Claymation: Clay Animation

Submitted by: Renee Berg, Mitchell Middle School, South Dakota
Unit: Clay Animation

Grade: Eighth (See 7th)
School Website: http://rb043.k12.sd.us/
Animation Lessons - Rubric - History - Flash and more! By Jim Hoffman, Mount Royal, Saskatoon, Sask.

 

Collegiate: "Meet" Jim Hoffman - Math teacher

"The main objective here was to create a visual story without words. In this unit we studied the history and  process of clay animation. The class took one day out and watched a Wallace and Grommit movie. Working in groups of three, we then developed our plot with the help of a storyboard. After the storyboard was filled out we split up jobs in our groups. One or two of us designed our characters out of Polymer Clay and someone designed a setting.  We all took turns photographing and rearranging the clay characters. The next step took us to the lab where we edited and animated our claymation story."

 

Renee got her planning sheets and story boards from Tech4Learning. Included here is a student worksheet and student evaluation. Her schedule will give you some kind of time frame for the unit.

 

Here are some animation resources and study guide Renee used:

 

See website for animation

Research the Process and History of Claymation*:

1. Go to the above address and view the flat 2-D claymation

2. Go to How-To web sites and select Claymation Station

3. Download to play the movie

4. View the animation

5. Click on history. Answer questions on your sheet.

6. Click on Clay Kings, Will Vinton studios and answer the questions on your sheet.

7. Click on Current Clay, Wallace and Gromit and answer the questions on your sheet.

8. Next go to So You Wanna Try This and follow the steps to getting started. Look at your worksheet.

9. Go back to the top and go to Basics and follow more directions and the process. Look at your worksheet.

10. Go back to the top and go to Detail and skim over it.

     

Other sites to view at home or on your own.

• See the IAD article on the father of animation.

• See the 7th grade version of this lesson for more resources.

• www.willvinton.com Will Vinton, creator of many clay animation

• http://www.animateclay.com/

• http://www.jlf.com/clay_anm.html

• http://animato.medw.co.uk/chicken/chick.html

• The making of Chicken Run; Rent DVD movie- Chicken Run

• http://home.neb.rr.com/monarchrose/animation.htm (Archive) - Examples and directions from a 6th grade class

• http://home.neb.rr.com/monarchrose/computer.htm (Archive) - How to animate with Paint Shop Pro

• http://home.neb.rr.com/monarchrose/claytips.htm (Archive) - Really good clay tips, especially how to make eyes

• http://home.neb.rr.com/monarchrose/lights,.htm (Archive) - How to use lights when photographing your clay animation. See Patti Rose's 5th grade class animation video below.

• http://www.foraystechnology.com/claymation/overview.html (Archive) - Excellent page to use on how to learn the basics. Renee followed this for her first animation.

• Animation Camp- Kevin Hodgson's lesson on creating clay animation.

Tortoise Run!
A Fable by Aesop
Animated by the 5th Grade Class
Patti Rose, Art Teacher, St. Joseph School
Music by Jeremy Foutz, Music Teacher

 

 

INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES:

Microsoft Movie Maker Help Topics. Use iMovie for the Mac.
Claymation Handouts Work Sheet Check List Storyboard Worksheet (use as many copies as necessary- see below) and Self Evaluation Worksheet.

DVD: Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie, by Brian Sibley

DVD: The Beginners Guide To Animation: Sculpting Characters With Clay - This program describes the properties of polymer clay, the tools used to sculpt, bake and paint the material and illustrates the basic forms that you can make out of clay that provide the basis for any sculpture.

DVD: How to Sculpt Puppets for Clay Animation - How to Animate Puppets - with over five hours of video, every possible animation trick is explained.

 

Books:

The Klutz Book of Animation: How to Make Your Own Stop Motion Movies - The Klutz Book of Animation is a complete how-to treatment of stop-motion magic, from practical instruction to ready-to-shoot scripts. The software you’ll need is available as a free download, ready to use on any computer (PC or Mac). All you need to provide is a video camera, a computer, and a way to connect the two.

