Making+movies+with+Stopmotion+Animator

Making movies with Stopmotion Animator
March 15, 2010 [|Stopmotion Animator] is a freeware download that allows users of PC computers to use a webcam to easily and quickly create stop-motion movies. The software is set up to “grab” frames off the webcam, then gather them together into a single .AVI video file. Stopmotion Animator allows you to tweak some settings as well. For example, you can set the number of frames you want shot with each mouse click (a single frame per shot will make the video more fluid in motion but will take a lot longer to make, so I suggest that the setting be placed at three to five frames per shot). Once a video or a scene is shot, Stopmotion Animator creates the video file, which can either be viewed as a silent movie or used in most video-editing programs for creating titles, adding narration and music, and more. Stopmotion Animator is ideal for making claymation movies, too. And unlike other animation software, which can often run anywhere between $50 and $100, this one is completely free. A drawback is that it is only for PC computers. ====**Where to find it**==== You can download Stopmotion Animator at []. The site also has very useful tutorials and hints for making movies on any software platform. The site includes an [|online drawing pad] where students can sketch out characters if they are considering a claymation project, and a lot of different hints about making a quality movie. There is also a stop-motion newsletter that you can sign up for to get regular updates about stop-motion movie creation.

How might it be used in the classroom?
Stop-motion movie making is an incredibly engaging idea that has students doing hands-on creative work, although from the teaching perspective, the planning (storyboarding, script writing, character development, etc.) is where much of the learning will take place. While making stop-motion movies requires great patience and is best done as a collaborative project with two to three students (I have found that four members in a movie group is one too many), the end result is almost always interesting. Students love the idea of creating a Wallace and Gromit-style video that they can then share with others, either on DVD or on the Internet. [|Stopmotion Animator]