The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

Materials:
Plasticine, newspaper, 3D animation rostrums and lights
3.2 PLASTICINE MODEL ANIMATION

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Animation Styles
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Resources:
Video: Black Shuck
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
Little Red Riding Hood
Screen Play directed by Barry Purves: 
http://www.barrypurves.com/Films/Screenplay/index.html
Chicken Run directed by Nick Park and Peter Lord Trailer: 
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3014083/chicken_run_trailer/
Creature Comforts, directed by Nick Park on 
http://www.atomfi lms.com/fi lm/creature_comforts.jsp
Frogland directed by Wladislaw Starewicz 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPmLi3zYaE8
Article about the work of Nick Park: 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2313157.stm
Animate Clay website about 3D stop motion: 
http://www.animateclay.com/
Aardman Animation’s website is a good place to start: 
http://www.aardman.com
Model making

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The Teachers’ Animation Toolkit
WORKSHEET: TWO CHARACTERS
Teachers’ note:
Working in teams of two, ask each student to devise a plasticine 
character. It can be human, animal or alien! Ask each pair of 
students to devise a one-shot interaction between the two 
characters. It might be a dance, a greeting, a stroll in the park, a 
swim in the sea. Invite them to animate this. Five seconds should be 
plenty. Review, discuss and reshoot if necessary.
Extension work:
Use these two characters as the basis for a short story. Ask each 
team to draw up a six-shot storyboard, then shoot the animation. 
The story is likely to require at least one set, which can be prepared 
using a sheet of sugar paper and pastels, or any other available art 
materials.
Hints and tips:
Encourage pupils to test the stability of their models as they 
make them, by standing them upright. Beginners often make their 
characters top heavy, so they collapse easily. This can be frustrating 
when they come to animate them. Big feet, stocky legs and smaller 
heads are the order of the day. If pupils are creating animals or 
imaginary creatures, encourage them to give them expressive 
features, limbs, tentacles etc. These can all be used to give the 
character life and expression 
as they are articulated in 
different ways.