Tips and Strategies: Some strategies to teach students when using a stop motion app that will help them to create better work includes using a tripod to hold your capture device (i.e. phone or camera) in order to keep the frame consistent throughout the capturing the process.
One way to add depth to stop motion animation is to include soundeffects, a voiceover, and/or strategically chosen music to help cue in viewers. Another way to do this is to include a set or background to compliment the main subject.
Another tip is to story board the entire piece before the capturing process to ensure students will include all desire components in their story. A story board will help students stay organized and reach their goals. When capturing and going between the various frames of the storyboard, advise students to capture small movements to add fluidity to the piece.
Age Level Adaptations: Anyone can create stop motion animation! To make the project more accessible to younger students, the teacher can provide pre-made characters and sets. Teachers can also aid in the capture process by clicking while the student moves the object and directs the creative vision.
To extend the project for older students, encourage them to create their own objects such as puppets or 3D-Models to be the main subjects of their piece. Teachers can also require older students to use voiceovers, multiple scenes, sets, and overall more elements.
Project Ideas: One project idea includes providing elementary school students with toy vehicles and having them drive the vehicle around the screen. An adult helps them capture the pictures for the animation while students direct the creative visions.
Another stop motion project appropriate for elementary school students is a lego world stop motion. Students create the set and characters from lego so there is a bit of a creative constraint but also freedom from having to know how to build objects for their animation.
Professional Artists:
Artwork Examples: Link to google drive video attached below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VhYhn_LzGKYpmMFvfGlWMjgSqhNQAlpz/view?usp=sharing