Digital Citizen Badge – Stop Motion night at Saxon Scout Group

On the 14th November, Saxon Scout Group had chosen to start working towards achieving their Digital Citizen Badge.

As part of this one of the options is to learn about and make a short stop motion film.
Fortunately, with the advancement in technology over the last few decades making a stop motion film is a lot easier than it used to be and a lot less time consuming to produce the final result.

Pre-digital cameras, iPhones, Android and the vast range of apps, stop motion was a slow process which you did not know what results you would get until you had develop the photos.

The process of taking one frame at a time has not changed however you now get to see the results instantly and are therefore about to either retake the shot or make the required corrective action at the time of the creative process.

For more detailed films the old process can still be used, however using a digital camera and a editing software like Photoshop, which can be used alone to produce a stop motion film with a lot of practice and knowhow of the software.

So, armed with a hand full of devises loaded with a stop motion app and a mix of different coloured playdough the Cubs and Scout were, in the little time they had, able to make a short film.

Prior to letting the Cubs and Scouts lose they were show a stop motion film that had been put together by Gerald Law so they could see what could be achieved when you have enough time, patience and an idea of what you want your finished film to look like. Having a story board before you start helps to know understand the shots need to be taken and keeps you going in the right direction.

The Cubs and Scout split into smaller groups where they discussed the story/action they wanted to film and modelled the playdough for each shot. Once thy had taken the shots using the app, they were able to check the result, remove any shots that were not required and set the fps (Frames Per Second) rate for the whole film. As the app is limits the fps to the whole film this meant to have a change of pace the directors had to consider each change to a shot.

In order to have a fast movement the difference between each shot would be greater, however should they wat a slower action they made smaller movements between each shot.

Both these techniques can be used within the same set of shots if they needed to show that one action was moving fasted than another. For example, someone walking along the street while a car is driving past them.

If you have ever fancied giving stop motion a go, what’s stopping you?

Grab your smart phone or table, download one of the many free apps, put a story board together and get creating.

Stuart Else