From animation production to the field of animation teaching, Wu Yanjie, the creative director of ***wanna, led students to animate public issues and learn knowledge outside the classroom; he led teachers to integrate animation into course teaching, and provided The same learning process with a twist of seasoning. He made the public discover that it is not difficult at all to express their opinions through animation.
"The first floor is now a judo classroom..." In the video, the boys in judo uniforms clenched their hands and held their breath, waiting for the opponent's attack. The next second, they were thrown to the side and the boy was spinning in the air. Turn around and instantly transform into a vegetable seller wearing the costumes of the Republic of China. The screen was accompanied by a clear child's voice explaining: "But in the early days, it was a vegetable market." Alumni who participated in the "Farewell to Zhongyi Building" activity in the audience watched intently. It was hard to imagine that such exquisite live-action animation was produced by a fifth grader of Zhongyi Elementary School. Student hands.
From interviewing alumni, writing scripts to shooting animations, it was all completed by this group of students, whose average age was only 11 years old, under the leadership of Wu Yanjie, creative director of ***. Wu Yanjie taught students how to interview alumni, operate aerial photography, and the principles of stop-motion animation shooting. Recalling the production process of the film, he said with pride: "They (students) all felt very honored, because it was equivalent to doing something for the school. They didn't know that Zhongyi Elementary School used to go to Kinmen to work in the army, and I was with them Go learn and understand.” Through animation, Wu Yanjie allows the story of Zhongyi Elementary School to be heard, and also allows children to re-understand the history of the school by letting students make animations.
Wu Yanjie led his students to jointly design the video script and used the architectural model to shoot the stop-motion animation "Farewell to Zhongyi Building" by himself. Provided by Wu Yanjie
As a director of an animation production company, Wu Yanjie entered the field of animation teaching in 2013. He admitted that at first he just wanted to teach the public how to tell a good story with animation. Having been in the animation industry for many years, he has observed changes in the public's movie-watching behavior. "Now is the era of self-media. What everyone is more concerned about is not what I want to watch, but what I want to say." Wu Yanjie reflected, since he With many years of skills as a screenwriter and animation director, can you contribute your own efforts to help the public tell stories better? Therefore, he started his teaching path, "I hope these students will start a unique life experience by learning animation."
Wu Yanjie, who was originally an animation screenwriter, has won the National In addition to offering animation courses, he also filmed animation for the public television children's drama "Fruit Granny". Photo by Li Xinyun
There are hundreds of animation production techniques, and Wu Yanjie decided to start with stop-motion animation. "Stop-motion animation is easier to understand when it comes to animation. Maybe you can't let a six-year-old child understand 3D animation and computer animation in five minutes, and it may be difficult in 50 minutes, but stop-motion animation is not." Wu Yanjie held the tablet and clicked Open the app, casually pick up a Coke on the table and take a few photos, then use the app to play back the photos continuously, and a video of a Coke spinning on the table is born. "With the help of technology, making animation is not difficult at all."
Wu Yanjie believes that animation education does not need to wait until children grow up. The third and fourth grade are the best ages for learning. "He has enough knowledge to use the app and understand the concepts of linearity and nonlinearity and the fun of images." Wu Yanjie explained that for children who are interested in animation, it only takes three weeks to teach them the principles of animation, and the rest is to think about themselves. If you are diligent, you can find resources on the Internet. "Instead of waiting until she is eighteen years old, she volunteers to fill in the film department, and then you come in and do it for four years, and then you can only do one thing (study film). Which one is more efficient?"
Self-developed Teaching aids and setting up children’s camps, Wu Yanjie laughed and said that he had guessed the pulse of the times. The courses were widely praised and attracted the attention of the Yongling Foundation.
In 2017, the Yongling Foundation invited Wu Yanjie to teach animation in rural areas, asking him to think, "In addition to animation, what can I do more in education?" Wu Yanjie We began to try to integrate animation courses into different public issues. While leading students to make animations, they also gave students the opportunity to be exposed to issues outside the general classroom.
Wu Yanjie uses animation to help students understand their hometown and the ocean. He once collaborated with Lin Wanru, a teacher from an elementary school in Nan Australia, and took students to the beach to clean up the beach. After cleaning the garbage on the beach, he made it into animation shooting props, allowing students to understand the harm of garbage to the ocean, and allowing students to use the video to Communicate the importance of ocean conservation. At the invitation of the New Taipei City Cultural Bureau, Wu Yanjie led 120 children to make a sightseeing video "Banqiao Travels" to introduce the children to the city they live in. He also shot a video for the Cultural Bureau to tell the public about the city in the eyes of children. appearance.
After using animation to arouse students' interest, we can use it to expose students to different civic issues, such as ocean conservation and cultural preservation. Provided by Wu Yanjie
"Animation is a communication tool that helps us understand, internalize knowledge, and then communicate it externally." Wu Yanjie explained that in the past, film and television education was regarded as vocational education. However, as technology advances and the ability to make movies becomes more ubiquitous, broader, and more important, it should not be limited to work needs.
"Today we are talking about Du Fu's poems. Can we let the children learn Du Fu's life first, and then we make it into animation? Since it is his first time to make animation, he can't forget Du Fu's life. , because we connect it with life experience." Wu Yanjie gave an example. He believes that animation teaching can also be integrated into general classrooms to add some "spice" to the unchanging learning process.
In addition to teaching students, Wu Yanjie also provides teacher training, hoping that teachers in the system can also invest in animation education and add different teaching methods to the classroom.
Wu Yanjie did not give up. He modularized his teaching methods, designed easy-to-assemble teaching aids, shot teaching videos and uploaded them to YouTube, telling teachers that as long as they gave students teaching aids and showed the videos to students, teachers and students could learn how to make animations together. Wu Yanjie also organized his own children's animation competition, allowing teachers and students to submit submissions, and the effect was greatly improved. Teachers began to lead students to make their own animations and put them on YouTube for the public to watch.
Wu Yanjie’s continuous efforts to promote animation education finally began to take root.
In 2017, Chen Rulan, a teacher at Miaoli Tongxiao Maple Elementary School (Wumei Elementary School Maple Branch), returned to school to lead four children in making stop-motion animations after completing Wu Yanjie’s six-hour teacher training , won the first prize for the National Grandparents’ Day stop-motion animation video with the video “Grandma’s BB Sound”.
The award-winning news not only triggered major media outlets to rush to report on this rural elementary school, but also filled the children of Maple Elementary School with confidence. Chen Rulan did not stop her pursuit of animation education. The following year, she wrote a teaching plan, applied for funding from the Ministry of Education, and trained Jingyi college students to volunteer, run camps, and create animations, so that animation education could spread to other schools in Miaoli.
Wu Yanjie was deeply moved by this. He said: "I sowed this seed, and it really grew something."
Chen Rulan, a teacher at Maple Elementary School, told the Ministry of Education Apply for funding, cooperate with students from Jingyi University, and invite Wu Yanjie to give animation classes to children in rural Miaoli. Provided by Wu Yanjie
Looking through the students' works, Wu Yanjie talked about his next goals with a smile on his face. Through the children's animation competition that has been held for two years, Wu Yanjie has met many teachers who work hard with him on animation education. Now he will integrate resources and match teachers with animation education with schools in need of courses to let more Teachers can work together to help students understand and use animation.
"I have shared my teaching methods with many teachers, and now I want them to use them." Wu Yanjie said confidently.