Let's Keep It Going: Stop Motion Animation Club

I want to make a safe environment for you student to share their awesome stop motion creations and to receive continuing support in their journey of improving and refining their animation skills. This class will meet once a week and each student will be allowed to share (depending on time) at least one video and receive positive feedback on their videos. This class will be guided by the group's needs and the questions that they put forth so that they get out of the class exactly what they came for. Each student will be expected to have some kind of experience making stop motion animation. No skill level will be required but I do hope that each student is already familiar with the basics of how to use their animation software (I recommend Stop Motion Studio Pro).  

The class material each week will be learner directed; meaning, we will never have the same class twice since no two student's needs are the same. After student-made videos are shared, students can ask specific questions on topics they are working on. Based off of those questions, I will give short on-the-fly tutorials that will answer the questions proposed by the students. 

At the end of each class, I will spend a few minutes explaining the week's challenge that will invite your student to work on a stop motion clip that they will try something that they may never have done before like "make your character flip something into the air and catch it", or, "Can you make your camera totally steady?". It is my hope that, with each week that your student attends, their talents in stop motion animation will grow and grow and so will their confidence and quality of material they make. 

The only consistently required material will be a device with a stop motion animation software of your choice. I personally recommend using the App Stop Motion Studio Pro ($4.99 USD) on a smart device like a phone or tablet. Other materials needed will be something to prop up your device/camera and something your student can animate with, such as posable characters, paper cutouts, a favorite toy or clay. Each week, your student may see other materials being used by other animators or myself that they may find helpful.