Animation Project: Flipbook

Hello Students,

Your newest assignment is to create a flipbook that has at least 30 frames of animation. You may use a digital camera to photograph your frames of movement or draw them by hand. To finish your flipbook you will print, cut and bind the book with heave duty staples, binder clips, rubber bands etc.

Flipbook Project:

1. Choose what you would like to photograph that will be the main emphasis for your flipbook. You could choose an inanimate object such as toys, ball, or food or animate object such as a family member or friend.
2. Choose a location that has little distraction in the background. It is best to use a backdrop such as a wall or sheet. This will help create a space in your flipbook that will help the viewer to concentrate on the main movement of your subject matter.
3. Set up your digital camera facing your background that you have chosen. By placing your camera on a tripod this will help you maintain a consistency in your images. The slightest movement forwards or backwards will cause proportion problems within your work.
4. Place your subject to fill up the majority of the frame. The larger the object is in your frame the easier it will be for the viewer to see it.
5. If you have lighting equipment make sure all light is evenly distributed through out your frame remove all unwanted shadows.
6. If you do not have lighting equipment you may want to use just the flash. If your subject is to close to a backdrop your flash may create undesirable shadows. To solve this problem you can move your subject further away from the backdrop so no shadow is casted on it when the flash goes off. If you have a digital camera that allows you to manually change the exposure you want to turn off the flash and set your camera to work for your lighting conditions.
7. Take a photo of your subject.
8. Within your frame ever so slightly reposition your subject matter. Only move the subject matter that you want to move. Remember the smaller the movement the slower the action. The bigger the movement the faster the action. However you choose to move the object just make it consistent.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until you have finished your desired movement. Keep in mind the more images you take the thicker your flipbook is. Do not exceed your binder clip capability.
10. When finished, upload your photos to the computer. Make sure to number each photo to help you keep the order when producing your flipbook.
11. Open your images in a photo-editing program or a layout program to set up your frames.
12. The flipbook can be any size, but smaller ones are easier to flip through. The size of a 4X5 card works well. This is usually a standard format in most programs and you may be able to print straight onto this size of an index card. If not you will need to print on card stock and cut to size. Leave space on the left edge for binding. 
13. Begin placing your photos onto individual pages. Make sure all photos are the same size with the same margins. This will insure your image is registered to each other and will look correct when you flip through them. 
14. Be sure to leave space for the binding on one edge of the layout.
15. using a heavy duty stapler staple the individual photos together to create a binding.
16. Using binder clips clip over the top of the staples to secure the individual papers together.
17. For extra support to the binding wrap rubber bands around the binder clips to prevent them from slipping off.
18. Flip images to view the animation.
19. Create an animated gif of your flipbook images to upload to your blog.