Smoovie

Last week was BETT week (British Educational Training and Technology Show). This leading education technology show is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and is held every January in the UK.

The show is all about transforming education for the better, through technology. We remember not so long ago it was a rare thing to see Apple technology in the classrooms of the UK and Europe (the US education system was a much earlier adopter) and we love the fact that this year there was a stand dedicated to Apple technology in the classroom.  The Apple Solution Expert Village had its very own theatre, which ran a packed schedule throughout the entire show featuring speakers who have pioneered some of the world’s most innovative learning programmes using Apple technologies.

Not surprisingly, here at Smoovie HQ we are huge fans of the iPad in education. The benefits of the iPad in the classroom have been screamingly obvious to us for years now,  indeed that was a huge factor in developing our stop motion animation app (Smoovie) specifically for the iPad.  Technology in education can be a wonderful thing, but it has to be the right kind of technology.  The iPad is not only a brilliantly designed and reliable piece of hardware, it is so much more.  Unlike so many other ‘one-trick-pony’ technologies that have been introduced to the classroom and have quickly ended up gathering dust in a cupboard.  Over the years we have watched as schools, carried on the wave of technology for technology’s sake, invested in set after set of portable games consoles for the classroom complete with a limited range of games and nothing more.  

We know that budget is always an issue in education.  For the price of one iPad you could purchase three portable games consoles, so that must be a good thing right?  But we think this is false economy.  Games for these consoles, however useful, are individually very expensive and this limits how often schools can invest in something new.  With a huge range of brilliant, highly affordable educational apps on the App Store, together with Apple’s Volume Purchase Program which enables developers to pass on an educational discount of up to 50% on purchases of 20 or more apps, the possibilities are practically endless on the iPad and schools can afford to keep up to date with the latest advances in apps.  And it goes without saying that, with the iPad, you are getting so much more than a player of educational apps.  You are getting a fully-fledged computer.  You are getting the internet, powerful creative apps like iMovie and GarageBand, excellent utility apps like Keynote, Pages and Numbers, the ability to print, to interact with other iPads on the school network and to save work.  

So if the budget really is tight, why not do what one of our local schools did earlier this month -  invest in fewer iPads and explore all the ways in which children can collaborate on team projects with an accessible range of affordable, quality apps at their fingertips.  

The Smoovie Team is excited to have been invited by this school to run a Smoovie Stop Motion Animation Workshop in the next few weeks.  In the days leading up to the workshop the children will collaborate in small groups to plan their animations.  They will discuss plot and create storyboards and character profiles, design and create their sets, plan their lighting and write their scripts. They will learn how to work together and how to make best use of individual talents.  And then, on the day of the workshop, they will work in the roles they have allocated themselves and have a lot of fun creating their movies. Afterwards they might even decide to invite family members to school to watch their movies, complete with popcorn!  

Some schools are lucky to have a bigger budget for technology.  We have been excited by the increasing number of 1:1 iPad schemes in schools around the world and the ever-increasing take-up close to home in Europe where education authorities are waking up to the benefits the iPad brings.  With some of our Open Planet children having 1:1 iPads at school, we have first hand experience of the benefits they bring.  The iPads have enhanced almost every aspect of their learning;  from the way teachers and pupils can share and interact with information during a lesson, to the sharing of useful resources after class, the submitting and monitoring of homework, extra help remotely from teachers when required, collaboration between pupils on projects even when they’re not in the same room … the list goes on and on.  Not to mention the use of all those brilliant apps there are out there which enhance the learning experience.  The only downside is that our kids can now claim they need their iPads for ‘educational purposes’ when we think they’ve had enough screen time.  

The right technology is revolutionising education, but sometimes nothing does our children more good than a good run around in the park …  

http://www.smoovie.com/education.html

http://www.bettshow.com

The 2015 award season is entering the final home stretch following the BAFTA Film Awards.  Held at London’s Royal Opera house, top film producers, directors and actors walked down the famous red carpet at the lavish event with both their fingers and toes crossed for the chance of winning one of the coveted awards.

