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Watch the winning videos now!
Students from years 4 to 12 put on a show to be remembered after their space-themed short films were showcased at last year's Animation Film Festival, held at Horizon - the Planetarium.
The topic, chosen to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, encouraged students to express the concept of space through a two-minute short film using either an Explanatory or Expressive method of animation.
"'Expressive' was a popular category adopted by these budding film makers, allowing them to creatively channel their animation pieces into lively stories, whilst 'Explanatory' gave students the opportunity to research unknown topics to create animations that would educate and engage viewers about space," said Scitech's Digital Studio Manager, Mark Sadler.
The red-carpet event showcased the exceptional efforts of nominated students who created their short films in stop-motion, Flash, PowerPoint or 3D animation.
"The Animation Film Festival is always a special experience for these students whose hard-work is recognised by judges, parents and their fellow peers,' said Mark. "This festival is a great way to show children and teenagers the potential of animation technologies and get them involved in creating something unique."
Each film clip was judged according to set design, lighting, sound quality, structure and overall impact. The Animation Film Festival aims to give children a taste of the movie industry and inspire them to consider careers in film and technology.
The following students took out awards in their categories:
4/5 Expressive - 'Bunny Abduction' by Claire Orman from the Double Helix Science Club
6/7 Expressive - 'Magic Cake' to Mars by Ella Norton from Lance Holt School
6/7 Explanatory - 'Milky Way Madness' by Tilly Hodgkinson from Lance Holt School
8-10 Expressive - 'Apocalypse' by Jayden Beveridge from Newman College
11/12 Expressive - 'Epic Space Adventures' by Shannon Findlay, Melissa Moreira & Alen Catak from Hampton SHS
11/12 Explanatory - 'Mars Exploration' by Jacob Green & Nicholas Tilbury from La Salle College
Encouragement Award - 'Primary School on Planet Mars' by Kate Dowden from Meekatharra School of the Air
If you have any questions you can contact Mark Sadler on 9215 0870 or email
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A good place to start animating is to create or capture a series of images and then play them in a specific order, fast enough to create the illusion of movement.
What you will need:
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A computer.
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A camera which can be connected to a computer e.g. web cam, digital camera, digital video camera.
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A concept/idea for a short film. This can be anything that your imagination can come up with. Feel free to let it run wild, often the most imaginative stories are the best.
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Software to capture the images to the computer. There are some very good, free downloadable applications for this. See the next tab for some good ideas.
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Monkey Jam (for Windows) - This is a digital pencil test program that allows the user to capture images from a webcam, camcorder, or scanner and assemble them as separate frames for an animation. Through this program it is also possible to import images and sound files already on your computer. Although it is designed for pencil and paper, MonkeyJam can also be used for StopMotion animation and has several features just for that. Movies created in MonkeyJam can be exported as AVI files.
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Pencil (For either Mac/Windows/Linux) - An animation and drawing program available for Apple Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. This program allows for the creation of traditional hand-drawn animations (such as cartoons) using both bitmap and vector graphics. Pencil is free and open source software.
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AnimatorDV Simple 9.02 (For Windows) - A program for creating stop-motion animated movies. Features include onion skinning, frame averaging (video noise reduction), AVI export, RAM player and a time-lapse tool.
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Animator 1 (For Windows) - This piece of software can be used to take stop motion (also known as claymation) animations with a web cam or other digital video device. This is the type of animation is seen on TV programs such as Morph and Pingu.
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Pivot Stick Figure Animator (For Windows – no camera required) - This program allows you to design and animate stick figure characters and objects. Finished projects can be saved and imported into Movie Maker (free with Windows) or other video editing software.
- The Scitech Animation Film Festival is open to all Western Australian school students from Year 4 to 12 inclusive.
- All entries must be submitted through a school or educational institution.
- Films can be up to 2 minutes in duration, including credits.
- Films must be substantially the work of students.
- Entries must be in avi, mov or wmv format. Please do not submit DVDs.
- There is no limit on the number of entries schools may submit. However, to facilitate the judging process, schools may wish to submit their highest quality productions.
- Any copyright consent required for sound and visual materials must be obtained by the entrant.
- Films in ALL categories need to be suitable for viewing by ALL age groups.
- Films must not depict smoking or alcohol/drug abuse, or acts of an overt violent or sexual nature.
- The organisers reserve the right to omit any film entered from the exhibition if deemed inappropriate.
- All contributing students must be credited on both the entry form and animation film clip.
- Films may be accompanied by a photograph of the entrant/s, a brief synopsis and promotional artwork which may be included in the exhibition program if desired.
- Entries will be judged on relevance to the festival theme, specified by the festival coordinators.
- Exceptional circumstances in relation to the year group placement can be negotiated with the Scitech Animation Film Festival coordinators.
- An award for the most outstanding entry in each year group will be given to both expressive and explanatory category entries, comprising of up to eight awards. Prizes to be determined.
- Entrants accept that the judges’ decision is final.
- A number of entries will be selected at the discretion of judges for screening during the showcase at Scitech on September 23, 2009.
  
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