Kristin Osiecki

This past Monday I had the opportunity to teach a Media Arts lesson to seventh grade students at Q2L in NYC. The lesson I taught used animation as a context for breaking down movements. Students used their own bodies to analyze dance moves and then reanimate them using stop motion animation. Working together to animate one single clay figurine, each group added ten frames of animation to the piece. The end result was a collaborative animated dance.

The lesson was designed to be an introduction to stop-motion animation. It gave students the chance to test out different kinds of movements. While this was a one-off lesson at Q2L, I would definitely use it again to kick-off a long-term animation project. In addition to helping them build up a catalogue of movements, it also helped them develop a process for analyzing and breaking down movements into frames.

One of my main goals in creating any lesson is helping students develop new methods for understanding and interpreting information. As a designer I feel like I am always using my body as an analytical tool. Whether I’m designing a chair and thinking about the way I sit and stand, or mimicking the pose of a drawing subject so I can better understand the way the body moves. It is my hope that, through this lesson, I’ve given students a new way to relate to their work.

Below are some samples of student work. The first is a sheet students used for breaking down their dance move into five key frames. The second is a sample of an individual reflection.

While this lesson was a bit ambitious, perhaps even unrealistic, for a 45 minute block, I was really impressed by the reflection sheets that students filled out. They definitely reaffirmed my feelings that, while this lesson could use some significant tweaking, the ideas and methods behind it are solid.

Alright, here is the final piece!