traditional drawn animation using dragonframe

TRADITIONAL DRAWN ANIMATION USING DRAGONFRAME HOW TO

All the characters, props, backgrounds, sounds - and each student picks his part of the job. We make a list of everything we need to build, according to the technique they have chosen. The ending of the story is very important: changing even small details can change the entire message of the film. The storyboard reveals what we need to change, adapt, or complete so that the story makes sense. Sometimes there are many double ideas - many will copy ideas from their neighbor - and there will probably be some holes in the narrative. When we have a very basic storyline, I ask each student or small group to draw a simple storyboard. Each one as a specific task, but everyone should do every part of the work. So I try to divide the work among all the students. To see a good result at the end of the line will encourage them much more.

I believe it is more important just to make a film in the straightest way possible, not to annoy them with exercises. We must understand that we are not training future animators in these workshops. How do you make sure the children work well as a team? Do they take on specific roles based on what they’re naturally good at, or does everyone do a bit of everything? “The Way to Friendship”Īnimation is a collaborative medium. For A Troubled Day, we decided in a meeting with a teacher to use embroidery, which was once a local tradition in this region. I also try to experiment with as many different techniques as possible and, if possible, to create links with local traditions. Dragonframe is a wonderful software, so simple to use that the kids have no problems quickly understanding how animation works.īefore starting any project, I try to have a meeting with their teachers and motivate them to develop ideas and stories. At that time, I had lots of time to work with kids. We could see the animated motion on the spot, without any technology. In the beginning, to show how animated movements work, I used to animate a few “optical toys,” like zoetropes and flipbooks. Showing the films to the kids was a true magic moment.

We shot for very long periods of time before sending the film to the lab and getting the results a week later. It was incredibly hard for the kids to understand what they were doing and they had to trust in what I was telling them. At the beginning I was working with 16mm cameras, with very bad viewfinders, reversible film in 30-meter reels, with no accurate meter counters. But what else has changed in the decades you’ve been giving these workshops? Abi FeijóĪbi Feijó: Indeed, technology has changed drastically. What does he teach the children, and what does he let them discover by themselves? We asked him about his process…Ĭartoon Brew: Obviously, evolution in technology since 1985 has made it simpler to produce animation. The films preserve the unbridled creativity of their young auteurs, but Feijó’s experience comes through in the relatively slick production. Privacy laws prohibit their identities from being revealed, so we see them in silhouette, and the film makes an aesthetic virtue out of this. Elsewhere, children with disabilities expressed themselves through their bodies in The Way to Friendship, which mixes pixilation and live-action acting. Feijó says he hopes to submit this film to festivals. A Troubled Day (watch above) incorporates embroidery, a local tradition some of the kids’ older relatives, well versed in the art, contributed to the film. In some cases, the choice of technique is ingeniously tailored to the local culture or the kids’ own abilities. Some of these films have gone on to win awards at festivals. Over the decades, he has started holding one-off beginners’ lessons and animation courses for teachers, not to mention the centerpiece of his program: 20-hour workshops in which schoolchildren produce films from scratch.

Inspired in part by the ASIFA Workshops Group, an organization that coordinates animation projects for children worldwide, Feijó held his first workshop in 1985. Throughout it all, he’s been quietly developing a remarkable educational initiative in the background. As well as directing a run of acclaimed shorts, including The Outlaws (1993) and Stowaway (2000), he founded the production company Ciclope Filmes and the aforementioned museum, Casa Museu de Vilar. The resulting films, no more than three minutes long, burst with character.įeijó has carved out an influential role for himself in independent animation, both in Portugal and beyond. They learn the basics of animation under the guidance of veteran filmmaker and animator Abi Feijó.

TRADITIONAL DRAWN ANIMATION USING DRAGONFRAME HOW TO

In a one-of-a-kind animation museum north-east of Porto, Portugal, amid exhibits of zoetropes and phenakistiscopes, schoolkids gather every year to learn how to make their artwork move.

Traditional drawn animation using dragonframe