The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

Part One: Getting Started; Introduction; Why Use Animation in the Classroom?; Sketching a History of Animation; Animation Toys and Warm Up Exercises; Create a Flip Book; Make a Thaumatrope; Make a Phenakistoscope; Making a Zoetrope; Breathe Life into Teddy; Twist 'em, Bend 'em; Drawing Simple Transformations; Expressive Lines; Creating Expressions; Character Sheet; Character Sheet 2; Blowing up a Balloon; Getting the Basics of Movement; Part Two: Animation Literacy; The Importance of Cineliteracy; Showing Animation in the Classroom; Language of the Moving Image; The Grammar of Film Language; Freeze Frame; Studying a Title Sequence; Title Sequence 2; Title Sequence Storyboard; Sound and Image; Who Makes Animations?; Exploring Genre; Genre Translation; Genre and Character Design; Character Design Sheet; The Theme of Friendship in The Iron Giant; Music and Imagery in Peter and the Wolf; Understanding Leitmotiv in Peter and the Wolf; Compose a 15 second Leitmotiv; Story Writing; Storytelling with a Video Camera; Script Writing; Character Types; Analysing Story Structure; Cineliteracy: Focus of Learning KS3-4; Storyboarding; Basic Storyboard Language and Symbols; Storyboard Template; Storyboard Sequencing; Sample Character Design Sheets and Storyboard; Animated Haiku; Animal Haiku; Part Three: Animation Styles; Pixilation; Animated Dances; Animation in the Landscape; Talking Objects; Plasticine Model Animation; Metamorphosis; Cut Out Animation; Shadow Puppetry; Drawn Animation; Drawing Template 4:3 Ratio; Drawing Template 16:9 Ratio; Key Frames and Inbetweens; Lip Sync Activity Sheet; Lip Sync Reference Guide; Digitally Drawn Animation; Machinima; Moviestorm; Crazy Talk; How to make an iPod Scrub; Part Four: Schemes of Work; Crazy Talk; How to make an iPod Scrub; Scheme of Work 1: Tell Me a Story; Scheme of Work 2: TV Adverts; Scheme of Work 3: Music Videos; Scheme of Work 4: Being Antisocial; Part Five: Resources; Animation Equipment; Setting Up an Animation Rostrum;

Martin Sercombe is founding director of Media Projects East in the UK. Martin has made a wide range of documentaries, artist's films and animations. Britta Pollmuller is Director of Media Projects East and Lecturer in Games Art and Design at Norwich University College of the Arts, UK.

'The Teachers' Animation Toolkit is an imaginative and invaluable resource, rich with exercises and information. It shows that animation can be a vital component in any child's education, enhancing skills and knowledge in all subject areas, while remaining creative and fun. From Disney to Desktop, it enables children to embrace a still undervalued form, so they might become the film-makers and animators of the future...' Paul Wells, Director of the Animation Academy, Loughborough University, UK