STANDARDS

Lexile: 920L

 

Core Art Standards:

VA1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

VA3: Refine and complete artistic work.

VA7: Analyze artistic work.

 

CCSS Anchor Standards:

R2: Determine central themes.

R3: Analyze ideas and sequence events.

R5: Analyze text structure.

 

Objective: Students will learn how animation works and will understand the importance of advances in animation technology.

 

Essential Question: How does knowing the contexts, histories, and traditions of art forms help us create works of art and design?

 

Enduring Understanding: Artists shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with traditions, in pursuit of creative goals.

 

Vocabulary: animation, cels, computer-animated, concept art, feature-length, frames, illusion, layout, light source, maquettes, persistence of vision, programmed, short, space, storyboards, texture, three-dimensional, zoetrope

 

Materials: computer or interactive whiteboard, “Graphic Organizer: Animation” skills sheet.

Article Options

Presentation View
Teaching Resources

Lesson: From Mickey to Buzz

Use with pages 4-5.

Objective: Students will learn how animation works and will understand the importance of advances in animation technology.

PREPARATION:

  • Print copies of the “Graphic Organizer: Animation” skills sheet.

PROCEDURE:

  1. As a class, read the top section of the article “From Mickey to Buzz.” Ask: What techniques do artists use to create animations? (Early filmmakers used zoetropes; early Disney artists illustrated Steamboat Willie and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by hand on cels; Pixar artists create feature films using computer animation.)
  2. Have students record their notes on their “Graphic Organizer: Animation” skills sheets.
  3. Read the “Making Toy Story” section of the article and have students observe the images associated with each step of the animation process. Ask: What techniques did animators use to make Toy Story? (Artists created storyboards for the plot and maquettes for each character, and they added final texture and lighting details after programming the figures.)
  4. Have students record these additional details on their “Graphic Organizer: Animation” skills sheets.

DISCUSSION:

  • What is animation? (In an animation, multiple still images are shown together to create one moving image. The persistence of vision creates the illusion of movement.)
  • Compare Toy Story and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. How did artists create these two works? (Animators created each frame of Snow White on cels by hand. For Toy Story, animators used computer animation to create threedimensional characters and backgrounds.)
  • Compare the first image from “Making Toy Story” with the final image. What do you notice? (Answers will vary but should discuss the development from rough idea to finished work.)

REMOTE LEARNING:

  • Try creating a few images for a hand-drawn animation in the style of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Can you make a character move? How subtle do the movements have to be? For an extra challenge, try creating your own zoetrope!
  • Create a storyboard for a computer-animated film. What characters will you feature? In what world will the characters live?
  • Write a paragraph comparing the image from Steamboat Willie with those from Toy Story.

ASSESSMENT:

  • Write the Essential Question on the board. Ask: If you were to create an animated work, how would your knowledge of the context, history, and tradition of animation inform your creative process?

Download a printable PDF of this lesson plan.

Share an interactive slide deck with your students.

Text-to-Speech