The Award-winning Film 'Time Report' Nominated for Best School Production 2013

The children from Perryfields School have become real celebrities after winning the First Light Award for Best Film by Under 12s. Now they have another awards ceremony to attend  as their amazing short film 'Time Report', which is a project funded by First Light and The Ernest Cook Trust, is nominated for Best School Production at Limelight Film Awards 2013! 

The young filmmakers are passing on their message about preserving the environment by telling the story of a reporter travelling through time and reporting on the ecological state of Earth at different time periods. 

You can see what the news will look like in year 2091 by watching their show broadcasted directly from a space station. 

The young talents, with the support of Signals Media Arts Centre, came up with the script, constructed the set and props, which included a space station built from recycled materials, shot the film, made the sound effects and learned more about working with camera, green screen, sound, directing, writing, acting and editing.

Their efforts, enthusiasm and brilliant work didn't stay unnoticed and on 19th March 2013, 'Time Report' was awarded at First Light Awards ceremony in London! We can't describe the joy and excitement in the air so instead we will show you their happy faces. 

Recently the film was screened as part of Kino Flow: Colchester Children and Families Film Festival at Firstsite, Colchester. 

Now the school children have another opportunity to showcase their work and receive recognition from the industry. They will walk on the red carpet on 6th of June at Troxy along with 500 other filmmakers, celebrities, film and media personalities, artists and performers for the Limelight Film Awards 2013. 

"The standard of entries were also very high making the shortlisting an impossible task" say Limelight.

We are very proud of them and we know they deserve the award. : ) 

Amazing Stop Motion Animations

Have you wondered what stop motion animation means? It is an animation technique to make an object seem to move on its own by moving the object in small increments between individually photographed frames. When put together as a sequence the frames create the illusion of movement. It is basically the modern version of drawing on the corner of your notebook sheets and then playing with it. 

Well, as a digital media organisation, we focus on technology, not on notebooks. :) 

Therefore two of our children workshops are based on stop motion. We have 'Claymation' for the younger, 7+ aged, kids, and 'Stop Motion Animation' for young people 12+ years old.

One of the most famous film directors has started developing his talent at the same age as our talented young filmmakers. Tim Burton was only 13 years old when he created the stop motion animation 'The Island of Doctor Agor' in his backyard on Evergreen Street. The significant animation Corpse Bride (2005) is his first full-length stop motion animation. 

Today we are going to show you three unique stop motion animations that have revolutionised the world of digital media. 

In 2010, a film about the adventures of a 9mm girl called Dot, living in a microscopic world, became the world's smallest animation at that time. New technology combined with a lot of creativity and imagination produced this amazing film.

The teeny-tiny movie is created by Sumo Science at Aardman and shot with a CellScope, invented by Professor Fletcher. For the purpose of the animation, 50 different versions of the main character were created with a 3D printer. 

If you are amazed by this animation, wait to see the next one. 

The researchers of IBM had entertained themselves at work by creating a movie made with atoms. Yes, you read it right! 'A Boy And His Atom' really is made by moving atoms and therefore it is now The World's Smallest Stop Motion Animation. It is so small that it can be seen only when it is magnified 100 million times. 

An animation called 'Entropy' made for IdN magazine by Physalia is created by shooting 2,000 photographs of different water drops and combining them in a video. 

You can learn more about the process of making it and see the video here. 

The team was inspired by Markus Reugels' stunning photographs of the Earth in water drops. 

We, Signals Media Arts Centre, also have quite a few animations to show off with. The children attending our workshop has amazed us with their creativity and talent. We are very proud of them! 

You can watch the animations made during our latest Stop Motion Animation workshop here and tell us what you think! : )  

www.signals.org.uk