Creating Dazzling Digital StoriesWith Free Software, a Computer

and a Webcam

Jim BerryInstructional Technology SpecialistCherokee County School District

Canton, Georgia

Let’s Make Teaching Standards Come Alive!

M2N1 Grade: 2 Description: M2N1 Students will use multiple representation of numbers to connect symbols to quantities. Elements:

c. Use money as a medium of exchange. Make change and use decimal notation and the dollar and cent symbols to represent a collection of coins and currency.

www.georgiastandards.org

What Do We Need to Get Started?

1. Hardware2. Software3. Characters,

Props & Backgrounds

4. A Solid PLAN

Hardware

Software

There are numerous screen capture and movie creation software programs available for both PC and MAC

platforms.

For this presentation, we will use a popular free program called “Stop Motion Animator” and “Movie Maker 2” which is part of the Microsoft XP operating system (Service Pack

2 and later).

http://www.clayanimator.com/english/stop_motion_animator.html

For Much More Go To

www.clayanimator.com

Software Part 2:Microsoft Windows

Movie Maker 2(Comes with the XP Operating System: Service Pack 2)

Characters, Props & Backgrounds

The Sky is the Limit…Be Creative!

Before we get to clay…

Props & Backgrounds

Color printouts for backgrounds

http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

Use Light Boxes for Better Quality Photography

Simple Light Box

Secure light above paper opening in top of box

Cut out square in the top of the box

Props can add a lot!

Great Place for Picturesto use as Backgrounds

www.pics4learning.com

Powerpoint Slides can be saved as .jpegs and used in MovieMaker

This picture was imported using a clipart search for the word “beach”:

What is “Claymation?”

In a claymation production, artists sculpt the characters out of clay and often support the

sculpture with wire molds underneath.

To create the illusion of movement, the position of the sculpted characters is altered slightly in

every still photo, or frame.

Just like other forms of animation, claymation generally requires a storyboard or background

for the characters to be set against and to develop what they will do or say.

So What is the Difference BetweenStop Motion & Claymation?

Stop Motion:

Objects are captured, frame by frame and Moved slightly between captures. The objectsare not altered-only moved slightly to give the appearanceof smooth motion.

Example: Using “Scrabble” letters to illustrate rhyming words. “TOP” becomes “TAP” as the “O” creeps off the screen and is replaced by the “A”

Claymation:

The art of making an inanimate object appear to be alive.

Characters are usually made of clay, but other objects couldbe used, as long as the objects are manipulated frame by frame So they will appear to be living.

Example: Even a “non-clay” object (a doll) could come alive if we captured the arm rising little by little-making it appear to be alive.

Storyboarding

Each “event” should be planned and brainstormed onto a storyboard.

Timing is key and will play a crucial role as we determine how many

frames “grabs” we will take.

A “Grab” is simply the act of capturing 1 frame.

In Stop Motion Animator:16 Grabs = Approximately 1 second

Let’s count how many seconds each event takes, then multiply by 16 to determine

the number of Grabs to take

Using the Free “Stop Motion Animator”

ProgramWhen the program opens, these 2 windows will appear:

Webcam’s current imageControls

You can drag the top border of the control window to the top-leftand the lower right corner of the webcam view window to arrange

your screen like this:

When you click “Start” the “Start”button will become the “Grab” button.

You can also hit the “Enter” key on the keyboard to capture (grab) frames. This is recommended because

there’s less chance of disturbing the scene

Example Storyboard

Action/Motion

Dialogue

Seconds/Grabs

Dialogue

Seconds/Grabs

Professor Abacus enters and moves to center stage

[Professor] “Sheepy? Where are you?”

3 Seconds (3 x 16 = 48 Grabs)

Music Music

Begin Cool Jazz MusicNone

Action/Motion

None

Professor Abacus raises hands to mouth

2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)

Event # 1 Event # 2

Note About Dialogue & Music

We’re not actually adding dialogue and music now.

