| Kids love cartoons and they also love LEGOs. One of | | | | timeline. This will display the movie at 8 frames |
| the best ways to encourage a child to create their | | | | (individual images) per second. |
| own pieces of artwork is to let them animate their | | | | A traditional film is 24 frames per second so the film |
| own cartoon. | | | | will look a little stilted at this point. By going into the |
| For kids that are tactile or spatially inclined their | | | | effects section of Windows Movie Maker and |
| interest in creating models with LEGO or Knex bricks | | | | right-clicking the Speed Up Double option and |
| easily lends itself to stop motion animation. Put | | | | selecting Add To The Storyboard, you can bring that |
| simply, stop motion is the process of moving a figure | | | | frame rate up to 16 frames per second. This will |
| in slow increments and taking a still photo after each | | | | make the frames move faster so they seem to flow |
| move. Placing these photos together in a computer | | | | into one another, just like traditional film and cartoon |
| program and then playing them back fast makes the | | | | movies. |
| figure seem to move across the screen naturally. | | | | From her you can add audio or simply Export the film |
| To make the motion seem more natural the figure | | | | to an uploadable format. Once the film is completed |
| may move one leg then the other. Or by adding a | | | | your child can share their movie with friends, either |
| background the figure can move and interact with | | | | on computer or via the web which may lead to |
| items against the scenery. By introducing vehicles, | | | | group film creation, script writing, model building and |
| other figures, lighting elements, speech bubbles, an | | | | more. |
| audio track and many more variables the simplicity or | | | | Confused? Don't be. It's actually easier than it all |
| complexity of the film can be regulated. | | | | sounds and your child will most likely pick up the |
| Once the images have been taken, you can import | | | | process more quickly than you! Stop motion movies |
| the images into a program like Windows Movie Maker | | | | with LEGO is a great way to enhance and expand on |
| (free with Microsoft Windows) and adjust the Picture | | | | a child's love of building and creating. |
| rate to 0.125 second. Drag your pictures into the | | | | |