Although seeing all the famous faces dressed to the nines in superb ballgowns and smart suits was exciting, here at Smoovie HQ we were most excited for the announcement of the Best Animated Feature.

Three major animation hits were in the running for the award. ‘The Lego Movie’ by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6’ and Anthony Stachhi’s and Graham Annables stop-motion blockbuster ‘The Box Trolls’.  

Luckily our favourite of the three, The Lego Movie made by animation studio Animal Logic came out on top and was named Best Animated Feature. The film had been previously snubbed from the 2015 Oscars’s to the upset of dozens of fans! Director Phil Lord and Christopher Miller posed with the award, and were recalled saying that even though it wasn't made out of Lego bricks it was “still pretty great”.

Although missing out on an Oscar nomination was a slight disappointed we here at Smoovie HQ think that everything for the Lego Movie team has worked out brilliantly in the end!

Now that the BAFTA Film Awards are in the past, the major date in people’s diaries is the 22nd February for the 87th Academy Awards. The Oscars is when things really heat up, as an Oscar within the film industry is the ultimate recognition of hard work, skill and creativity.  

The top prizes of the night, similar to the BAFTA’s include Best Feature and Best Actor and Actress, however same as before we are most looking forward to the reveal of Best Animated Film. With Dinsey’s top animation Frozen winning the title last year things are even more competitive this year, as Dinsey’s follow up animation Big Hero 6 is also nominated.

We have reviewed the five animation films up for the award and have made some predictions!

First title to discuss is Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6’. The film tells the story of a young robotics engineer named Hiro Hamada who forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain. The film has received widespread critical acclaim and has been described as entertaining and brilliantly animated! Could Disney win for a second time in a row?

Dreamwork’s ‘How to Train your Dragon 2’ has already won the Golden Globe and six trophies at this year's Annie Awards, so could this be this years top contender? Either way, they are all ready in production for How to Train your Dragon 3 which will be released in 2017, thats something to look forward to!

The third nomination is the brilliant stop motion feature film ‘The Boxtrolls’. Produced by Laika Studios the animation surrounds the story of Eggs, a human boy who is raised by trash-collecting trolls, imagine being brought up by trolls..scary concept! The film has been praised for its visual invention and its quick humour. One to defiantly look out for!

The Irish tale ‘Song of the Sea’ follows the struggles of a young girl when she is faced with the discovery that she is a Selkie, a mythological being.  The hand-drawn animation is beautiful and earns director Tomm Moore his second Oscar nomination. We would love for this tale to win and we believe this superb animation has a really good shot!

The final nominee is Studio Ghibli’s ‘The Tale of Princess Kaguya’. You may already know the Japanese animation film studios work, with animation films such as Spirited Away and The Cat Returns. This feature film tells the story of girl who turns out to be a princess but has been exiled from her home on the Moon! Could this be the dark horse amongst all the contenders?

Happy Halloween! There isn’t a better time than over the course of this weekend to make your own spooky Halloween Smoovie!!

We have thought long and hard on some ways you can create a frightening stop motion animation which is sure to scare your friends! 

Dancing Skeleton

How about making an animation surrounding a dancing skeleton? First of all you will need to create your Skeleton. We suggest using some playdoh or clay, both of which are great materials for building and creating characters for stop motion’s. Once you skeleton is completed you are free to animate him in any way you want. You can make him into a great dancer or an incredibly bad dancer, the choice is up to you. 

Or why not think of a spooky song, for example Thriller and animate your skeleton dancing to your chosen record! We think this animation will be a lot of fun to create!

Floating Ghost

This animation is sure to scare your friends. For this animation to work you will need a ghost costume (we suggest a big white bed sheet) and a helpful friend. What we want to create is the effect that your friend, dressed in the ghost costume is flying. Get your friend to jump every time they move forwards or backwards and each time take a photo using Smoovie. Continue this until your friend has moved a considerable distance, perhaps along the hallway or across the garden path. When you come to play your Smoovie it will look like the ghost is magically flying! You can then convince your friends and family that you were greeted by a ghost this Halloween!

