It’s pretty incredible when research can be turned immediately into action. What I mean by this is that this week, as I was reading about animation on Wikipedia, I could not help thinking, “Can I reproduce some of these old-school animations?” Stop-motion animation is an old art form, with a first instance being recorded all the way back to 1898 ("Stop motion"). If this type of animation could be created more than a century ago, then surely I could create similar projects using my digital camera, MacBook Pro, and Final Cut Pro X. I saw the bouncy ball and running horse and knew that I had to do the same. I enjoyed reading about different forms of animation and watching old animations which provided a historical context for my learning. But if I really wanted to learn, I had to go from the passive to the active by just going out and making something. Here’s what I accomplished. This week I learned how to put together a sequence of images on Final Cut Pro. I was able to animate eight to twelve images into an infinite loop animation or one which lasted 2-3 seconds. I made a horse run, a ball bounce, and a pacman eat red dots. These projects were all done using two-dimensional cartoon images created on a computer and strung together. I have been creating images that move at 10 frames per second. I have found that this frame rate can create a fluid or choppy sense of motion all depending on the quality of the animation. I have also taken a stab at analog animations. I drew a ball bouncing and firework scene on 8-12 different sheets of paper and using different colored markers. The pictures sequenced together in this case were pretty bad. The frame moved shakily from side to side, the lighting was horrible, and the images strung together looked far from fluid and very amateur to say the least. Finally, I began to package my learning in a way that would be accessible to my students so they can see my own learning processes. I created a website for them where they would be able to emulate and tweak my projects and also be able aske their own further inquiry questions. All throughout this process my daughter has been testing my projects or working alongside me. It has been an engaging process to say the least. In the upcoming week, I will continue playing with lighting and further moving from the digital and into the analog in regards to physical objects in the physical world being manipulated so that they become digitally animated. Inquiry Questions addressed this week: 2. How can I manipulate lighting in order for the setting to look semi-realistic? 3. What is the best way to create a small setting for the action? 6. Is there an intersection between computer animation and stop action animation that I can adopt to make the project more efficient? 8. Can I package this project so that my students can also complete similar projects? 11. Would it be acceptable to allow my 10 year old daughter to assist me with this project? Resources. Animation. (2015, July 8). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation Final Cut Pro X Stop Motion Tutorial. (2014, April 1). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9sPdXPozAs Stop motion. (2015, July 2). Retrieved July 14, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion
2 Comments
Lexie
7/29/2015 01:34:54 pm
David,
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David
8/4/2015 06:05:29 am
Thanks for the encouragement Lexie! I'm ok sharing the rough sketch of my work in part due to us being allowed to take chances on these projects.
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