In this 8 day project a group of S5 pupils with a keen interest in expressing their ideas with animation worked with Jim who supported them making films. The group, who all had additional support needs learned traditional and digital animated techniques and applied them to their current 2D or 3D artistic styles, connecting what they made to the commercial animation industry as they went.
The project was very successful at engaging the pupils and giving them the confidence to continue with their interest. Although many different techniques were explored by all the pupils, none of them were asked to continue working on something they didn’t enjoy. Following the pupils own interests and styles gave me a huge boost as a teacher, as I researched animation styles and techniques I’d never tried. It’s given me a lot more confidence to work with different techniques for future groups.
We set out to get the pupils to be able to continue animating away from school and so supported them in acquiring software or apps on their own devices (phones, ipads and laptops) We also hoped to show the pupils how to bridge the gap between an interest and a job. This we achieved well by looking at various animations and researching how they were made.
I’m a believer in giving pupils a chance to shine in whatever they're really interested in. I give them an awareness of the animation ‘industry’ but don't go into any detail around production and planning, which can come later. Expanding on the pupils existing interests, whilst giving them an awareness of where that interest fits in to what others are doing will keep them excited and able to continue. This also gave me a renewed understanding of what drives many young people.
We supported the pupils to use advanced software for creating digital animation, including Stop Motion Studio, Krita, Blender and FlipaClip.
I really enjoyed working with a small group of young people who sometimes struggle to have a voice and find it difficult to communicate effectively. I listened and learned their individual ways of communicating, finding ways they may express themselves with animation.
