Claymation- A Must Watch!

The Real Race! Video

Gumball Gumby

My Favorite Scene Ever(Wallace and Gromit)

Summary

Yes, I admit that this was a hard blog to create and model in just 6 weeks. All the hard work to create 6 posts. I went in to a lot of trouble to make this and my notebook and speech, so I hope most of you appreciate it. But based on this, I can imagine just how long it took to create Kids Talk Books.
There was a lot of research involved in making this blog. So much it's like: Go to one site, memorize content. Go to next site, memorize content. Thank you to all the people who showed me how to scan a site thoroughly and what sites to choose.
There was also a lot of writing. From posts to the introduction on my PQ folder, there was more writing than research. Thank you to the people who showed me how to write a summary, like this, and a bibliography shortcut. Thank you to the people who came into the classroom and gave important pieces of information. Thank you to you all. I could not have done this without you.

Bibliography

Elmer, Erica. "Clay Animation." Fun for Kidz May/June 2007: 36-39.

"History of Claymation." Claymation. 31 January 2009. [http://www.rijasy0.tripod.com/id1.html]

"Pokey, Gumby's Best Pal." 13 February 2009.

[http://www.gumbyworld.com/memorylane/histpok1.htm#met]

"History of Claymation?." Claymation at PWC.  5 March 2009. [http://www.pwc.k12.nf.ca/projects/claymation/historyofclaymation.html]

Burton, Mark. Baker, Bob. Box, Steve. Park, Nick. Wallace and Gromit The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.  New York: Penguin Group, 2005.

Questions and Answers

This is an interview with Tyler Higgins, teacher at Children's Technology workshop.

Q. When did you start teaching claymation?

A. I started teaching 4 years ago for the Children's Technology Workshop specifically at iCamp and in after school classes all over Marin and the bay area.

Q. At the time, how popular was the class?

A. Animation is one of our most popular classes, but that was not the way it was four years ago. Claymation seems to be gaining popularity over the past year, specifically in Mill Valley, San Anselmo, and Novato.

Q. Is the 11-step process shown on my blog the most commonly used?

A. Yes, the eleven steps you have outlined in your blog are commonly used at the beginner and intermediate levels of claymation.

Q. How long does it take to make the average short film, like at class?

A. Claymation, when created in a CTWorkshop program, usually takes place during eight one hour classes. However, the Wallace and Gromit movie, "Curse of the Were-Rabbit", took five years to create with over 500,000 frames, and a staff of 50 people working on it! When I teach claymation at iCamp, it can take 20-40 hours to make a movie with over 1,000 frames.

Q. Now, what is your most popular class?

A. I would have to say animation and Video Game Creation are our most popular classes currently.

Q. Look at the Questions About Claymation post. Do you have answers to any of them?

A. There can be a twelfth step, called chroma key. It's when you use a computerized image for the background. It's commonly known as the "green screen" effect, and is something we offer only at iCamp, as it requires a very balanced light source, and a slightly more complicated technical side.

Q. Who signs up more, boys or girls?

A. I have more boys sign up than girls. But, in the last year, we've seen the number of girls triple in each animation class and in our camps.

Q. How old is the average moviemaker?

A. Average age would be around nine and a half to ten years old.

Q. Since you said there was a twelfth step, where will it go(between which two steps)?

A. The twelfth step would be to use the chroma key function to bring in a computerized image of  your backdrop. It would come after the step where you get the live camera, and prior to the first picture taken.

Q. In what county is claymation most popular?

A. Marin county, specifically Mill Valley would have the most popular animation class.

Q. What grade likes claymation the best?

A. All elementary school grades enjoy animation, but most specifically would be 3rd-5th.

How to Make a Claymation Movie

Notes: You cannot do this unless you have a quickcam, PC with USB ports, windows movie maker, stop motion pro v5.0, and some empty space. This is all my own words. Tyler Higgins taught this to me in an animation class.

1. Open Stop Motion Pro v5.o and plug the quickcam in. Once you have added a title and other movie settings, continue.

2. Click live.

3. Pose your clay figures, backdrops, and props according to how you like.

4. Click the button that looks like a camera.

5. Move the figures and props just slightly.

6. Go back to step 4 until your movie is finished.

7. Click File and then Make Movie.

8.Open Windows Movie Maker and find the file that you saved your movie in.

9. Select your movie and drag it onto the film strip. Sometimes it will be divided into scenes, depending on the length of the film.

10. Add titles, credits(you can change the type of titles/credits and/or the color of the background or text), transitions, and soundtrack.

11. Get a projector and projecting screen, kick back, make some popcorn, and enjoy your cinema movie!

Questions about Claymation

This is all my own words.

• Who invented claymation?
• Who turned the idea down?
• Did Gumby and Pokey bring it back?
• What percentage of the people have seen more than one Gumby and Pokey episode?
• How many studios are there?
• Out of 100 claymation movies, how many fail?
• Out of 100 people, how many prefer claymation to regular, filmed movies?
• Is there an unknown, twelfth step in making claymation movies?
• How are plasticine and claymation alike and different?
• Which is harder, plasticine or claymation?
• Who decided that it was better to make characters out of clay rather than plasticine?
• How long is the average claymation movie?
• On average, which is longer, claymation or plasticine movies?
• Is plasticine still a used technique?
• What is the ratio of claymation to plasticine movies today?

History of Claymation

These are my own words and the sources of this information are: http://rijasy0.tripod.com/id1.html, http://www.gumbyworld.com/memorylane/histpok.htm   and: http://www.pwc.k12.nf.ca/projects/claymation/historyofclaymation.html

Most people can remember the first claymation film they saw. However, most living people hadn't even been alive when claymation was invented, let alone remember the first claymation film.

Claymation dates back to 1897, when the messy art of plasticine was invented. It might not have been practical, but it was claymation. Claymation was unpopular for its first 50 years. Things got easier when Art Clokey started producing ads with characters made out of clay. Later in his life, he invented the famous Gumby and Pokey television show. They met in the third episode when, at a train station, Pokey's hoof got caught in the switch mechanism. Gumby pulled the handle and Pokey was free just as the train was about to go through.

In 1989, Nick Park invented Wallace and Gromit. These are the most modern examples of claymation and what most children have in the claymation movie bin. My favorite scene is in the short film The Wrong Trousers, it is the train scene.

In the 1980s the Pygos group created Pingu, the friendly penguin. Pingu is a show for toddlers with short claymation films, each having an educational moral. Pingu meets friends and plays with them to give preschoolers an idea of how to react in every situation they show. Credit to the Pygos group for inventing the language, "penguin".

Claymation falls into the category of stop-motion animation. This requires a slight difference in each frame, and it combines to make smooth movements and actions. If you have the right PC hardware, then you can make your own claymation film.