I used the Stop Motion Studio to create the video, because it was an easy to use, intuitive program. I then used Camtasia 9 to add in the soundtrack, as I wasn’t entirely sure how to do that in SMS, and I’m familiar with Camtasia’s capabilities. I also added the concluding credits card, created in Photoshop, in Camtasia. This combination seemed ideal. I did have to go back to SMS several times to lengthen my video, but the copy/paste functions were easy to locate and greatly simplified the exercise. Camtasia 9 enables you to save your video directly to YouTube, which I found a great timesaver. All I had to do was log into my YouTube channel through Camtasia.
My method for the stop motion was to use sheets of adhesive magnetic material. I printed the children and lion and speech balloons on cardstock and backed them with the adhesive. I fastened squares of the magnetic material to the back of the printouts of the background images, I then used a small whiteboard to serve as a backdrop. I did have to resort to tape for the large speech bubble, as the magnets were not strong enough to stick through two layers of cardstock. I recommend this method, as you can leave everything positioned as you swap out the images and move them incrementally. I steadied the camera with a Joby tripod, and snapped the frames with a CamKix Bluetooth remote shutter.
Animation can be a great learning tool. I have watched many animated videos on YouTube on a wide variety of educational subjects, and have been surprised and pleased to learn that multiple channels exist. Topics ranging from pronunciation of Latin to causes of the Cold War to unusual planets to quirky international borders are available and have multiple views. Clearly audiences are captivated by animation. This enjoyment of the form means the designer may have the luxury of a few seconds more in which to engage the audience and teach them something. Animation lends itself to targeted chunks of information that leaves the students wanting more.
For the instructional designer, animation presents an opportunity not only to engage students, but also to indulge in the creative process. Of the two types of animation we used in this class, the animated video using Vyond (in my case) was more instantly gratifying. I was not as happy with my results in stop motion, because of the need to snap multiple photos of the images. The animated video still took time, but produced more polished results. The stop motion video was fun, though, and I enjoyed finding the images to use with it. Previously my only experience with stop motion was a movie I filmed in high school with a movie camera, about 5 seconds long, about hair rollers falling into the sink and being rescued by a Kleenex-caped roller. Naturally any skill improves with practice, so I think the needs of the designer and the timeframe provided by the client must be taken into consideration before choosing a method of animation.
A shoutout to Beth Clemmons! Her storyboard was so easy to follow! I did adjust it a bit to go along with the tweaks in her video, but it was so helpful, and so was she. Thank you, Beth!