Storytelling: Tool for Creative Problem Solving

My next faculty workshop at LynchburgCollege later in October will be to demo Composer Pro from Demibooks, the developers of Composer Studio that I used with my Governor's School Media Production class in July.  I stumbled upon this excellent blog article from Second Story about the power of story to solve complex problems. It's a very timely concept in relationship to Composer Pro. It is a production tool for creating interactive media and a perfect vehicle for telling complex (or simple) stories that can be shared on iPads.

In the blog article Laura Allcorn, Second Story Senior Content Strategist, discusses a storytelling concept known as Critical Design from Dunne & Raby at the Royal College of Art. The purpose is to create something that makes people think and challenges old ideas. They do this with both fiction and humor. Laura includes this quote from Jonathan Gotschall's The Storytelling Animal about the power of fiction;

Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read non-fiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape. 

Allcorn also cited the thoughts of comedian Chris Bliss about humor to break down barriers. Here is his TedTalk Comedy in Translation.

This in mind, I think of one of my favorite apps, Sock Puppets. I would like to challenge students to explore possible solutions to serious problems with the iPad app Sock Puppets. Remember folks, the target audience for my work is young children and I often proudly describe myself as a mental age of 5. As you may be able to guess, Sock Puppets is a storytelling app in which young user select images of sock puppets and manipulate them to tell a story. Amazingly, as the user speaks, the sock puppets lip sync the speakers voice. This happens whenever the app is open and then can be recorded and played back. Hence a story is told, a play performed with puppets realistically speaking their dialogue. It's poetry in motion. And funny too.

Sock Puppets playhouse, one of many props and sets of characters

If you are in Central Virginia, mark you calendar:  Saturday, November 2 from 8:30 am until 1 pm iSchool Initiative Emily Wolfe and other guests will be at Lynchburg College to explore Contemporary Technology in Today's Classroom. Free and open to the public. Come with your students to learn how iSchool Initiative is challenging educational institutions to use all tools available to engage students.

Kristin Reiber Harris
my new app Duck Takes A Ride: An Art Story is now available in the App Store.
It is an interactive animated narrative for preschool children illustrated with 
ancient Chinese and Egyptian sculpture from major museum collections.
 

Teaching Demibooks Composer Studio: What I Learned

I just had my first experience teaching the iPad app production software I have been using for about 6 months, Demibooks Composer Studio. I was very pleased with the students projects but have some definite ideas about how I will go about introducing the production process with this software in the future.

Show A Wide Variety of Samples

My students at the Lynchburg College residential Governor's School of Math, Science and Technology were distracted by the fact that my work and the samples available within the software were all young children's media. Also, the Composer Studio in-app samples were all in book format. For most of the students, the idea of making a kids picture book was not all that exciting.

I wish I had known about this video. You don't need to understand the language to want to know more about this game, Origem. An iPad version is soon to be released in the US. (in English) Here are some stills from the video. Origem is based on an ancient game indigenous to South America.

Ancient board game for the iPad developed by Marcelo Raymundo with Demibooks Composer

Origem developed by Marcelo Raymundo

game app developed by Marcelo Raymundo

As Composer products are used by a wider range of producer/developers, I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Give Students A Specific Assignment

Being very specific may sound like a no brainer, but I really like to give students in the Gov School environment a lot of freedom. I make a big deal at the beginning of the course that I want to them to work on projects that excite them. I envisioned that they would be interested in making interactive comic books, graphic novels and games.

However, that is not at all the way I have approached teaching Flash to students over the years. Exercises for skill building are different. I have a very set protocol.  I start with a blank keyframe animation of something like fireworks to get students used to the interface and the timeline. Then we work into a short linear character animation.  We look at that delightful Pixar animation of the lamps. My point being a simple inanimate object can be an endearing character. Of course Luxo is a very sophisticated character created by geniuses in the field, but I hope they get my point. A box or a line can be an endearing or charismatic character.

PIxar's Luxo, Jr.  Character animation at its finest.

Ideas for Skill Building in Composer Studio

Project 1:A possible first project might be to set up a series of pages and a navigation system that mimic a simple 5 page website of their choice. It could be all text based, text being the one asset that can be created in Composer Studio. The students would not be concerned about designing a document, they would be using an existing interactive structure to explore the app.  

Project 2:All of the students had just created an interactive project in Flash. A good second project would be to rebuild that same project, the assets have all been built. That provides the opportunity to import assets, an essential skill, and begin to learn the system for programming interactivity. Some of the students had previous programming experience but none of them seemed to have major obstacles getting used to the system in Composer Studio.

