Stop motion animation is a technique where students move and photograph objects one frame at time. When the images are played together the objects appear to move. Stop motion has a wide range of applications in the classroom from creative story telling to demonstrating concepts.
Some tips to get you started
Get your group organised
Make sure you have planned a basic storyboard for the movie and made all your sets, props and titles. You don’t need to be an expert to make your first movie. The tutorial below will show you how to use the popular app iMotion.
How to use iMotion
Work as a team
- Each person should have a job or role.
- Groups of 3 often work well.
- You will need a camera person and animator’s to move the props.
- Make sure you change roles through the movie to let each person experience a different job.
- Groups that co-operate and communicate make the best movies.
Practice makes perfect
- Don’t be afraid to make each scene several times.
- Your skills will get better each time.
- You may like to record some notes as you review each scene and incorporate these points into the remake.
- You might like to use different camera angles and close ups for effect.
- Move the props a small amount each time (5 mm – 10 mm).
- Be careful not to bump the iPad or the set when shooting your movie.
- At 7 Frames per second, 3 seconds of movie will require 21 photos.
Stop motion examples
A project about showing respect to elderly drivers on the road. This was a part of a year 7 relationships unit.
A year 4 Science unit on the Life Cycle of a Butterfly.
A project about showing respect in the playground. This was a part of a year 7 relationships unit.
A year 1 project on partitioning numbers using stop motion animation.
A year 2 project using stop motion animation with green screen.
Prep students creating a Stop Motion movie for their animal enclosures as part of a Science unit on Living and Non Living things.