork P.S. Dunngannon, Co. Tyrone

2007-08-26T00:15:00.000+01:00

Mr. Crosier's P5 class embraced this digital literacy project and the poem they had been studying in class. Written by Brian Patten, the poem's ember of longing is moved to child-like wonder with a need to test friendship and the confirmation of trust. A very contemporary theme for today's Northern Ireland where this was made.

A Small Dragon

I've found a small dragon in the woodshed.
Think it must have come from deep inside a forest
because it's damp and green and leaves
are still reflecting in it's eyes.

I fed it on many things, tried grass
the roots of stars, hazel-nut and dandelion,
but it stared up at me as if to say, I need
foods you can't provide.

It made a nest among the coal,
not unlike a birds but larger,
it is out of place here
and is most-times silent.

If you believed in it I would come
hurrying to your house to let you share this wonder,
but I want instead to see
if you yourself will pass this way.

Copyright
from Love Poems (Flamingo (Harper Collins), 1990), copyright © Brian Patten 1990.

Brian Patten's website: www.anps.co.uk/brian/index.html

The Frog Prince - Clandeboye P.S. , Bangor, Co. Down

2007-08-25T15:57:00.000+01:00

This was part of the same SELB literacy project, run through Studio On, as was the Steel Man film.
Mr. Millar and his P5 class were new to animation and had great time making up the story. The script went through many re-writes but only got better for it. The acting of the narrators and the quality of the artwork plus the addition of an exploding troll make this one worth repeat viewings.

The Steel Man Of Killyleagh - St. Mary's P.S. Killyleagh, Co. Down

2007-08-25T14:30:00.000+01:00

Part of a literacy project initiated by the SELB (Southern Education and Library Board).

We had a great time building the sets and creating the many characters for this film in the 10 days we had to make it. I think it has the highest number of characters in all the films I've made with school children so far mainly because it took 3 different sizes of characters to show the effect of the giants height. The giant was made using a plastic milk bottle for it's body and a yogurt bottle for his head.

After writing the story together, based on Ted Hughes' "The Iron Man" book they were reading in class, we did a coloured storyboard and had several children audition for the narrator roll. We decided the 4 narrators picked would do the job nicely.

Here Come The Ducks! - The Schools of Randalstown

2007-08-24T00:17:00.000+01:00

Four different Randalstown schools and 500 plastic ducks.

The first school was Randalstown Central P.S. , next was Mount St. Michael's, the third was Main Integrated P.S. and the last was St. MacNissius, Tannaghmore.

I was at each school for only one hour so I could fit them all in the span of a day.

The Duck race sequence was done the following week and then edited together with the schools work. The film will be used to generate interest in the Annual Randalstown Festival that takes place the last week of June. Stop by next year and buy a duck!

Don't Throw Stones - McCool's Kids Club, Craigavon

2007-08-23T22:58:00.000+01:00

After drawing and painting pictures of the many images conjured up from the stories related to us by Mr. Downey the storyteller, it was decided our film would show what happened between the giants Finn McCool and Belladonna.

Next, we sat together to write a script recalling the main story. Then there was an audition to choose an narrator to read it.

The next few days were spent creating the artwork needed to portray the scenery of old Ireland and Scotland and the Giants causeway.

Everybody worked together to move the characters and help to complete a rough version the film by the end of the week.

A little fine-tuning by adding titles,transitions, music and credits and it was done.

We hope you like it.

The Tree Of Knowledge - McCool's Kids Club, Craigavon

2007-08-23T21:36:00.000+01:00

This is the second of two films made with the McCool Kid's Club.

The film was made by 12 children enrolled in McCool's Kids Club summer program between July 23-27 at Oxford Island in Craigavon, Co. Armagh.
With the aid of stories told by Storyteller Pascal Downey, the children helped to condense the legends of Finn McCool down to the most basic elements.
The artwork shown here is some of the best created for any of the films I've made with children so far. I can't take all the credit as the assistance given by the Craigavon Council was excellent. [ I will post the credits so the can be seen.] Enjoy!

Welcome to Let's Pixelate! More Info

2007-08-23T19:52:00.000+01:00

For the time being please click the image for sharper view.

More details of the Digital Storytelling Workshops will be in further posts.

It is my intention to post the children's films as they are completed. So return often!

-Mike

Welcome to Let's Pixelate!

2007-08-23T01:04:00.000+01:00

Images from kid's animated films created in Northern Ireland are posted here as reference for teachers, pupils and parents.
In the interest and welfare of the participants, great care will be taken to avoid posting still images of children unless written permission is granted by a parent or guardian.