"All About Me" projects have been popular in the past. It's a great way for the students to share information and photos with other students in the class and for me to learn more about then too.  Assets are most likely on their phones or easily accessible and they can get right to the tasks at hand, importing and designing. My favorite graphic novel is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This is her story about growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution. It was also made not an animated film. Great inspiration for a personal project.

Project 3:  I love the idea of assigning an interactive project to make chocolate chip cookies. I let them adapt that idea very broadly. One Gov School student did a project about how to bowl. The very inspiring example I show them is Emily Birr's Origami instructional animation created in my Flash class at Northern Va. Community College/Alexandria many years ago. She did a brilliant job.

What's the Take Away?

I am remembering the Sandbox Summit at MIT in April and being introduced to the work of musician Chris Donnelly.  He has a fascinating discussion about creativity and structure on his blog.

I need to remember that there is a balance between too much and too little structure and how that affects the creative process. I need to be sure not to err on the side of not delivering enough structure to stimulate the best outcomes. I have a million ideas for things I'd like to do, that doesn't mean the students come into my class with that same archive of ideas and the ability to work independently to make them happen.

Gov School: A Teaching Moment All Month

I am still feeling the glow from one month with thirteen students in a collaborate, creative environment watching them take pieces of information I provide and weave a varied tapestry of media projects. This group of students was particularly focused, intelligent and adventuresome. 

Gov School 2013 in Schewel Lobby  Photo: Matt who happened to be passing by

The Original Plan

In the previous 4 years I have taught this course, Flash has been the software I have used to introduce students to the basics of animation and interactive design.  My intention this summer was to introduce Flash for the first two weeks and then have the students transition to media/app development with Demibooks Composer Studio. We had 13 gleaming iPads begging to be used.

What Really Happened

I have a great deal of respect for students who are so motivated they choose to spend a month in the summer taking classes when they could be involved in other kinds of activities. As a result I have always made it clear to my students at Gov School that if they have a burning desire to complete a particular project, they can. There is usually at least one student who gets involved in an ambitious project and wants to spend all 4 weeks on it. It was true this year as well.  

I was particularly interested in having the students explore the capabilities of Composer Studio as a game production tool. Most of Demibooks developers are creating kids book-like apps. This was a hurdle for my students. Some of them just couldn't get past that focus to see how they could use it for comic books or graphic novels, even if they didn't want to make a game. I honored their wishes and no one did more than basic tutorials in Composer Studio who wasn't motivated. That said we got some very strong projects in both Flash and Composer Studio. 

For a brief time during the third week I felt like I was herding cats...everyone off in their own direction. However, thanks to their intelligence and perseverance, they were able to trouble shoot, many on their own and everyone ended the course with very substantial projects to their credit.

Memorable Teaching Moments

Interview Software Company Founders

I love the idea of inspiring budding entrepreneurs. Demibooks CEO Rafiq Ahmed has been very accessible since responding to a Twitter message I sent from the Sandbox Summit conference in April. His partner in Australia, Daniel Hotop has been equally supportive. I have been very impressed with the genuine interest in user feedback (certainly a sound business policy).  When Rafiq offered to have a web conference with the Gov School students I thought it was a win-win situation. My students have the opportunity to get questions answered in real time and meet company CEO and his co-founder, chief programmer, Daniel Hotop (speaking to us from Australia) and Demibooks got feedback from a batch of new, techno-savvy users.

This happened at the beginning of week 4, so the students had had enough time to delve into their Composer Studio projects. In fact, the sophistication of the preview questions I sent Rafiq before the event, especially about coding, prompted him to have Dan in on the session too. I had also sent 2 student games and 1 student book project for their review before our conversation. I wanted Demibooks to see what the students had been able to accomplish. I was thrilled to hear them say they had played Sean's accelerometer maze game all morning. Very cool! 

We spent almost an hour talking to Rafiq, Daniel and intern Peter Bertucci. There were specfic questions for Dan about programming issues, general feedback about the students' experiences with the app, student suggestions and some ideas about where Demibooks is headed. I think the students were pleased to hear about a Demibooks/Virginia connection. Rafiq went to graduate school at Virginia Tech.

Sita Sings The Blues and Intellectual Property

One of our themes this course was intellectual property...or rather I should say one of my themes. When asked where a student got an image they were including in a project I frequently got the response, "from Google".  As if Google was a fruit tree of images for the taking. I am not a lawyer so my understanding of intellectual property law is basic at best, but it's such an important issue and in such a state of flux these days. I am a huge fan of Kirby Ferguson's "Everything Is A Remix", the web documentary about creativity in all realms and where ideas come from and how they evolve, specifically relating to copyright and patent laws. Ferguson presents the theory that "copy, transform and combine" is at the core of creativity.

We watched each of the 4 segments on separate days and had a brief discussion about the content after each segment. They are very well done and inspire discussion.  I continued to have students who didn't seem to distinguish between copyrighted material and those images the creators had made available for use by others. Some habits are hard to break.  

Frame from Sita Sings the Blues, animated feature by Nina Paley

It all came home to them when we watched Sita Sings the Blues, an animated feature film created primarily with Flash, the software the students had all used in class.  I explained to them that the creator, Nina Paley had run into copyright issues, quite unexpectedly. She had done her research, just not as deeply perhaps as she should have. It all hit home when one of the students said, "but she got paid, right?". Well not exactly, certainly not the way she intended. This is how Nina explains her copyright issues on her website.

Q: Can you describe “Sita’s” copyright issues?

A: It’s about the songs themselves. All the research I did was on the recordings, which are not covered by federal copyright law, which is great. However, the compositions that underlie the recordings are not only controlled, they’re controlled by corporations that have no regulation on what they can charge. For me to get permission from them to use these 80-year old songs would have cost me more money than it cost to make the entire film. The songs were supposed to be in the public domain in the ’80s, but everything’s been extended by big media corporations for various reasons. It poses quite a challenge to tiny little low-budget artists like me. What they’re asking for is a really a drop in the bucket for a big studio or a big production. But it’s completely untenable for me. (source)

I get a big kick out of how much students enjoy Sita Sings the Blues. I have shown it for years now. The film is a brilliant mix of multiple stories, one autobiographical and the other based on the Ramayana. The artwork is also a mix of styles of classical Hindu art and contemporary animation. This is copy, transform, combine to perfection. I hope Kirby Ferguson has seen it.

Our AnimaJam 

Veronica's box, beginning and end of each student's short animation

An AnimaJam is a short film that consists of a series of animations by different animators that begin and end with the same frame/image so that they can be linked together. I have had students do this before and it's always a lot of fun. Collaboration seems to make everything better. All of the students submitted an opening/closing image for consideration and we voted. Veronica's artwork, a single line and a box with an open top was selected. Veronica is one of the stand-out artists of the group and I was in complete agreement with their choice. You can see the students work and the AnimaJam on the website Adriana designed for the class.



Our Film Festival and Award Winners

Every year my animation/media design course ends with a film festival on the last day of class. I invited Lynchburg College professor of art, Siobhan Byrns to be our guest juror. Siobhan is a photographer and digital media expert. I was very happy to share with her the great work of these students. 

Students watching the entries. Far right our guest judge, Siobhan Byrns  Photo: Lynchburg College

Juror's Choice: 

Best Animation:  Veronica
Best Interactive Project: Xavier
Best Art: Rachel
Best Composer Studio Project: Ezzy
Best Overall Project: Eli

                   Veronica checks out Ms.Potato Head, ah, her "Govie" for Best Animation.                            Photo: Lynchburg College

Students' Picks

Best Animation: Daniel
Best Interactive Project: Veronica, Ezzy, Xavier
Best Art: Rachel
Best Composer Studio Project: Ezzy
Best Overall Project: Veronica


Congratulations to all of our winners. Those five students who received the Juror's Awards received the coveted "Govie".

Eli and his Govie for Best Overall Project  Photo: Lynchburg College

Take Away

1. Working with smart, focused students is tons of fun.
2. I love sharing information and watching it blossom.
3. Do things differently next time. (watch for my next post).

Students, stay in touch. Parents, support your students and buy them hardware and software if you can and you know they will use it. Lynchburg College, Prof. Danny Cline is an amazing person who puts his heart and soul into this program. We are all lucky that he does.

Hello World. Welcome to Demibooks Composer Studio

I have been working toward today for a number of months now. It started in April when I emailed Professor Danny Cline, the director of the Governor's School of Math, Science & Technology here at Lynchburg College, requesting a few iPads for my Gov School students this year. I was unaware at the time forces (thanks below) at Lynchburg College were in the process of procuring a large technology grant specifically for the purpose of stimulating creativity in the arts. What followed was the miraculous dovetailing of my original request to Danny and the grant. What manifest was many iPads, apps for creating content on the iPad and related hardware to wrangle 30 iPads at once. With a little bit of hand wringing, I was able to get my friends in IT to order the supplies in time for Gov School students to use them. Yipee. And with a lot of hard work from everyone, it all came together.  Today the students worked on the iPads and were introduced to Demibooks Composer Studio.

Demibooks Composer Studio interface as you open a new document to start working.  May not seem all that exciting, but this is the front door to an universe of possibilities.

