Claymation Station As of July 1, 2013 ThinkQuest has been discontinued. We would like to thank everyone for being a part of the ThinkQuest global community: Students - For your limitless creativity and innovation, which inspires us all. Teachers - For your passion in guiding students on their quest. Partners - For your unwavering support and evangelism. Parents - For supporting the use of technology not only as an instrument of learning, but as a means of creating knowledge. We encourage everyone to continue to “Think, Create and Collaborate,” unleashing the power of technology to teach, share, and inspire. Best wishes, The Oracle Education Foundation How to Create a Claymation or Stop-motion Video Claymation is an animation technique used with clay figures. Basically, each movement is a new “shot” and the “shots” are connected together at the end to make a movie. Famous claymation cartoons like Gumby and Wallace and Gromit have made the artistic form popular. Stopmotion is the original animation technique used to create cartoons. You can use any kind of toy (legos, for example). Ingredients 5 cups of patienceA detailed storyboardClay (for claymation) or toys (for stopmotion)Backdrop for sceneDigital camera6 more cups of patienceLots of timeMovie-making software (free or commercial) Step 1: Plan, Plan, Plan There is a really good reason that old cartoons are short. Think about it. So, before you get started, plan which form you will use (clay or toys), plan for a lot of time, and plan to do a lot of laborious work. Step 2: Create a Story Board Every good movie starts with a story board. Step 3: Build your clay models (or gather toys) Step 4: Start Snapping! Why Bother?
Clay Animation Made Easy How to get started: Storyboard/Brainstorm: Have students brainstorm ideas and create a storyboard and script for their movie. Example story starters: Software for Storyboarding/Brainstorming: Atomic Learning's FREE Video StoryBoard Pro Software for Mac and Windows Script writing and storyboard software (FREE) for Windows Inspiration Software for Mac or Windows Clay Figures Create a lightweight armature out of pipe cleaners, styrofoam, and aluminum foil Wrap the armature with a “skin” of clay (Van Aken Claytoon clay works well. Sets Use a shoebox or cut a display board into halves Use a filing cabinet or cookie sheet as the floor of the set so that the magnets in the clay feet stick Use continuous, direct lighting. Digital Video/Animation Equipment/Software Cameras: Webcams: A camera that is hooked to your computer with a firewire, USB or serial connection. Animation