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Claymation: Creating a Public Service Announcement

Author: Lisa Kimberly Glickman
School: Queen of Angels Academy
Subject: Visual Arts
Level: Secondary, cycle 2, year 2

learn_film

View student work

DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE OF THE LEARNING SITUATION

The students will look at the purpose of a public service announcement and then create their own stop motion animation (claymation) PSA.

LINKS TO THE CURRICULUM

Broad Areas of Learning : Health and Well-Being

Educational Aim :
To ensure that students develop a sense of responsibility for adopting good habits with respect to health, safety and sexuality

Focuses of Development :
Knowledge of the impact of his/her choices on health and well-being:

knowledge of the basic principles of health and hygiene
awareness of the influence of behaviour and attitudes on psychological well-being

Active lifestyle and safe behaviour: adoption of safe behaviour in all circumstances
Awareness of the consequences of collective choices on individual well-being

making connections between the lifestyle of a population and its health and well-being
concern for collective well-being

Cross Curricular competency (ies): Cooperates with others

Contributes to team efforts Interacts, showing an open mind
Participates actively in classroom activities
Uses differences constructively to attain a common objective
Plans and carries out work with others
Carries out his/her task according to the rules agreed on by the team

Subject Specific Competency (ies) : Creates Media Images

Key Features :
Uses ideas to create a media production
Uses transforming gestures and elements of media language according to the target audience
Organizes his/her media production
Shares his/her experience of media creation

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Planning

In addition to plasticine, wire for armatures and tools for sculpting the plasticine, you will need:

camera(s) with a tripod
time on computers with software for creating movies (iMovie on the Mac and MovieMaker on the PC are possibilities)
microphone for recording sound

Inspiration

Introduce the students to public service announcements via a powerpoint presentation with links to PSAs (professional and student-produced).
Discuss the purpose, codes and conventions of a public service announcement.

Powerpoint: Public Service Announcements

Development of the complex task according to the three stages of the learning process

In groups of 3 the students will create a short animated (stop-animation) film with a message on a topic they care about (a Public Service Announcement!). They will work on the storyboard as a team and submit it before being given clay to work with.

Steps of the production:

1) Storyboard and script:

“A storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement”
Storyboard Template (available for download in Word)

2) Character and set design:

For this step, the students will split the group up. Two of will work on characters and the other two will work on the set. You will have to sketch out ideas before constructing the final product. Each person must make at least one clay character.
***Characters do not have to be humans. They can be animals, aliens, etc. The set should match the characters (i.e.: If they are fish, perhaps the story is set in a fish bowl…) ***

3) Production

At this stage, the team will be “filming” the animation. Using digital cameras and tripods, students will take pictures of the characters moving in the set. Some students will be in charge of moving the characters and others of taking pictures.

4) Editing

In the computer lab, the students will upload the images using animation editing software. Then they will be able to add sound, text or extra imagery.

Distancing

Screening
This is an opportunity to share the hard work with classmates.

Reflecting on the experience:

After all that work, the students will take time to think and write about their experience.

Questions:

Did you enjoy teamwork?
What problems did you encounter and how did you solve them?
What was the most enjoyable part of the project?

Resources

Powerpoint: Public Service Announcements (available for download)
Powerpoint: Introduce Claymation
Storyboard Template (available for download in Word)
Claymation Checklist
Handout for students explaining the steps of the complex task