Readings on Animation.

This week we were asked to read these two journals talking about animation and the benefits and set backs of it. These were the names and the links of the two readings:

• Animation and learning: selective processing of information in dynamic graphics
• How do animations influence learning?

They were fairly difficult readings to read but the main focuses of them that I gathered were that there are good and bad things about animations and can be used for a variety of reasons, across a whole range of topics.
The first reading looked into different types of animation:

1. Chemical
2. Agent
3. Weather Map
4. Geological

The readings explained that many people believe that animations can help learners come to understand complex ideas more easily. Also that some people believe that animations can help people learn because they are especially motivating (Rieber,1991).
The look and appearance of a animation can influence learning - e.g. the colour red attracts the eye, the shape and size of an animation can influence learning also.

However, learning with animations are not all that beneficial according to the second reading. One comment that I found interesting was that there is some evidence to show that animations may produce an illusion of understanding that can actually interfere with successful learning. By this, is that we get distracted by animations which can move us away from learning.
This could link in with learning styles, which means it could depend on the learners' needs. Some people may benefit more from learning with animations, as it keeps them engaged and interested, while maybe others prefer to learn in the more standard way as it is what they know best.
However, there has been evidence that learning with animations can actually increase satisfaction and motivation.

Zu3D - Stop Motion Creator

Today, we attempted to produce a animation of our own using a stop motion creator called 'Zu3D'. The official website defines it as a 'stop-motion animation software has been developed to give children (and adults) of all ages the freedom to create amazing animated films quickly and easily, in school and at home.'
I thoroughly enjoyed using this type of software as it fairly easy to grasp as a beginner. They made the tools and applications of creating an animation a lot more simple than I thought it would be. However, my first animation could be a lot better if I had more time spent using it but I think it is a relatively good start!

References:

• Zu3D - Stop motion animation software (for children) | Animation Software | Stop Frame Software . 2014. Zu3D - Stop motion animation software (for children) | Animation Software | Stop Frame Software . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.zu3d.com/. [Accessed 10 November 2014].

Padlet - Animation for Learning

At the start of today's session, we were asked to answer the following question, 'How do you think animations can be used to aid the learning process?'. We used a website to answer this specific question and it was called 'Padlet'. It was set out like a bit of a pinboard, you could say, which showed everybody's own answers.
My answer to this question was as follows:

'Using animation can be seen as an interesting way to learn new things, as it can keep the learner interested and focused. It also expresses an individual's own creativity and originality, when producing their own animations.'

Flipbook

After making the Thaumascope, we then got assigned to make different toys. For our group, we were asked to make a Flipbook. A flipbook is a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion. Creating this flipbook took a lot of time and effort to make but when we eventually finished, the effect looked really cool and quite fascinating. Here is a video of our work:

Stop-motion animation (2)

For this session, we focused on stop-motion animation again. Our first task was to create a Thaumatrope. The Museum of the History of Science defines a Thaumatrope as a Victorian toy constructed from a simple disk or card featuring a different picture on each side and attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled rapidly the card rotates on its axis and the two images appear to combine, creating an animation. Here are some photographs of the creation of this Thaumatrope:

I found this task quite difficult. At first, I could not get the pictures to match correctly. It took some time for me to think about how the drawings needed to be, to create the animation. Another problem that I encountered was with the hole punches shown in the pictures. It would seem that the hole punches have to be in a certain place for the thaumatrope to work, which I did not realise at the time! This then led me to create the whole thing again, making sure the hole punches were in the correct place. After a lot of time and patience, I eventually managed to get the thaumascope working. The photos below show the difference between two Thaumascope's I made. The one on the left is my final Thaumascope which worked correctly. As you can see the holepunch marks are more equal and central than the one on the right, which is the one that did not go to plan. They are clearly too high leading to the Thaumascope to not work correctly.

Here is a little video of how the Thaumascope worked showing the two images creating an animation.

 

References

Thaumatropes - Museum of the History of Science. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/exhibits/fancy-names-and-fun-toys/thaumatropes/ [Accessed 29 January 2015].

Stop-motion animation

Stop-motion animation is a process of making a physical object appear to move on it's own by using a range of different techniques. It creates an illusion of movement. My chosen stop-motion animation is the famous series of films 'Wallace and Gromit' by Aardman Animations and Dreamwork Animations. The creator of Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park, thought of the idea whilst still a student at the National Film and Television School in the 1980s. For this stop-motion animation, the characters in this series of films are clay models that are 'brought to life'. However, this process of stop-motion animation can take a lot of time to produce, this is because this clay technique of stop-motion animation is so time consuming, typically producing two seconds of film per day's work. Because making these films took a a lot of time, Nick Park created only a few films for Wallace and Gromit, including 30 minute films for television purposes like 'The Wrong Trousers' and 'A Close Shave' which both won Oscars. Nick Park also produced a box office film in 2005 'The Curse of the Were Rabbit' which took 5 years to make. The budget for this film was estimated around $30,000,000 but actually made around $192,610,372 worldwide! Hard work definitely pays off.

It is clear to recognise that there are many advantages and disadvantages of using this 'clay technique' that Aardman Animations have chosen to use for their films. An advantage could be that, by using this type of stop-motion animation, the film most certainly shows that a lot of hard work and time has gone into it. To be able to have the patience and time to make films like this is pretty impressive and it is clear how it achieved an Oscar. However, a clear disadvantage is that it does take a lot of time to produce, meaning that making new films like this could be seen as difficult.

References:

• The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - IMDb. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312004/. [Accessed 29 January 2015].
• BBC Learning English. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/britain/animation.shtml. [Accessed 29 January 2015].
• DreamWorks Animation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/. [Accessed 29 January 2015].
• Aardman. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.aardman.com/. [Accessed 29 January 2015].

Recently Watched Animation

The most recently watched animation for me would be Disney's film 'Frozen', which is one of my favourite animated films. For this film in particular, Disney used 3D Computer Animation which is the process used for producing animated images by using computer graphics. Disney is well known for it's animated films and this film 'Frozen' has been extremely successful and has also achieved a few Oscars. It was released in December 2013 and it has been rumoured that there will be a second one, due to it's popularity. Its estimated budget for the film was $150,000,000 but smashed that with an estimated amount of  $150,000,000 at the box office!
Here is a trailer to give you an idea of what the film is about:



References:

•  Disney's FROZEN | Full UK Trailer | Official Disney HD - YouTube. 2015 [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jw-AeaU5WI. [Accessed 29 January 2015].