Secrets Of Clay Animation Revealed - This book teaches all methods the experts use to make stop motion films from start to finish. After reading Secrets you will know how to create several types of armatures, learn how puppets are sculpted, make a motion control rig, light your sets, make your own surface gages, use video reference, chroma key, capture programs and more.

Beginner's Guide to Animation - With the help of Beginner’s Guide to Animation, anyone can make animated movies, using a digital camera, basic software, and a computer. The book begins with an illustrated guide to setting up a simple animation studio at home, including a list of essential items.

The Art of Stop-Motion Animation - Through several hands-on exercises, you'll learn how to create puppets and how to bring them to life as you create your own stop-motion film. Interviews with industry professionals offer a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look into the undying art form of stop-motion animation.

 

Clay Animation Information Sheet

http://imet.csus.edu/imet1/peshette/graphic_design/class4.htm (Archive of Alix Peshette's site)

Name____________________________________

1. Technically clay animation started with the invention of what material?

2. Who was one of the first clay super characters? Who was the characters creator?

3. What film was created in 1908 and is considered the first real clay animation?

Clay Kings, Will Vinton studios

4. What are Will Vinton’s most famous characters?

5. In 1987 Will Vinton created a documentary, explaining the process of what?
   

6. The animators may reshape a character how many times in 1 minute?

7. Each second of film contains how many frames?

8. So how many times would you reshape a character for 3 sections of film?

Wallace and Gromit

9. Who created Wallace and Gromit?
   

10. What are the three animations titled?

So You Wanna Try This

11. What is the most important part of the movie?

12. First step is to do what?

13. Second he designed a ____________________________.

14. To take pictures you will need a_______________________ and make sure you have plenty of
    
    ___________________________.

15. To make your characters stand out your set and props should be designed how?

16. What advice did you get about lighting that looks useful?

17. How many frames do they suggest for a character to walk across a room?

18. How many frames do they suggest for a blinking eye

19. When they tried to change the mouth for dialogue it altered the head too much. What solution did they come up with.

20. What where the wires used for in the editing section?

21. What program do you think will best work for editing our frames before animating them.

Getting started in Clay Animation The Basics

Preparation

22. You need an idea for three things to get started. What are they?

23. What is the storyboard for?

Creating Your character

24. What good advice do they give for starting a character?

Props and background setting

25. What advice do they give for the setting if you want to keep your focus on the character?

26. What advice do they give for colors?

 

Student Evaluation

Clay Animation Unit:

Name:

What did you do that helped contribute to the group's project. List your contributions and how they affected the project.

What new skills have you learned?

Tell me what knowledge you gained while working on this project which may not have been presented in the project. Maybe something you learned about your self and working with others, or how you think and plan things.

Rate your contribution efforts between 1 and 10. 10 being the best

Rate your group members between 1 and 10 according to group contributions.

What grade would you give your claymation?

What would you like to do better on it?

What do you like about your clay animation?

 

Clay Animation Schedule

This schedule is tentative; you can adjust it as you go. You may work during study hall or before/after school. Gold day is in bold and Black day is underlined.

April 15th and April 16th: Watch video, Chicken Run or Wallace & Gromit [DVD], and Claymation Christmas [VHS].

April 17th and April 18th: View websites and do a worksheet on the history of claymation and directions and tips of how to create a clay animation.

April 19th and April 22nd: Brainstorm ideas in your groups, create a character, plot, and setting or props and start a storyboard.

April 23rd and April 24th: Finish storyboard. If time allows start designing clay figure, set and props.

April 25th and April 26th: Continue to work on clay figure, props and set.

April 29th and April 30th: Finish character, props and set. If time allows start to photograph Follow storyboard.

May1st and May 2nd: Take pictures

May 3rd and May 6th: Take pictures

May 7th and May 8th: Save pictures into Photoshop and edit if needed. Pull pictures into Spin Photo and follow directions.

May 9th and May 10th: Same as above

May 13th and May 14th: Finish in Spin Photo and save animation to my folder in network neighborhood.

May 15th-May 17th: Burn CD of class work and work on replicating a section of a painting in Photoshop Elements.