Pumpkin Time-Lapse

Pumpkins are an essential part of Halloween so how could we forget to incorporate them into this special Halloween blog post. Why not create a time-lapse of you carving the pumpkin, but remember to always get an adults help whilst doing this task! Once you have created the time-lapse play it back to see how quickly it took for the pumpkins scary face to appear! 

We hope this has provided you with some ideas on how to create a scary Halloween animation! We also have a Halloween Pinterest board which contains images which will hopefully give you some more inspiration! Check it out here - http://uk.pinterest.com/smoovieapp/halloween-ideas/  Be sure to share with us any animations which you have made as we love seeing what you guys do!

Happy Animating!!! 

We are excited to say that we’ve just updated Smoovie for Mac! This update has enabled us to include some great new features. The update now incorporates new movie sharing options, either in 1080p, 720p and 480p. In addition budding animators can also export to ProRes 422 for improved Final Cut Pro integration. These brilliant new sharing features are sure to make it that little bit easier for you to premier your final animations to the world! 

In addition Smoovie is also ready for Yosemite, (the new Mac Operating System) so make sure you all update!

Happy animating! 

It’s official, Morph is climbing back out of his artist’s wooden pencil case and fans will once again be able to follow his loveable and comical antics!  This time viewers can watch Morph and Chas, his cheeky partner in crime, in a series of short YouTube episodes which will premier on Morph’s very own YouTube channel in July.

The 12cm tall, 5 1/2 oz plasticine character has built up an impressive fan base since he made his first television debut on February 15th 1977.  Created by British animation studio Aardman, Morph featured alongside presenter Tony Hart on shows Take Hart and Hartbeat during 1 minute slots which showcased his fun and cheeky personality.  The simple terracotta-coloured figure could change shape easily, metamorphosing into whatever he felt like at the time, hence the name Morph!  Check out this video of Morph’s first ever television appearance

Aardman Animation Studio was first founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton.  After they both graduated the pair moved to Bristol in 1976 where they began the creation of Morph, their first animation character using stop motion animation.  From these beginnings the studio has built up an impressive portfolio of work, helping to create and produce such treasures as Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, Creature Comforts and Fantastic Mr Fox.  Their work hasn't gone un-noticed.  Not only has Aardman built up an army of fans, they have received six Oscar nominations and have won three times! 

Morph’s charm and funny personality have helped the little guy build up an impressive fan base. This was apparent in 2009 when, shortly after Tony Hart’s death, a flashmob of Morph’s characters was organised by fans in London outside the Tate Modern Art Gallery.  Around 200 home made models in the shape of Morph were arranged outside the Gallery to pay tribute to Hart.  Alongside Hart’s family, co-founder of Aardman Peter Lord was said to be incredibly surprised at the number of fans and home made Morphs that were there to pay tribute to Tony Hart’s life. 

This clear love for Morph got Lord and the animators at Aardman thinking on how they can introduce Morph to a new generation of digital savvy fans.  He is a brilliant character for the studio as they are able to create animations relatively quickly; unlike a 3 year television series or a  film project which can take up to 5 years. 

Using the crowd-surfing website Kickstart,  old and new fans of Morph were able to pledge money to the campaign to help make the dream of bringing back Morph a reality.  The target of £75,000 to make the first 12 episodes was reached within 9 days of campaign, attracting contributions from over 1,700 backers.  Peter Lord was said to be “completely amazed” by the reaction.  He hopes that the extra money raised and the success of the project will mean that Aardman can extend the Morph project and create and produce more short episodes then first planned. 

The creation and production of the brand new mini episodes began in January 2014.  For the past couple of months the Aardman animators have been busy bringing to life Lord’s imaginative ideas and stories for Morph.  The wait is over and the series was premiered on Morph’s official YouTube Channel on the 4th of July!  Check out the first episode ‘Twin Decks’ here!