We’re only “planning ahead.”

We’ll add the dialogue and music in MovieMaker later.

Example Storyboard

Action/Motion

Dialogue

Seconds/Grabs

Dialogue

Seconds/Grabs

Sheepy enters from the right and moves next to Professor Abacus (His hands return outstretched)

[Sheepy] “Hello Professor Abacus!”

Music Music

Cool Jazz

Action/Motion

None

None: Sheepy is next to Professor Abacus

Cool Jazz

Event # 3 Event # 4

3 Seconds (3 x 16 = 48 Grabs)

2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)

Question:How Many Grabs per Nudge?

Answer:How Much Time Do You Have?

Here’s the Bottom Line…

For the SMOOTHEST animation, you want to nudge the character in extremely small increments between grabs.

So, to move Professor Abacus to the center of the stage in 48 “grabs” (3 seconds of action) we could “Grab” a

frame then “nudge” him 1/8 of an inch 48 times:

Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge

This would be extremely tedious and would take a lot of time (and patience)

Here’s a Realistic Alternative:

Let’s take 4 “grabs” (frames) for each time we nudge Professor Abacus. We’ll nudge him about ½ inch each

time. The result will be a little more “choppy” but it really won’t take away from the story.

You might experiment with this. It’s all about the time you have to spend on a project.

Remember, it takes about 16 grabs for every second of action so for a minute-long story it would take 960

“grabs” or frames.

Let’s Start “Grabbing”Notice that before we begin grabbing, Professor Abacus’ left arm

is barely in the frame

So, we’ll grab 4 frames, nudge him towards the

center, grab 4 more, nudge again, and so on until we’ve reached 48 grabs. He should end

up at center stage

We know from our storyboard plan the it will take about 3 seconds for Professor Abacus to move to center stage.

That means for 3 seconds at 12 grabs per second-we need 48 total “grabs.”

According to our storyboard, EVENT #2 has Professor Abacus holding his hands to his mouth while yelling “Sheepy, where are

you?” This should take about 2 seconds.

He does not need to move, so we’ll just arrange his hands and take 32 grabs.

2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)

Here’s EVENT #3Sheepy enters from the right and moves next to Professor Abacus (His

hands return outstretched)

3 Seconds (3 x 16 = 48 Grabs)We’ll use the same technique as we did in EVENT #1:

4 grabs-nudge, etc., 12 times = 48 grabs

EVENT #4 (Final)

According to the storyboard there’s no action. We just need 2 seconds for Sheepy to say “Hello Professor Abacus!”

Here we’ll just grab 32 frames (2 seconds x 16 = 32)I also grabbed 16 more frames so we can have a little more

material

When You’re Finished Capturing Frames, Click “DONE”

You can save the “raw” video file (.avi) and we’ll import it into Movie Maker for audio, titles,

effects and credits

Open Windows Movie Maker

Import the raw video from Stop Motion

Animator

Drag the video down onto the 1st pane in

STORYBOARD view:

Click “Tools-Titles and Credits”

Choose “title at the beginning of the movie”

Type your Title and Choose an Animation Effect, Font Style, etc.

Click “Done, add title to movie”

You can add transitions between your titles and

your video.

Click “View video transitions”

Just drag the desired transition between

panes

Adding Dialogue

Several Options:You can add your own NARRATION,

however this will be in lieu of music. One way around this is to have music playing in the

background while you narrate.

Why the Limitations in Audio?

Movie Maker allows no more than 2 simultaneous audio sources. Even though the .avi file we captured from Stop Motion Animator didn’t include audio, it does “take up” an audio spot, as do all video files.

One effective way to include background music while supplying the dialogue is to use “Titles and Credits” and music at the same time.

Adding Titles to Supply the Character Dialogue

In Timeline view, play the movie from the beginning and pause the video at the exact point where Professor Abacus

holds his hands to his mouth to call Sheepy:

Click “Tools-Titles and Credits”Select “On the selected clip”

Type “Sheepy…Where are you?”

