Monday, 13. July 2009
Workshop I
My new DV camcorder is broken. The Panasonic NV-GS90EG-S doesn’t play the tapes anymore though it still works with iStopMotion. I used it last week for my animation workshops with the kids and the course was a really good experience. The camera worked well and the kids could simply use it, but I’m going to send it back to Panasonic and I’m excited how long it’ll take until I’ll get it back.
It’s annoying because we recorded the sounds on tape and I can’t get them on my computer now because the mechanism suddenly doesn’t seem to work any longer. One of the boys brought some African instruments which worked fantastically for fooley effects. The rest does iMovie and its sound libraries. This really is a simple set-up but it works great with the kids because they could focus on their clips.
I’ve got an old but pimped iBook G4 (late 2004). It now has a 160GB hard drive and 1,25GB RAM which is enough to run the Leopard system propperly. – And to have fun while editing movie clips. Here’s the first clip made by the kids with the wooden puppet I made earlier:
The kids had a natural feeling for timing. They realized very quickly which clip may work and why. And they also realized what they could do with the puppet. It was great fun to watch them discovering puppet and software and clay the first day. We can learn so much from them...
Comments
Shelley Noble wrote on Tuesday, 14. July 2009 at 17:56:
Fab. I'm so happy you are teaching children what you've learned!
Jessica wrote on Wednesday, 15. July 2009 at 13:29:
Simon, you're right: the younger (about the age of nine) just moved the things around but there was one girl (11) who directed them very strictly. It was just lovely to see. The older kids in the afternoon (12 to 14) sometimes got the timing wrong while shoting but saw it clearly afterwards. And they tried to get it realistic... somtimes.. ;)
Shel, I'm pretty sure you know how great it is to spend your own experiences...
Simon wrote on Sunday, 19. July 2009 at 10:55:
One more thing Jess - would you take some time to explain your choice of camcorder? That would be useful for people like me who don't know where to start!
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Simon wrote on Tuesday, 14. July 2009 at 15:56:
Hey - congratulations on your workshop Jess! But sorry about your crappy DV camera :-( Technology sucks, doesn't it?
How old were your students? I found that kids up to a certain age (maybe 8 years old) haven't got so much sense of timing, pace etc. They move things around very carelessly - they want things to move NOW! It's just fun for them to watch something move on its own. But after about 10 years old this gets better (ie more realistic).
But it is really interesting to see how they learn - and how FAST they learn!