We LOVE it!!

It’s the beginning of July, the sun is shining and it’s lovely and warm outside which only means one thing - the summer holidays are here!  Whether you’re going away to somewhere hot and sunny, or staying home in the UK, we have some great ideas which will keep you busy and entertained throughout the summer months!

What is your favourite thing to do during the summer holidays? Perhaps it’s playing in the park with your friends or going to the beach on a nice sunny day. 

The beach is always great fun, and you can make it even more exciting by creating your own smoovie while you’re there - just don’t go too near the water with your iPad!

Magical Sand Castle

Treat your family and friends with a smoovie of a magical sand castle.  You can get really creative with this animation and build the sand castle of your dreams!  Firstly decide where you are going to build your sand castle, making sure you have enough space to capture images and somewhere safe to prop your iPad.  Next decide what sort of sand castle you are going to build, or take a risk and make it up as you go along!  Each time you build something or add another small section to your castle remember to capture a new image in Smoovie.  Keep repeating the process until your sand castle is built, then add some music and watch the sand castle magically building itself in Smoovie! 

Sand Drawings

Get really creative and draw a picture in the sand using a large stick or anything else you find on the beach.  Make sure you have somewhere sand-free and stable to prop your iPad, or get someone with a very steady hand to hold it while you draw!  Draw your picture in small steps, capturing an image of it into smoovie every time something changes.  Keep repeating the process until your animation is finished.

Check out this brilliant example of a stop motion animation filmed on a beach.  They have drawn on the sand as suggested above to create something seriously impressive.  We hope you will be inspired!

Play Park Animation

If you don’t happen to have a beach just down the road, you can have just as much fun creating a Smoovie in your local play park.  Take along some of your own toys and make an animation of them playing on the swings and slides.  Get one of your friends to capture the images into Smoovie while you animate the toys and move them around the play park.  Having a video of your teddy bear doing the monkey bars will look great! 

Why not make a people animation of yourself or a friend in the park.  Capture an image each time your friend moves around the park and then swap over and be the star yourself! 

Garden Animation

The garden is a brilliant place to create a smoovie.  Why not animate some of your toy figures going for a walk around your garden, playing hide and seek or having a tea party! 

Paper Animation

We can’t always rely on sunny days during the summer.  If it does rain then grab the opportunity to have some Smoovie fun indoors.  Design and create a sunny, colourful background for your dream holiday destination.  How about a Caribbean beach or a sunny pier?  Next either print off a photograph of yourself or simply draw a cartoon picture of yourself and cut it out. Finally create an animation of yourself in front of the background you have created.  What a great way to visit all those places you’ve never been! Just get creative!

We hope you all have a great summer holidays and eats lots of ice cream!  Please do share your final animations with us! 

It’s World Cup Time!! 

The World Cup only happens once in every four years so when it does come around there is always a great excitement and a strong buzz across the competing countries. This year the 2014 World Cup is being held in Brazil. Brazil have won the competition 5 times and are the only team who have played in every tournament, something which we think is pretty impressive. 

With the tournament just finishing it’s first week, we have already seen some great football stop motion animation’s appearing online, our favourite being this incredibly clever stop motion vine.

We reckon its now the perfect time to create your own World Cup Smoovie animation! 

Below are just some ideas which you could use or take inspiration from in creating your own World Cup Smoovie animation! 

Creating and animating your own World Cup Football match is a great idea, you can decide how many goals are scored and how many yellow or red cards are handed out and finally what team wins (hopefully your favourite team!). 

You could recreate your favourite match throughout the tournament. We think using LEGO figures as members of your team would be really effective. Animating LEGO figures is incredibly easy and simple and will make your animation look flawless. See our World Cup Pinterest board for inspiration on ideas of how to animate your LEGO figures - http://www.pinterest.com/smoovieapp/world-cup-inspiration/. 

