Teachers notes Introduction – From the outset I would like to point out, that what is presented here are the PowerPoint presentations and teaching methodologies that I have used in my school. Hopefully the project will be helpful for anyone wanting to have a look at what someone else is doing – to pick and mix from, jumble sale of ideas, in the hope you will find something useful! It is like all the projects in the series, they are not complete solutions, just the work from a group of teachers who are willing to share their thoughts and experiences. The format of the presentations, have been left in a way that it will enable you to modify them to your own needs. If you a few spare minutes, I would be grateful of feedback. The project is based on the use of the graphics program SerifDraw, but many of the skills are applicable to other graphics programs. SerifDraw is our choice as our pupils have found it easy to use and it has a range of effects that are suited to the development of cartoon style projects. SerifDraw has won lots of awards for it’s appeal to schools and it’s target audience. You can download a free older version from Serif.com to test and trial it. There are three aspects to the teachers notes- Firstly – Slides 3 – 17 - teachers notes an outline of the presentations with discussion points. Timeplan- Slide 2 Key sheets -Slides 18 – 24 that can be used as hand outs. The project is to design and make a cartoon/animation using CAD (SerifDraw). The idea is that the pupils develop the skills using computers in both designing and making. At the end of the project the animations can be saved and burnt as CDs/DvD as a final product. To do this : export save as animated gif place either into a DVD creator like mediaplayer \ imovie create and burn DVD’s This will also work if you import animated gif’s into powerpoint then save as quicktime.

Teachers notes

The first slide sets the outline of the task, the next two slides outline the student / pupil expectations of the task. Each slide contain a range of inspiring yet attainable images for pupils to achieve. Research section Research – introduction to the task

The first slide is a duplicate of the introduction task, this acts as a link from the task to the research aspects. The second slide is planned to engage and involve the pupils – involving them in reflecting/selecting/expressing their favorite cartoon/s. A further question to ascertain what research plans needs to be undertaken to get background information on cartoons or inspiration for ideas. This task could be achieved through questions - this information is confirmed in slide 3 using a “mind map “ diagram. Slide 4 looks at the potential of attaining ideas/inspiration form other cartoon designers – a link is made to the “mind map” on the top left hand corner. Slides 5-6 are intended for pupils to find their own preferred cartoon style or cartoonist – a series of questions are asked to confirm their thinking or as discussion points with the whole class or as small groups. Slide 5/6 also directs them to look at Welsh animators/cartoonist and how these have influenced them & discussion points for development with cartoon characters. Slides 7, 8 & 9 – ask pupils to critically evaluate a given character and then select their own, discussing the positive aspects of each character and to bear this in mind when developing their own cartoon characters. By drawing the three selected cartoons, pupils begin to develop knowledge of how to build these characters, to exaggerate features or spot details in these characters. The word bank on slide 9, helps to develop descriptive and technical words related to animation. Teachers notes Research & inspiration form other animators

Slide 1 & 2 – are as previous a link to the set task. The next slides are directed to enable pupils to write an effective design speciation for their animation – various questions are posed to enable the pupil to “thinking out” each aspects of the “mind map”. Slide 3 -returns to the “mind map” in the top left hand corner and questions are related to the needs and interests of the intended target group. Slide 4 – asks pupils to consider what the function of their intended animation. Slide 5 looks at trends in animation and graphics – pupils could research recently released films and how they are produced ie CGI with Toy Story / Kong Fu Panda / Shrek in comparison to older animations like Snow White or Bambi, these could act as possible ideas for discussion: In terms of trends, pupils could view DVD’s + Youtube ( these are usually selected to ensure relevance), and embedded in the PowerPoint presentation etc and critically assess, this has been an engaging activity, this has been a motivating activity and has enthuse pupils to produce innovative ideas. Slide 6 & 7 guide pupils in the writing of an effective design specification. Teachers notes Research – target group, function & design specification