It began as a series of animation workshops with children aged 6-12 at Artplay, a children’s art centre in Melbourne, Australia. We encouraged children to reflect on their personal qualities and express these through self-portraits as animals. They designed animal characters and each had an opportunity to animate their character using traditional cut out animation. We also interviewed each child about why they chose their animal.
We hoped to create an opportunity for self-reflection and an introduction to animation principles and techniques. Later we edited the voices and animation together and screened the portraits as a collection for all the workshop participants.
The children were only with us for a short time and we were delighted with the variety, personality and charm in their results. Their self-portraits are colourful, contemplative and sometimes surprising.
We are so excited about the results that we have created this short film for festival audiences, using a small selection of the children’s work. We will post here with updates of the premiere and any further screenings.
We hoped to create an opportunity for self-reflection and an introduction to animation principles and techniques. Later we edited the voices and animation together and screened the portraits as a collection for all the workshop participants.
The children were only with us for a short time and we were delighted with the variety, personality and charm in their results. Their self-portraits are colourful, contemplative and sometimes surprising.
We are so excited about the results that we have created this short film for festival audiences, using a small selection of the children’s work. We will post here with updates of the premiere and any further screenings.
