Earlier in the summer holidays Nidderdale National Landscape hosted a two day “Stop Motion” Curlew Animation Workshop, with 25 local children, aged 8 to 12.
We start at a curlew friendly farm to get us in the mood. Firstly probing for invertebrates (plenty of insect life there), eyes out out for predators, in a field-wide, curlewesque game of grandmother’s footsteps.
In the afternoon, we create the narrative elements for our story, one table of enthusiastic young artists cutting out eggs, another pinning the wheels on a paper tractor. On hastily painted cardboard scenery, overlaid with real vegetation, filmmaker, Finn Varney, helps the animators manipulate moving parts, bringing frames to life with hundreds of incremental adjustments. Meanwhile, artist, Rose Ferraby, is working with children to record narration in the Attenborough tradition. Later she will insert homemade sound effects and recordings from our field trip.
The following Sunday, we have a movie premiere complete with popcorn. The now carefully edited animation, includes titles and credits, and receives a rapturous round of applause. In fact, it’s so popular with our audience of first-time animators and their families, it requires a second viewing. The short film will go on to have a life as a movie trailer in community cinemas across the North of England. We’ve even entered it in the Leeds international film festival.