If you don’t have enough LEGO figures to make up two teams then use any toy figures you have around your house. This way your animation will look really interesting with lots of different characters playing members of the chosen teams. 

Why not take a trip down memory lane and recreate some of the most memorable moments from previous World Cup tournament’s. This could be either a historic goal or a dramatic loss for a certain team. 

If you are feeling more creative and arty then why not make a paper stop motion animation and draw your own paper football team. Draw out your characters on plain or coloured paper, cut them out and then you are all set for the kickoff to begin animating! 

Another fun idea is bringing a football table to life. If you have your own football table at home you could animate the figures coming to life and magically playing football themselves. This is a sure way to trick your family and friends!

If you have lot’s of time then why not create and build your own football stadium which can become the set for your own animation. Drawing a stadium background on some paper and sticking it on a hard surface will provide you with a exciting background for your Smoovie. If you want more of a challenge, then why not build your own football stadium. Use any bits and bobs found round your house, perhaps some old shoe or cereal boxes. Or if you have lots of free time then you could build your own stadium using LEGO. Check out how impressive this LEGO stadium is below. 

We wonder how many pieces of LEGO this took to build?? 

Remember to share all your World Cup Smoovie’s or any more football stop motion ideas you have with us. 

Happy animating!!

All the daffodils have blossomed and its now the Easter holidays! And what a better way to spend your time than by creating some exciting new Easter themed Smoovies! Check out these great ideas which you can use and take inspiration from to make your own Easter animation! 

Why not make a Smoovie using various animal finger puppets. Create some finger puppets of common Springtime and Easter animals using felt or spare material found around your house, but make sure you ask someones permission beforehand! There are also some great templates online which you can use to help with the creation of your finger puppets!

Here are some handy templates! 

http://www.kizclub.com/craft/fingerpuppets/fingerpuppet1.pdf 

http://seevanessacraft.com/2012/10/tot-school-tuesday-farm-animal-finger-puppets/

http://thealisonshow.com/2010/04/the-tiny-bunny-finger-puppet-tutorial.html

After you have created your finger puppets it’s time to animate them! Decide on a story for your animation, whether it’s a rabbit looking for a friend, or a baby lamb searching for the Easter bunny. Let your imagination run wild! 

If you have a toy rabbit somewhere in your house you could turn him into the Easter Bunny! Animate your toy rabbit hiding chocolates around your house and then get your family and friends to find them after! If it’s a sunny day then you could animate your toy rabbit running and hiding outside in your garden or in a nice park! 

Bring your boiled eggs to life! Why not create an animation of a box of eggs coming to life? Draw or  paint some eyes, a nose and a mouth on the eggs and have then escape from the egg box. You can animate then hiding around your house or chasing each other. Just remember to boil your eggs first, and be careful when animating them as things could get slightly messy!

Or, instead you could create a Smoovie of some boiled eggs painting themselves. Each time you and add something to the egg’s decoration take a photo. This way it will look like the boiled eggs are magically being painted. This is sure to look really effective and a clever way to trick your friends and family. 

We have created an Easter Inspiration board on Pinterest which is full of images to inspire you in your creation of your stop motion. Check it out here - http://www.pinterest.com/smoovieapp/easter-inspiration/  

We hope you all have a great Easter, and eats lots and lots of chocolate!

In case you haven't remembered it’s Mother’s Day on Sunday 30th April!  If you're struggling for an idea, or can’t decide what to buy your mum for a present, then why not make her a brilliant and personal smoovie instead?  We have some great ideas which we hope will inspire you to get creating!

Mother’s Day flowers

It’s well known that mum’s love flowers!  If you don’t have enough pocket money to buy her a real bouquet then why not create an animation of yourself giving her some flowers instead!  Firstly, using either plasticine, play-doh or even some pens and paper, create a character of yourself and one of your mum.  Then create a scene of flowers and animate the paper or plasticine version of yourself walking through it and picking your mum’s favourite flowers before presenting them to her.  She’ll be delighted!

