Stop-Motion Animation

This year I have a very small Video Production class and I was able to bring them up to the traditional art room setting and work with claymation.

Before students begin planning for their individual 30-45 second stop-motion animation, I give them a group challenge to complete the task in two class periods.  This year, I was able to have them work over a period of 3 days.  The challenge was to create some type of creature that would interact with something they found in my art classroom.

Day 1: Create the creature and plan the action
Day 2: Take the pictures using a digital still camera
Day 3: Place the pictures on a video track in Sony Vegas and time out where to add sound/music

Working With Shutter Speeds

Right before a four day weekend (Labor Day Holiday) I figured it would be a good time to have my Photo students switch over to the manual settings and crank up the shutter speed to stop action.

It had been very warm out this week and I figured water balloons would be a great subject to capture.  I prepared enough water balloons so each student had one and they worked in pairs.  One student would hold the water balloon and pin, while the other manned the camera.  In pairs, they each had two chances to capture the shot and could experiment with bubbles after they went through the two balloons.

We are currently using only point-and-shoot Sony brand cameras.  Some students brought their own digital SLR or hybrid cameras.

Here are the some of the results: