GIF Workshops: Data & Framework

Sveuciliste Josipa Jurja Strossmayera U Osijeku, Fakultet za odgojne i obrazovne znanosti (FOZOOS)

Name of the N-arts activity: GIF Workshops

To promote the need for lifelong (arts) learning and education, to enhancement social skills and empower participants through the arts, and to give them a possibility to learn a new skill.

General Data

Characteristics

From: December 2018 to May 2019
Frequency / Periodicity: 7 workshops, lasting 2 to 4 hours
Art form: Gif animation in body movement, drawing, land-art
Kind of activity: extra-curricular

Participants

Number of participants: 72
Age: from 20 to 23
Gender: 69 Female, 3 Male
Social background (if applicable): student population 

 

Framework

Description of the activity 

The Gif (Graphics Interchange Format) is a digital image format. It has come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability between many applications and operating systems (computers, tablets, mobile phones). 

The main activity in this Project is to make a short animation using gif format.

Gif workshops are implemented in three forms:

The first form is to create gif animations based on the drawings, where animation follows different stages of a drawing.

Another form is the animation gif of the movement or position of the human body. The whole body, or just a part, is photographed in many sequences, and the result is an unusual or “impossible” movement.

The third approach of creating gif animation is based on the land art, with found artefacts in nature.

• There were 7 different workshops; each lasted from two to four hours.
• Workshops were held at the Faculty of Education in Osijek and in Slavonski Brod. 

Intentions, goals, aims

Keywords: digital era, personal development, lifelong learning

Artistic:

  • Further developing artistic expression for participants who have shown a strong commitment to the field.
  • Developing additional artistic skills that they can use in their professional work and that are not included in the syllabus.
  • Enhancement and empowerment of the arts and social skills of participants.
  • Promoting the need for lifelong (arts) learning and education.

Social:

  • Developing security in public speaking roles as future lecturers by breaking personal barriers and fears of public appearance.
  • Putting participants in a new digital era.
  • Giving participants a possibility to learn a new skill.

Empowering the interest of professional and personal development and research (“I can do more things than just teaching.”).

Planning/preparation

Participants of this workshops are all students of Faculty of Education. As they also have art (visual, music and theatre) in their curriculum, and some of them are artistically gifted, this workshop was an opportunity to learn new skills and to be creatively productive.

Participants were presented with the aim of this workshop. Engagement was offered to all, not only to theones who have shown certain abilities in artistic expression, such as visual art and or artistic movement.

Participants attend all workshops voluntary, free inside the Faculty, with no obligation.

Providing space and time when workshops can be organized.

Preparing appropriate materials.

Introducing participants to design gif animations with the help of a suitable mobile application.

Describing the working procedure. 

Creating a closed group on social media networks for information, developing ideas through the process and placing workshop results. This includes analysis and comments from the trainees themselves and workshop leaders.

Presenting and exhibiting the results. 

 Teaching/Training Method 

Keywords: the self-organization, skills learning, suitability; non-frontal

At the beginning of each workshop, participants are explained how gif animation can be designed. The process requires graduality and awareness of the importance of continuity in the designing of animation (frame, composition, light, continuity, frame by frame, alignment).
For the initial part a frontal teaching method is used, in the later part it depends on the assignment. The individual method is used to help and conduct participants while drawing, and in group work for motion animation.
Participants organize themselves in a movement and land art workshop, defining roles, aligning with one another to achieve the set goal.

In the drawing workshop, participants independently develop an idea that goes from detail to the whole.
The final product is suited to the workshop participants. No criteria have been set that must be met, but ultimately the results achieved are discussed, and what can be done differently is analysed, and to what extent it is possible to make further improvements to the idea.

Outcomes

The results of the workshop are animated gifs, in three categories.

Artistic outcomes:

  • The process of creating gif animation has been adopted - a step forward in developing artistic skills and learning animation,
  • Awareness was developed about the need to plan the process of animation, body movement, animated objects, and drawing.

Social and personal outcomes:

  • Groups were established that conducted all the workshops - learning of self-organization.
  • Developed a collaborative relationship among participants in the animation of body movements - learning social skills: how to act with others, what is required to make a good leadership, defining personal boundaries and knowing the others.
  • Encouraged independence in developing the idea and implementing the idea to its final goal.
  • Developed confidence in own ideas (publishing ideas):
  • building confidence,
  • being recognized by oneself and by the others,
  • building critical thinking.

 All work was exhibited and presented at the Faculty of Education in Osijek and on Internet (Facebook group -https://www.facebook.com/groups/356066698457490/ ).