During February, third, fourth, and fifth-grade students immersed themselves in a transdisciplinary stop-motion animation project that combined the STEAM and Music programs—fondly known as the Stusic Stop Motion Films.
Throughout this exciting experience, students explored various roles in the film industry, including story directors, set directors, cinematographers, music directors, and producers. To deepen their understanding, they analyzed nearly a dozen stop-motion videos, identifying key techniques and storytelling elements.
Once students had a grasp of the roles and learned from exemplars, they pitched themselves for their desired job within their team. Each student also drafted a potential story idea, and teams voted on one that best met the project’s “elements of a plot” criteria.
Then the real work began. Over the following weeks, students created storyboards, built sets, clipped sound bites, and used visual checklists to practice their cinematography skills. They also learned strategies for giving and receiving feedback, sharing creative ideas, and improving their final products collaboratively.
The project culminated on Friday, April 11th, with the inaugural Stuzy Awards—a red carpet celebration where nominees were recognized with Oscar-inspired honors such as “Best Production,” “Best Original Score,” “Best Original Screenplay,” “Best Cinematography,” and “Best Picture.” But the real winners? Every student who participated. Here are some reflections:
“I learned that to make a good stop motion, you use more shots than you think.”
“I learned that in a movie there are a lot of different people that have different parts and help out with everything.”
“I learned how to collaborate with people because I always want to work alone, but since I worked with my team for a month, maybe I will start working in teams more.”
A special shoutout goes to Mr. Marks and Mr. Koeffler for making this experience possible!
