STEAM Fair 2020 Activity
Thanks to Maryland Hall
Stop Motion Animation is a film making technique that makes inanimate objects appear to move on their own like Gumby or Wallace and Gromit. You can use a variety of materials to create stop motion animation: clay, legos, your own body, paper…the possibilities are endless. In this activity, we use paper.
What you need:
- phone or tablet with a camera
- Stop Motion Studio App
- Paper
- Scissors
- Glue
Video:
How to do stop motion animation
- Prepare your characters and story
Create your story characters using cut paper. Cut out all of the shapes you want to use in your story.
- Glue shapes that won’t be moving
Glue down all the shapes that will not be moving throughout your film. For example, whites of the eyes, nose, hair. Anything that will move should not be glued down.
- Position your camera, take first picture
Find a spot to hold your camera steady. Take your first picture.
- Slightly move some shapes
Move some parts of your image ever so slightly.
- Take picture
Take another picture.
- Move, picture and repeat
Repeat this process until your story is complete.
- Get Stop Motion Studio app
Download the free Stop Motion Studio app.
- Upload your images to make a film
Open the app to add your images and create your film.
How does it work?
Stop motion animation works by photographing still objects in a sequence of photos that include slight movements in between photos.
What next?
Try another material in your next film! For this film, we used paper and scissors. Next time, use your body, build legos, integrate stuffed animals, or whatever fun object you can think of.
