DAS Phase 2: Animation in Los Angeles

In deciding where to work with kids to conduct the Animation phase of Drawing Animation Sound (“DAS”)—our worldwide project that connects kids from three continents to create one animated film—we thought: “Where’s the best place in the world to make a movie?” We all unanimously agreed: Hollywood!

So we packed up the drawings from Thailand and sent them off to sunny Los Angles, California where Cre8 friend and filmmaker, Joshua Ballinger, worked with the awesome students from Marine View Middle School in Huntington Beach, California. With help of Lily Sellig, Marine View’s fantastic art teacher who made Cre8’s visit possible, Josh taught the students the basics of stop motion animation and storytelling and helped the kids transform the drawings of outrageous characters, accessories, and backgrounds into short animated sequences that will soon become a cinematic masterpiece.

The students brought a lot of enthusiasm to the project. They were interested to know everything about the process, and were full of questions about the kids in Thailand and Colombia, where the soundtrack will be recorded. You could almost feel their world getting smaller as the students learned about creative kids just like them below the equator and all the way on the other side of the world.

When it came time to open the box of drawings from Thailand, their eyes lit up. Like kids on Christmas, they all started going through the pictures one-by-one, laying them out for all to see. They picked their favorites, started cutting them out, and created stick puppets to use as characters and hung the backgrounds for the various “scenes” of the movie.

In addition to teaching the students about Thai and Colombian culture, Joshua encouraged the kids to contribute to the film in a way that was representative of local American culture and of them as individuals. All the students were eager to include two themes that are near and dear to their hearts: the beach and surfing!

The students had a strong grasp on technology, and Joshua helped them utilize their technical talents to further their individual self-expression. The story was crafted one scene at a time using spaceship wrecks, visitors from outer space, and the occasional tidal waves (for surfing). At the end of the workshop, the students had so much fun they even suggested Skyping with their new creative collaborators in Thailand (something that’s in the works for the premier of the film!).

Now it’s off to Colombia for Phase III: the Soundtrack. Viva la DAS!