Choose an animation style and click “Done,

add title to movie”

You’ll see the title you just typed at the bottom of the screen:

Preview your video. If needed, you can shorten or lengthen any title by clicking the right border

Use the same technique to add the title “Hello Dr. Abacus!” as Sheepy meets him:

Adding Music:As a general rule…

Add music LAST

Why?

Sometimes we’re surprised when we add music early in the project. Transitions actually “steal” time from the slides they preceed (about a second) and this can have

dramatic consequesnces on how your music aligns itself in your movie

Dialogue

Seconds/Grabs

[Professor] “Sheepy? Where are you?”

Begin Cool Jazz Music

2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)

Event # 2 At the beginning of event #2 in our storyboard, we

introduce “Cool Jazz Music”

Let’s import some Jazz into our project

Music

Click “Import audio or music”

Music files will appear with this icon

(It’s best to switch to “Timeline View” before inserting music into the

movie)

Click “Show Timeline”

Before Dragging the Music to the Timeline-Know these controls to find detailed moments:

Play/Pause

Stop

Rewind to the beginning

Move FORWARD

frame by frame

Go to end of video

Split the video to

allow insertion

of images or titles

Capture a paused moment of video

as a jpeg image

Move BACKWARDS

frame by frame

In Timeline view, play the movie from the beginning and pause the video at the exact point where Professor Abacus

holds his hands to his mouth to call Sheepy:

The “Cool Jazz” Music should begin when Professor Abacus begins to call Sheepy.

Drag the music icon down to the Timeline view so that the left edge aligns with the blue line where the video is paused

Drag music icon to

paused blue line:

Again, it may be neccesary to adjust the length of the music-click the right edge

to shorten as needed

Notice that right-clicking on a music, audio or narration file (in timeline view) allows you

several options.

Fading in and out can be very effective, especially when 2 audio sources meet up against each other.

Finally, we’ll add END CREDITS

Click “Tools-Titles and Credits”

And choose “Credits at the end of the movie”

Make a Stop Motion Video Using Only Movie Maker :

http://www.beverlyschool.org/animation/animationtutorial.pdf

Additional Information: Tips on Making the models

Try to keep the model simple and bold Include 2 or 3 features on face and head to animate Include at least 3 features on body to animate Make sure the features are big The model must be able to stand up Creating a storyboardMake a list of the events which will take place in your animation using bullet points Write down the length of time it will take for each event to occur Draw storyboard images to show the actions taking place for each event Shooting the animationInstall your chosen 'frame grabbing' software (see below for examples of software for Mac and Windows) and read the instructions of how to use the software Make sure the camera is on and you have removed the tape and plug the camera into the mains before you start to shoot your animation Shooting tipsTake 12 shots to start a scene before you start animating Take 1 shot per movement If you want to include a pause then take 6 shots If your character blinks or winks take 3 shots of the closed eye Take 12 shots to end the scene Remember that all movements must be small so the animation is smooth and flowing Watch and save your movie regularly Editing the animationWhen editing your animation you can take out any unwanted frames by deleting them You can also ‘copy and paste’ in extra frames to make the scene longer Sounds, titles and music can be added during editing Animation softwareiStopMotion by Boinx (Mac OS) iMovie by apple (Mac OS) 2animate by 2Simple Software (Windows) Revelation Natural Art by Logotron (Windows) DocsAlive by Softedge Systems (Windows) Kid Pix Deluxe 4 by RM software (Windows) Animation websites and softwarewww.animationforeducation.co.ukwww.tech4learning.comwww.accessarts.org/ArtKids/Tutorials/AnimationThanks to Oscar Stringer for providing the stop-motion instructions.

Thank you for being here!

Please pick up a card before you leave

All of the information in this presentation can be found on my website:

www.tinyurl.com/yhagoft