It actually all began many months ago when I read an email from my friend Lisa Goldman, organizer of Women in Animation in NYC. Will Denton was presenting information about "a powerful and intuitive authoring tool" that could incorporate animation. That sent me to Demibooks website and our lives became entwined.

So this morning I showed the students the two apps I am currently developing in Demibooks Composer Studio, Duck Takes a Ride - An Art Story and ABC.DC - An Art Alphabet as a way to introduce the interface and some of the functionality of the app. Yes, Demibooks Composer Studio is an iPad app.  All of the production is done on the iPad. My interest was to share my enthusiasm with the students, provide enough information to get them going, and see what happened. 

My project Duck Takes A Ride - An Art Story to be released soon.

 I am especially interested in having the students explore the physics capabilities. I have not done so at all in my own development work. I challenged them, as game players, to come up with a game that works in this structure. That's one reason I think Composer Studio's Hot Zones are so important. Hot Zones are a new feature in the latest version of the software. A Hot Zone is created, targets identified and the fun begins. As a target object enters or leaves a Hot Zone, a myriad of Behaviors can be programmed. I was very pleased with the results I got right away. They are taking the challenge.

Sean is one of the more enthusiastic Composer Studio users. This is the interface for his game that uses the iPad accelerometer and tilting functionality.

The dream academic environment in one inwhich tools and instruction are provided for students who are motivated to accept the challenge to own the tools and use them in their own creative expression.  In doing so, they share their findings and new knowledge with each other and inspire even more experimentation and creative expression. 

Adriana is working on this love story game.

One of the nicest surprises has been  Procreate, an app for making art on the iPad. I knew other Composer Studio developers were using it to make content on their iPads, however I had not used it before I dabbled about before introducing it to the students. They have done some very interesting work. Here is an image from Eli, one of the most prolific and inventive artists of the group.

Eli's image created in Procreate

Another student is working on an animated story about the life cycle of a butterfly.  Congratulations students for taking the challenge to create content with these exciting new tools.

An image from Faiza's life cycle animated story

I would like to thank the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges,  Richard Pumphrey, professor in the Art Department, Carol Hardin, Director of Grants Advancement, Deborah Blanchard, Director of Communications and Marketing, Danny Cline, Director of the Governor's School, Jackie Almond, Director Technology Support Services, Sharon Keefe, Technology Business Manager, Charley Butcher, Educational Technology Specialist and Donna White, Technology Support Services Technician for all of your help.  And all of the others who played a role in getting us up and running by early July.

GovSchoolWeek1--Great Group of Students

Saturday was the end of classes for week 1 of the Virginia Governor's Residential School of Math, Science and Technology at Lynchburg College. I've had a chance to get to know the students and we've made huge progress in getting everyone launched on their own animation project.

You'd think I lived in the lab for the amount of gear I bring to class every day.

It's really nice to see how the students bond to each other quickly and all seem to be having a really good time. I really appreciate how happy they all seem and how much they are focusing on their work. 

I have to encourage all of the students to take a break, they are so focused. Austin, Ezzy, Ryan and Adriana.

I like to start the students off with really simple blank keyframe projects, either lightning or fireworks, so they really grasp the idea of working on a timeline. Many of them had done video editing, which of course deals with the same issues. Next were sequential keyframes to build animation that replicated building a castle brick by brick.  It seems a bit odd to feel so strongly that this is a great way to introduce Flash because I am quite sure they will never use either of these techniques exclusively to produce an animation again.

These two simple animation projects completed, next step is to develop their own animated character short, very short. Out come the notebooks for conceptualizing and a sketches. This always takes some work on my part to get students interested in thinking about what they want to do away from the computer. They generally want to jump right in. I certainly understand, that's human nature. This is an important step, I love these notebooks and the opportunities they offer to chill and let the ideas percolate.

Ryan working on this animation.

These are some of the shorts that I have the students watch as they are thinking about doing their own project.  PIxar's Luxo and another an ad which is also credited to Pixar. Brilliantly funny and entertaining and great examples of a great story told in a few minutes or less.

 

 

It was interesting to see the themes that evolved for the student shorts.  A few little love stories, some with human characters, others with inanimate objects. There is a space wars themes and one or two that relate recycling. We had some interesting discussions about parody and watched a very clever stop motion video, Grocery Store Wars by Free Range Studios. Not sure how much Free Range Studios is still working with Flash, but they have a wonderful archive of work that I love to show the students. They are extremely clever with high production values.

Veronica is definitely one of the most skillful artists in the group.

Looking forward to Week 2. The students will "finish" these projects and we'll talk about interactivity and start working on the iPads.