[youtube width=”580″ height=”470″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSilMe2sHDo[/youtube]
Friend and colleague, Daniel Phelps took some time last week to talk to us about his Introduction to Motion Graphics course at York College and the amazing mashups his students are doing. His students spent some time looking at the magazine cut-up styled animation created by Terry Gilliam for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. His class watched a Gilliam short that describes the how and why he makes animation, and then created the project assignment based on Gilliam’s process. The resulting work from the students is some of the best work I’ve seen by York student’s particularly Seeking Help, Shaun of the Dead Mashup, and the ridiculously funny Scarface Meets Super Mario Bros.
As you look through the ds106 assignment bank for video and mashup, keep the cut-up in mind. Think about how you might use some scissors, paste, and puppetry (I don’t have the After Effects skills to do what Daniel’s students do myself). I’m going find a way to do this myself in the next couple of days and will submit an assignment idea around it too (if no one beats me to it).
Look for at least two assignments to do in this week and be sure to narrate, narrate, narrate your process! See you Monday.
Comments
6 responses to “Week 9 Learning Mashup from One of the Best – – Monty Python”
Gilliam animations are fun! http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/h0wupdohighknee/gif.gif
Great little Animated GIG nugget of gold. Thanks!
Okay. So. That was…like…a Skype call, was it? Daniel is inspiring. I love innovation in teaching that is student-centered like this. I’ve never liked the Terry Gilliam cut up style at all, so hearing you guys wax enthusiastic was an eye-opener. The student examples didn’t make me want to do that technique, but, again, to hear your collective enthusiasm tells me there is more to the art form than yet meets my eye.
I mean, I can see, that like certain kinds of jazz I don’t understand, that it IS a style and that maybe there is a way I could approach it that would be fun and introduce me to that aesthetic. I hope you come up with an assignment that us bumbling amateurs can embrace!
The Ken Burns assignment seemed like something I could do with a little more instruction. Could you put that up in the assignments list with some tips?
Thanks–I appreciate these interviews!
Hi Sandy –
Sorry the cutup isn’t your thing, we all have something hopefully in the video section of the assignments that turn us on. I thought you’d like this story made by Grant Potter last January for the first iteration of ds106 as a MOOC. The story itself is pretty incredible, the coincidence and all, but what makes it come alive is Grant’s effort to build the narrative with his writing, voice, and the choice of digital images. He made the video as part of his 1st assignment to tell a story about himself. Pretty incredible start actually.
So it’s sometimes best to just approach the video portion or any of the assignments with a desire to tell a specific story and see if some method sparks your interest. And if you’re interested in learning a specific tool that’s driving you crazy, let me know and I see if I can rassle something up from the internet or create a screen cast myself.
Hi … I noticed in Sandy’s previous comment that she was inquiring about the Ken Burns effect. When I was helping students create digital stories, I introduced the following video spoof that Al Franken created. It demonstrates various techniques that Ken Burns used to create apparent motion in Civil War still photographs. It can be found on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q19zCejmaHk
However, I particularly like the following Ken Burns interview where he identifies the eight elements that are part of his technique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqlHmhio4s
I hope that you will find these two resources of benefit.
Take care & keep smiling 🙂 Brian
@Brian thanks for the link to the Al Franken video. I love the mockery of the “originality” of the Ken Burns effect. Particularly that Franken uses the photo pan and scan tools create the parody.