Design I // Stop Motion Animation Final

For Design I’s final project, we focused on time and motion. With technology speeding ahead these days, it is beneficial to challenge students to try this as a school project.

Students had to produce a one-minute stop motion animation consisting of photography and sound. Creativity wise, the sky was the limit! The best video-editing software available to them were Apple iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. The more frames per second that were compiled, the smoother the video appeared. To put this into perspective, the Wallace & Gromit 30-minute shorts were shot close to 20 frames per second, adding up to be around 35,000 shots per video. That’s a bit extreme for my students, so they were encouraged to place at least two frames per second. We also watched short films by Disney and Tim Burton, and the hilarious YouTube classic “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On“.

It was a challenge for students to work on an art project of this scale, especially if they were new to Apple iMovie & Windows Movie Maker video-editing software. However, they were very proud of themselves for figuring out such a feat. We had a lot of fun in both sections eating snacks and watching everyone’s videos, and celebrating the end of another school year!

Below are some examples of what was submitted. So turn up your audio and be entertained by these one-minute shorts!

* I have permission from my students to promote their work on my website.

2 sections:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intro to Computing // Creature Cartoon GIF

As an added continuation of their first Creature Cartoon project done in Adobe Illustrator, I challenged my students to turn it into a GIF after we started learning Photoshop. There are many ways to make a GIF, but in my research I found it was best to form their creature in Illustrator, and pull the file into Photoshop to put it into action.

I posted my own Part I and Part II tutorial YouTube videos demonstrating the steps on my laptop screen so students could reference them outside of class to produce their own GIF.

Students had to implement at least 3 actions in their GIF to receive full credit– for example eyes blinking, arms moving, and feet tapping. The number of frames they incorporated depended on their actions and how many they personally needed to see the actions to smooth completion.

It was so fun seeing these little guys and gals come to life!

Below are some GIFs that were turned in. All have aspects to be improved upon for their portfolio, but overall I was very pleased with their results.

* I have permission from my students to promote their work on my website.

by Carson Brantley: anxious, fly, antlers ^

by Elizabeth Gammill:  crawl, giggly, long tail ^

by Shannon Shepherd: big feet, running, sad ^

by Grayson Brown: mellow, shell, exercise ^

by Whitney White: afraid, mane, sleeping ^

by Madison Wigginton: calm, short legs, smell flower ^

by Mary Hannah Ruff: long arms, upside down, bashful ^

by Caylee Hubbard: squishy cheeks, happy, climbing ^

 

Intro to Computing // Creature Cartoon GIF

Fall 2016: As an added continuation of their first Creature Cartoon project done in Adobe Illustrator, I challenged my students to turn it into a GIF after we started learning Photoshop. There are many ways to make a GIF, but in my research I found it was best to form their creature in Illustrator, and pull the file into Photoshop to put it into action.

Since I had not made a GIF before, I had my own homework in figuring this out so I could teach my students. I read and watched many demos until I found a system that seemed to work well. I even recorded and posted my own Part I and Part II tutorial YouTube videos demonstrating the steps on my laptop screen so students could reference them outside of class to produce their own GIF.

Students had to implement at least 3 actions in their GIF to receive full credit– for example eyes blinking, arms moving, and feet tapping. The number of frames they incorporated depended on their actions and how many they personally needed to see the actions to smooth completion.

It was so fun seeing these little guys and gals come to life!

Below are some GIFs that were turned in. All have aspects to be improved upon for their portfolio, but overall I was very pleased with their results.

* I have permission from my students to promote their work on my website.

by Kaitlyn Upton: angry, fly, whiskers ^

by Josie Goodman: squishy cheeks, joyful, upside down ^

by Mary Emily Moore: big eyes, broken-hearted, eat ^

by Ques Nevels: grumpy, webbed feet, skate ^

by Meredith Morris: tentacles, mellow, float ^

by Ashley Rude: curious, climb, short legs ^

by April Porter: webbed feet, anxious, float ^

by Gerald Wicks: excited, climbing, long tail ^

by Ryan Guillory: horns, exercise, lazy ^

by Brittany Riland: mad, long arms, swing ^

by Laura Leigh Hicks: squishy cheeks, afraid, smell flower ^

by Olivia Ketchum: happy, sharp teeth, read ^

by Morgan Helton:  beak, sleepy, read ^

 

Design I // Stop Motion Animation Final

For my Spring 2016 Design I class, I decided to do something different for their final project to focus on time and motion. When I was a graduate student and instructor of record at Louisiana Tech University, my Basic Design class produced stop motion animation films for their final project. With technology speeding ahead these days, I thought it was time to bring this project to Mississippi State University.

Students had to produce a one-minute stop motion animation consisting of photography and sound. Creativity wise, the sky was the limit! The best video-editing software available to them were Apple iMovie and Windows Movie Maker. The more frames per second that were compiled, the smoother the video appeared. To put this into perspective, the Wallace & Gromit 30-minute shorts were shot close to 20 frames per second, adding up to be around 35,000 shots per video. That’s a bit extreme for my students, so they were encouraged to place at least two frames per second. We also watched short films by Disney and Tim Burton, and the hilarious YouTube classic “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On“.

It was a challenge for students to work on an art project of this scale, especially if they were new to video-editing software. However, they were very proud of themselves for figuring out such a feat. We had a lot of fun in both sections eating snacks and watching everyone’s videos, and celebrating the end of another school year!

Below are some examples of what was submitted. So turn up your audio and be entertained by these one-minute shorts!

* I have permission from my students to promote their work on my website.