The Friendly Dragon
by Jennifer Cooper, posted on February 10th, 2010 in Arts & Crafts
Because there is a natural storytelling urge and ability in all human beings, even just a little nurturing of this impulse can bring about astonishing and delightful results.
-Nancy Mellon, The Art of Storytelling
I have always been fascinated by the art of storytelling. Everywhere you look there is a story. We go to the movies and the stage to watch stories. We pick up books or follow blogs so we can read stories. We buy music or go to concerts so we can hear stories. We write, we create so we can tell stories.
When I was a kid, I was once invited to watch a group of kids, most of whom were a class above mine—the A level kids, work on a project. It was one of the coolest projects I had ever seen. They, this group of about 10 or so kids whom I later learned were the GT kids, were making their very own filmstrips. Being somewhat of an AV geek myself (in grade school I rented a projector from my public library, a reel of the Red Balloon and proceeded to set up a theater in my living room) I was captivated by the process.
The kids were all given markers and filmstrip material. Then they each constructed a series of pictures to explain a unit they were working on. I don’t remember what the unit was about. It wasn’t the content that particularly interested me. It was that the kids were able to let the story unfold in any manner they wanted. Then those tiny pictures were cast onto a large screen for everyone to see. Their art, their story. Shared.
As many of you know, we here in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, are snowed in. We have had two blizzards in one week and are pretty much trapped. TRAPPED I say! Before the first storm hit, I set about preparing a couple projects to keep the cabin fever at bay.
One of those projects was to create a story with the kids. I wanted to go back to that filmstrip idea I had been introduced to so many years ago. But filmstrips are a thing of the past. So I chose a different medium: stop animation.
I started by making a list. On it I wrote: characters, setting, time, problem, solution. Then I had the kids fill it in. From there we created a script of sorts. Then my daughter drew the figures and setting. We set up the camera. After taking all the pictures, Dave imported it, put it to music and volia, The Friendly Dragon was born. *note: it’s best to watch this full screen as some of the writing is rather small. Just click on the four arrows in the bottom right corner.
The Friendly Dragon (by Ellie and Jonah) from Dave Cooper on Vimeo.
Now you’re probably saying to yourself, but we don’t access to that of that sort of program to make it work. Well, I thought about that.
So I contacted the good people over at Boinx who created iStopMotion and told them about our little project. Then I asked if they wouldn’t mind offering a copy of their software to one of our readers so a reader’s family could create movie of their very own. And do you know what they said? “Absolutely!” Isn’t that super cool of them?!
To enter to win your own personal license copy of iStopMotion just comment below. And please spread the word. I’ll be announcing the winner on Friday. I hope the lucky winner comes back to share their family’s story with us!
Now go enter!
Related Posts :
Tags: Arts & Crafts, childhood, contest, storytelling
Allison Says:
Torbjorn Says:
Christina Says:
Sharon Says:
Aunt Maggie Says:
Casey Says:
Valerie Says:
Aliza Says:
Danielle Haller Says:
Jennifer Says:
Diana Says:
Tonya Says:
Ann Williams Says:
Simone Michele Says:
Alexa Jessee Says:
Sandy Says:
Megan Says:
Cristina Whitehouse Says:
Sarah Says:
Michelle Blair Says:
Charlene Glynn Says:
raj Says:
joy Says:
favrile Says:
Anita Says:
kali Says:
Lily Says:
Phiala deal Says:
marilyn Says:
Laurie Says:
Amy T. Says:
Maria Says:
Heather Says:
Cindi Says:
Lisa Says:
Christina and Allie Says:
Patricia Says:
Holly Says:
teresa Says:
Leslie Says:
