This is our film’s first addition.

This is our video animation.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

At first we decided what the film would be about. We liked the problem – the idea about the Ant who went in the forest and got stuck in a plastic bottle ( earlier we talked about the dangers we created for small creatures by throwing empty plastic bottles in the nature). Then we learnt about nature, especially about ants, what they look like, what they eat, how small they are, how big their families are, what they do for a living. We found an ants nest near our kindergaten. The children were looking through magnifying glasses and saw a small ant 8 times closer. It was very interesting. In the third stage children made the bodies of ants and then they made the ants nest. They were working together like ants -  each child took one small piece of branch and put it on special surface.

We have taken many photos but first, we have decorticated our history and thinked about WHEN it’s important to show the characters in close-up. We have found it was important to show the EMOTIONS of the bird and the girl and also to show the THREAD…
We have played with the “zoom” and seen the differences on the display screen.
We have chosen to MIX fixed images and animations to draw the attention on emotions and on our WAY TO STOP THE BULLDOZER.
At the first time, we wanted to DESTROY the bull, but Annette DO NOT WANT TO SHOW VIOLENCE, so we had to find another solution!!!!
For animations, we have moved very slowly the characters by our own, but it was hard: for example, the little girl’s legs began to be crushed:((
On the video, you can see how we have made a little part of our film: 1 photo = 1 step (it’s funny!). Annette has made the final film but we have chosen the order of the photos with paper printings and searched sounds and music on Internet.
We are very proud that you like our work. Thanks for your comments.

This eco animation video -part of our e-twinning project : IT’S UP 2U - of our school, Kindergarten of Kaparelli, is on-line! Children and teachers are real glad and enthusiastic about what they managed to create.. Here are the steps we followed:
We discussed about animation, we saw films, also the one on our Blog, and when kids really likes something, the next step is: “Can we try it please?.” and Yes.. we could try it of course:-)
• First we had to decide on the main idea we had to work on.. many eco-issues exist:-( so kids had enough suggestions, and what we chose was the climate changes..
• The StoryBoard : it was made gradually .. first the idea and the place.. then the main character.. the kids later and their the ‘solution’.. and afterwards while we worked on, the idea about CO2 came up and we added it just before starting the shooting.

Made this storyboard for pupils and myself because it is important for all to have a clear view on what we are going to do.. it helped us at each part of the 6th we made.. First I arranged the time on each part : how many seconds will be, arranging so how many frames/shots we will need.. 1” video animation =25 frames/shots..
• All the children made figures of plasticine for our animation and then we had to choose some of them for our work. Almost all the old pupils worked taking photos and counting them while I moved the characters slowly bit after bit..
• Pupils surprised when I had to cut the penguin for the 4th part and then I promised them to re-fix!
• Problem we faced at the 6th part.. how to make the penguin jumping up and down.. many ideas ..but no luck on action ..:-( eventually we made it using a blue thin stick! Which you may see it in our video.. sorry, next time we will try it better

• Other little troubles : to take off the flash at the beginning of the shots, few kids had a difficulty to keep stable their hand.. those kids took less photos.. it would be helpful if we had 2 batteries for our camera instead of one, but no!.. we have to behave ecological not only to say so:-) … we needed a ‘new penguin’ for the last parts, (his ‘hands’ was almost destroyed from the swimming:-) but we didn’t thought about it before.. you think it for your animations

Time for each part was more or less what I had pre-arrange.. only at the 5th part we went out of the arranged time.. but it was acceptable …the total time was planned to be 30’’ but actually we went to 39’’.. So long was exactly and the selected music for this video..
enjoy the animation and let us know what do you think? or what could we have done different?
warm greetings all
akp