24 Hour Stop Motion Student Film!

I love it when students have the guts to go for something on their own. When a student doesn't wait for a class to catch up, or to be given official "permission" to make something... he or she just goes for it. That act of "going for it" is always inspirational.

Recently in the Animation Program at Sheridan, the students initiated a "24 Hour Film Challenge". It wasn't for marks. It wasn't for credit. It was because they love animation, and want to become better at it. Those that accepted the challenge locked themselves in a room for 24 hours, and animated. Most did drawn animation. Above is a stop motion effort.

This was created by 3rd year animation student Jen Bamford, who seems to have been officially bit by the stop motion bug. The animation isn't perfectly smooth, and of course the trial version software has a watermark on it (student budgets). But you see through those things immediately. The film has a character in a great situation, one we can all relate to. And the creative use of materials (wire, tinfoil, papertowel), with simple but effective lighting, is great to see. So often students get tied to the idea that a puppet MUST look a certain way (ala Coraline, or NBC), when in reality a puppet can be anything. And an animated world can be anything (in this case, paper towel!)

This student's animation will get smoother. Her overall tech will only improve. But what is already there in this animation is a sense of story and development between characters, and a sense of tone and atmosphere that's instinctively very solid.

AND- it was done in 24 hours.

I think this idea of making an animated film under this time constraint is a fantastic learning experience. The final product won't be polished, but that can actually mean there's a manic, primal energy to the piece. It's so easy to take that energy and life and see it stamped out through the careful work of refining an animated concept. It's encouraging to see something raw, and lovely.

As a teacher part of your job is to (hopefully) inspired students. It's a great payback when on their own, students return the favour to their teacher.