Animation (Two-Dimensional Animation)

RATIONALE:
- Introducing the history of animation (focusing on Disney) will hopefully help the students gain a better appreciation and understanding of the art.
- By helping students to plan out what they will be doing and providing constructive criticism after the small flipbooks are done we are helping the students to create a better product, and therefore helping them to be more successful.
- In doing this project it is hoped that students gain a much bigger appreciation for the amount of time and work that is put into an animated feature.
- (This project will lead into a lesson on stop-motion animation and, time/equipment permitting, computer animation)

GLO’s:
- Effective & Ethical User of Technology
- Self-Directed Learner
- Quality Producer

HCPS STANDARD(S):
Standard 1: Visual Arts: Understand and apply art materials, techniques, and processes in the creation of works of art and understand how the visual arts communicate a variety of ideas, feelings, and experiences.
• How the Arts are Organized: Benchmark FA.9-12.1.1: Create original works of art using a variety of visual arts materials, techniques, and processes.
• How the Arts Shape & Reflect Culture: Benchmark FA.9-12.1.6: Evaluate the function of art in cultures, careers, and historical periods.

MATERIALS/RESOURCES:
TEACHER: DVD Animated Movie (2-D Preferred - Beauty & The Beast), Handouts, Rubric, Blank CDs (1 for each student-optional), Book Resources- Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair & The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, TV & DVD Player or Computer and Projector, & Display Medium such as a chalkboard/dry erase board. Computer, (Scanner or Digital Camera or Webcam) & MonkeyJam Software.

STUDENTS: Handouts, Pen/Pencil, Small Flipbook 2"x3", Large Flipbook 5.5"x8", & Colored Pencils, Markers or Crayons. (flipbooks may be created out of index cards or regular 8.5"x11" paper - thicker paper flips easier)

CONCEPTS:
I. The History of Animation (Disney)
II. Animation Vocabulary & The Principles of Animation
III. The Animation Process (How is it made?)
IV. Story & Storyboard (The first steps)
V. Practice Flipbook (Focus on Squash & Stretch)
VI. Final Animation

PROCEDURES:
Active Instructional Strategies Used: Guided/Independent Practice, Project-Based Learning.

Structure:
Anticipatory Set (Beginning: 10-15 Minutes)
1. History of animation reading handout and answer sheet.
2. Class discussion - Why do we create animation? (Entertainment, art, social commentary...)

Learning Activities (Middle)
1. What's ahead...Brief overview of the project(s) ahead.
2. Handout and/or notes. Animation Vocabulary & Prinicples.
Persistence of Vision
12 Principles of Animation
Frame
FPS
Cel
15-24-30
3. The Bouncing Ball Basics of Animation - Example of animation according to a simple bouncing ball.
4. Bouncing Ball Flipbook Assignment (on the 2"x3" paper)
5. Final Animation (on the 5.5"x8" paper)
Criteria - Use of the Principles of Animation, Following of the GLO's, Completion of the Flipbook, Faithfulness to the Flipbook (if the student does not want to do a bouncing ball, they need to do a flipbook first), Overall Rhythm.
6. The next few steps may be done by the teacher or by the students, as you see fit and may be done in a variety of ways. First, you should digitize the final animations. This can be done with a scanner, digital camera, or a web cam setup. These steps are optional. You can still appreciate the work done by flipping through them as you would a flip book.
7. The program MonkeyJam is fairly simple to use free animation software. Import all of the images from one student in the order that they were created and export a video file. Feel free to play with some of the settings in MonkeyJam.
8. Copy the exported video files to DVD to play or you could play them from a computer and project them for the class to watch.

Closure (End)
1. Viewing of the classes animations on dvd.
2. Peer evaluations.
3. Class Discussion on Successes and Room for Improvement. (5-10 Minutes)
4. Hand out a copy of the students animations on a dvd (1 per, if funds allow, sometimes I simply put a sign up sheet out and let students tell me if they want one)
5. Lead into stop-motion animation if possible.

Modifications for diverse learners: Varied lengths of time to complete the project may be given for different students. A student may take as little or as much time as they need, and may come in during recesses or before/after school.
Extension activities: Ask students that finish early to consider doing another flipbook for another animation or to continue and make their first animation longer than just one second.

ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION:
Formative assessment strategy: Observation of students as they do their work will be the secondary form of assessment during the lesson. A short quiz on the history and vocabulary of animation will be administered. Their flipbooks will be checked to make sure they understand the principles of animation. Assessment of the final animation will be done after they are finished by students and the teacher.