stop-motion animation

“How to Draw” and other mini-projects by APRS boys

In early December our APRS class worked on a documentary about food at their school and the right to food in India. We’ll show you the finished project in January. While part of the class focused on editing their work in Final Cut Express under Ilana’s guidance, I encouraged some of the others to practice the stop-motion animations we had learned earlier in the semester. Since it had previously been difficult for them to understand that they should only move their drawings small amounts with each frame, this time I tried the method of animation with chalk drawings. The boys set up the tripod, and I demonstrated by drawing a cloud, taking a photo, drawing a raindrop, taking another photo, drawing another raindrop, and repeating. Art lovers that they are, they took my simple example and elaborated with more clever ones. The first series demonstrates their talents with letters and calligraphy:

APRS Letters and Calligraphy from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

The second series is a set of “how-to” drawings:

APRS Drawing Lessons from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Additionally, some of the students who only joined the class recently took this time to practice making video slide shows. The boys love Windows Movie Maker’s array of transition and video effects, as you’ll see in Saleem’s project below. The photos are from a day when they practiced filming scenes from their favorite films. Thanks for watching!

APRS Video Production from The Modern Story on Vimeo.


Marhaba from Kara!

Hi, I’m Kara, one of the 2010/2011 TMS teaching fellows. This is my first post to tell you a bit about myself since I’ll begin teaching classes in Hyderabad in just a few weeks.

I have a B.A. in cultural anthropology from American University, as well as a range of experiences as a journalist and youth educator. The thread that links these interests and skills is best described by quoting writer Arlene Goldbard:

Every person has a reservoir of stories—ancestor stories, origin stories, stories from childhood—that, whether any particular individual knows it or not, shape the defining narrative of his or her life.

I love learning about people’s lives, whether I’m doing it by studying cultural phenomena, interviewing folks, engaging children in creative expression, or just talking to friends. Despite being a writer and photographer, I don’t just want to share others’ stories–I want others to be able to share their own stories. Teaching digital storytelling for 6 months in India is a great opportunity to strengthen my skills at facilitating that process.

The video below shares some more details of my life’s journey so far.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/13801183]