Disciplina Animação Stopmotion

In this course of puppet building, the students will gain basic skills and understanding how to build an affordable, functional puppet for stop motion animation, by using and combining a range of inexpensive and accessible materials. Through introduction of different puppet building approaches, styles and materials, the course familiarises the students both with the material quality and physicality of the 3 dimensional puppet, in order to demonstrate what are the potentials and physical limitations of the puppet. The goal is to guide the students through the process of character design and puppet building from the first idea, to the finished product. By using a hands on practical approach, the students will be learning by doing, in a relaxed workshop-like environment that encourages creativity and practice of numerous individual skills, but also takes advantage of group work and critical exchange between the students.

Week 1 - Introduction to puppet animation

Week 2 - Wire puppet armature

Week 3 - Volume

Week 4 - Volume

Week 5 - Costumes part I

Week 6 - Costumes part II

Week 7 - Head design and fabrication part I (sculpting and eyes)

Week 8 - Head fabrication part II (hair and expressions)

Week 9 - Set building I

Week 10 - Set building II

Week 11 - Latex casting part I

Week 12 - Latex casting part II

Week 13 - How to fix a broken puppet, and review of all materials

Week 14 - Dossier of puppet making and shooting a 360 turnaround of the puppet's

Week 15 - Presentation and feedback

The teaching methodology of this class is applying the "learning by doing" approach, whereby the students gain understanding of the processes of puppet building by directly practicing the skills required. This method compines theory and practice.

Assesment:

Puppet funcionality - 20%

Design - 20%

Originality, inventivenes with materials - 20%

Dossier of puppet making - 20%

Presentation - 10%

Attendance - 10%

Purves, Barry. Stop-motion. Laussane, Switzerland: AVA Publishing, 2010.
— — —. Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance. Amsterdam, London: Elsevier/Focal, 2008.