Idea!  Still on the flower theme, you could use some coloured paper to animate flowers blowing in the wind on a sunny day.  You could add a special message for your mum at the end!

Animated photo album

Another great idea is to created an animated photo album.  Have a search around your house or ask a family member to look out some old photos which you could use.  Between five and ten should be plenty.  Pick ones which are significant and mean something to you and your mum. Perhaps a photo of you and your mum straight after you were born, on your first birthday or even your first day at school.  Next, collect some nice objects to decorate a plain surface with; you could use a kitchen table or even the floor.  Pretty beads or flowers would look nice scattered around!  One by one place each photo in the middle of the decorative area you have created and capture several images of the photo using Smoovie, slightly moving your photo and surrounding objects between each shot.  Remember to swap over your photos every now and again! 

When you play back your smoovie, the photos and the background objects will appear to be moving giving you a really fun and interesting animation to show your mum! 

Idea!  You could add some words to each picture to if you want, using some thin strips of white paper to write on, place them across your photos and animate them along with everything else.  Don’t forget to add a soundtrack to your animation; pick your mum’s favourite song or something else that fits well with the photos. 

Mum’s favourite song

Does your mum have a favourite song?  If she does then why not create an animation of it, using the song lyrics as your storyline?  Or just use her favourite song as the soundtrack to whatever animation you create!

If you still haven’t been inspired then get creative and make up your own story and characters for your animation; it could be on anything you want!  You could base the story around one of your mum’s favourite objects or hobbies and dedicate the animation to her.  

And hey!  Grannies and aunties are very special too so why not make a brilliant smoovie for them to say thank you for everything they do for you!!

Check out our Mother’s Day board on Pinterest to see lots of images which we hope will provide inspiration for your smoovie.  Check it out here - http://www.pinterest.com/smoovieapp/mothers-day-inspiration/pins/

One of the easiest and quickest ways to create a stop motion animation is to use people as your subject matter.  Simply gather together a group of friends and spend a hilarious few hours creating a masterpiece.

You can animate your friends in whatever way you wish.  Make your friends float across the room by taking a photograph every time they jump; or create a racetrack, get your friends to sit on stools (racing cars) and animate your very own Grand Prix! 

The possibilities are endless, so be as creative as you can! 

Puppet animation is the technique of using puppets as characters for an animation.  This technique was adopted by top Hollywood director Tim Burton in his classic film ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’. 

Puppets are great props to use as characters as they are easy to animate.  You don’t even have to use classic marionette puppets; you can create your own hand, finger or even sock puppets. 

You could create some pirate finger puppets and produce your own pirate animation!

Idea! Create a puppet animation of a hand, with multiple finger puppets on each finger

Claymation is the technique of modelling and animating lumps of clay into characters and objects and bringing them to life. 

Claymation is one of the oldest and most loved forms of stop motion animation and was used by animators to create the famous Wallace and Gromit films. 

Plasticine is incredibly simple to animate and use by all ages.  Even better it doesn’t dry out so can be used over and over again to create a variety of different characters.  Why not create a plasticine monster?  Give it some googly eyes and let your animation run wild!

Idea! Create a claymation animation of a blob of plasticine with googly eyes coming out of a tub of plasticine

This animation technique uses black silhouettes against a white background, or white silhouettes against a black background; a technique that can look really effective and professional.  Using this technique the animator pays more attention to the motion, shape, pacing and timing of subjects in order to convey emotion. 

To create a simple silhouette animation all you need is some black and white paper and imagination!

Idea! Create a silhouette animation of some fairies or elves in a forest, or a scary monster hiding behind some trees!

Smoovie for Mac comes with a fantastic time lapse feature.  Here's how you can use it!  

Time lapse animation is the technique where a camera takes a series of images with a set time interval between each one.  The interval between images can be anything from half a second up to an hour.  When the images are joined together and played back at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing.

