Animation is a series of still images that when played back in sequential order creates the illusion of movement. Animation is becoming more and more prevalent across disciplines as a way for students to examine methods and processes that extend beyond text. Most everyone is familiar with animation films of some kind such as Wallace and Gromit, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or The Nightmare Before Christmas. Of course these animation films are artistic endeavors created with the intention of entertaining millions of people, but animation can be created with the intent to inform and educate as well as engage.
In this pedagogical animation workshop, participants will learn how to create a frame by frame animation using iStopMotion in addition to basic 2D and 3D keyframe animations using computer software. The goal of the workshop is for participants to come out with an awareness of how animation can be applied to course curriculum by drafting a mini assignment using animation to explain complex content and/or processes. Faculty in all disciplines are encouraged to attend this workshop.
Some feedback from faculty who have incorporated animation in their courses:
“I chose animation because my Cytogenetics class studies very visual phenomena like chromosome movements. I decided that students should do animation projects because I wanted them to clearly represent these visual phenomena and give me a clear indication that they understood the phenomena. It’s hard to do this in writing, but can be done very effectively through animation”.
-Associate Professor of Biology, Le Paliulis
“My class “Making Something from Nothing” emphasized appropriation and the re-framing of existing images and materials to create something “new”. The course embraced an idea of the contemporary artist in a “post-production” age, no longer buying into the notion of pure originality and genius, but re-mixing, re-combining, and re-cycling all the various ideas, objects, etc. that are already in circulation to come up with new variations. So that’s why I wanted to use stop-motion with found objects. I wanted them to be able to see beyond the obvious possibility of the “thing” to what the thing could become, with imagination and motion and context… I like how the technique was basically unfamiliar to everyone, so everyone had to approach it in his / her own way, and it was necessary to use trial and error…Unfamiliarity encourages experimentation”.
-Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, Anna Kell
This workshop will be taught by Digital Pedagogy & Scholarship Specialist for Video, Brianna Healey Derr and Video Production Specialist, Daniel Nienhuis. Guest speakers will include Associate Professor of Biology, Le Paliulis, Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, Anna Kell, and Professor and Assistant Director of Digital Pedagogy & Scholarship, Emily Sherwood.
To register for the Animation Summer Workshop, please fill out this Google form. As with all summer faculty workshops, stipends will be provided for faculty. For more information on our summer faculty workshop series, click here.
Additional Teaching Resources include: