My European Explorer Claymation Reflection

Clay, glue, toothpicks, and shells are just some of the materials we used to make our European Explorer Claymation for Mr. Bergquist’s 8th Grade American Studies Class. This project stretched over two months, and was quite a challenging journey. We chose Francisco Pizarro four our European explorer because we thought he had an interesting name. Through this project we learned how to research, summarize, plan, improvise, create, recreate and most of all have exciting!
The most enjoyable part of this project was actually creating the claymation. We really had to work together to come up with how we were going to show Pizarro’s life. It was really pleasurable taking the pictures and then being able to view them as a moving picture. I really took pleasure in being able to work with Raelani on this project. It seemed like a very difficult project at first and it felt like a real accomplishment to finish the project and actually have it turn out pretty well!!
The hardest part of this project was getting each scene in on time. This was difficult because each scene took about twenty minutes to shoot. You then had to upload the photos onto the computers which also took another twenty minutes. Uploading to your iMovie took about another five minutes. This meant that from photo to movie took a minimum of forty five minutes. Mr. Bergquist is a very busy man. He has to check a lot of projects throughout the class period. We waited patiently for our turn for out project to be checked.

An important thing that I learned from this project is that slow and steady really does win the race. When you are shooting each scene, you need to be careful to move the clay figures only a little at a time. You also want to make sure that you take a lot of photos so that when you create your movie it flows better and the movement looks smoother. If you move the figures quickly and don’t take a lot of photos, your scene will end up choppy. If you do not take your time in taking the photos and moving the figures you may end having to shoot the scene again. It pays to take your time in the first place; it really pays off in the end.

In conclusion, I really have gained an appreciation for claymation and the work that goes into it. When I think about movies like Wallace and Grommet or Chicken Run I have some understanding of how much work and creativity was needed to create these movies. I also was able to learn about Francisco Pizarro in depth. It was interesting to learn about the explorer’s early life and what may have leaded him to want to explore in the first place. I also thought it was beneficial watching everyone else’s creative process as they completed this project.