You can create a time lapse of almost anything you wish, so think as creatively as you can!  Perhaps you could create a time lapse of the sunset, or speed up the motion of two snails so it looks as though they are racing. 

Idea! Create a time lapse animation of a sunset

Hand drawn animation is the most classic 2D animation technique and is incredibly easy to use by all ages. This type of animation has been used for most of Disney’s classic films such as The Lion King and Snow White.

Usually hand drawn animations begin as a storyboard where the drawn images help to write the script for the animation. This technique can make for a very effective smoovie as it’s a simple way to tell a story, even if the plot is complicated. 

All you need is some blank paper, some pens or pencils.  With a large amount of imagination and some artistic flare you can create a beautiful hand drawn animation.  

Example - Animating atoms

Cover the topic in class and encourage each pupil to make notes which will be used as a basis for their animations.  

Split the students into groups of 2 and 3, and provide each group with a large sheet of white paper to be used as the background for their animations.  The atoms etc can be represented by anything you find appropriate. You can use pieces of LEGO and small plastic circles, all of which are easy and effective to animate with.

Ask the students to animation the information they have been taught, using their notes for reference. You can create a set of criteria that you wish to see e.g. the formation, location and direction of the atoms, electrons, protons and neutrons.

Watch the animations as a class, encouraging each group to present their findings.  Discuss and review.  

This is a really simple animation for students to create but is extremely worthwhile.  Not only is this a fun way to re-affirm the knowledge they have learnt, but will also help to promote deeper learning.

There are endless ways in which stop motion can be incorporated into the Physics classroom.  Stop motion in a Physics lesson may not be something your pupils are expecting, but is guaranteed to create a buzz of excitement.  From forces and motion to circuits and space, stop motion can be incorporated to increase your pupils’ learning. 

A simple and effective way of introducing stop motion animation into your Physics lesson for the first time would be through the topic of forces and motion.  

Example 1 - Create an animation on forces and motion.

Cover the topic in class. 

For homework ask the pupils to create notes of what they have learnt in class.  These notes will be used as reference for their stop motion animation.   

Ask the pupils to bring in toy cars or anything similar they can use in their stop motion animation.

In the next lesson, split the class up into groups of two and three. 

Provide each group with a scenario to animate from a list you have already made up.  Each scenario will be the start of an action, and the pupils will have to animate the sequence and show what happens at the end. This will provide you with a easy way to consolidate an validate the information learnt by the pupils. 

Provide the pupils with coloured card, so they can create arrows depicting the direction of the forces.

Each scenario can be an individual scene, or they can run consecutively.  Let the pupils to decide what they wish to do.

Suggested scenarios:

To give you some inspiration, here are some suggested scenarios you can ask the pupils to animate - 

What forces are in play when a car is at rest/stationary?

A moving car collides with another moving car.  What happens?

A car is parked.  Unfortunately a moving car bumps into the stationary car. What happens?

A driver isn’t paying attention and collides with a wall. What happens to the two objects?

After the pupils have finished animating the various scenarios, get them to present their findings to the class and provide reasons and evidence for their animation choices.  

Example 2 - Animate the solar system

Learning about the solar system can be really exciting.  Lessons on the solar system should be interactive, and stop motion animation is the perfect tool to help. 

Pupils can create an animation of the solar system.

Cover the topic in class.

Split the class into groups of 5 or 6.  Ask the groups to create an animation of the solar system.  You can create a set of criteria that they must include, for example they must include 3 facts on each planet etc.

Using the downloadable Smoovie storyboards, scripts and set designs, get the pupils to plan their animation.  Remind them to include the criteria you have created. 

After the planning process has been completed and each groups’ plan has been reviewed, ask the pupils to animate their ideas.  Provide the pupils with an array of materials to use within their animation.  If you are feeling creative, you could create get the pupils to make the planets out of papier-mâché. 

Once completed, get the pupils to show their animations to the class. You can then evaluate the information they have learnt.