Below are the list of questions that I plan on asking my interviewee on primary school education and the topics of mental health, mental illness and postive mental health.
The Interview Questions
My name is Katherine Leveridge and I am a third year media production student at the University of Lincoln. I am conducting this research interview in order to understand what primary schools cover in terms of mental health, mental illness and positive mental health to primary school children. The information collected from this interview will be used to help inform my digital media project of creating primary school resources of animation videos that cover the topics of mental health and positive mental health.
Who are you and what year group do you teach in primary school?
What is your understanding of the term mental health?
What is your understanding of the term mental illness?
What is your understanding of the term postive mental health?
Is the topic of mental health covered in the school you teach?
Is the topic of mental illness covered in the school you teach?
Is the topic of positive mental health covered in the school you teach?
If they are, what age groups are these taught to?
Do you think that mental health, mental illness and positive mental health should be taught in primary school? If yes, what year groups do you think these topics should be taught too?
Do you think enough is being down to tech children about mental health, mental illness and positive mental health?
Why do you think that schools do/don’t teach these topics to primary school children?
My idea of my digital media project is to create a collection of animation that discuss the topics of mental health and positive mental health in a child appropriate manor. My plan is to create these videos that will be education and engaging for children aged 9 – 12 and could be used as educational assets to teach children about these topics.
What do you think about my idea?
Do you think that schools would find resources such as these beneficial?
Would you say there is a demand for resources like these within primary education?
Having finalised the questions that I want to ask, my next step will be to actually conduct my interview and gain the answers from the questions. Once I have these answers, I will be able to continue work on finalising my animation ideas and understand whether my learning resources would even be beneficial to primary schools or not.
In order to better understand what is actually being taught in primary schools in terms of mental health, mental illness and positive mental health, it seems imperative to interview someone who teaches the curriculum. Because of this, I will be interviewing a primary school teacher in order to learn more about what is being taught in primary schools so that I can better inform my brief for my project.
What I want to learn from this interview:
The main aim of this interview will be for me to understand more about what is taught in primary schools, specifically in terms of mental health and positive mental health topics. This will help me to fully fledge my idea of mental health educational animation for primary schools, and whether or not these resources would even be useful or appropriate for primary schools.
Below are just some of the points which I hope to understand more about from the interview:
Is mental health, mental illness, and positive mental health covered in primary school at all
Are the school doing enough to educate children on these topics
If primary school teachers think the mental health should be discussed with pupils or if it shouldn’t be covered until high school
Would my learning resources (animations covering these topics in a child appropriate way) be useful to schools
In order to gain answer from my above points, here are just some of the potential question that I am planning on asking during my interview to gage what is actually covered in primary schools and if my resources (animation videos) would be useful.
Potential questions to ask:
What is covered in the school curriculum?
Is the topic of mental health covered in school?
Is the topic of mental illness covered in school?
Is the topic of positive mental health covered in school?
If they are, to what age groups are these taught to?
Do you think that mental health, mental illness and positive mental health should be taught in primary school?
Do you think enough is being down to tech children about mental health, mental illness and positive mental health?
Why do you think that schools do/don’t teach these topics to primary school children?
Having begun the process of collecting potential questions and understanding what I want to learn about the primary school curriculum, my next step will be to actually write up the interview questions ready to ask my interviewee.
Because I wish to make these animations available as school resources, I first need to see what is already accessible to my target audience. To discover this I will look into the national curriculum to understand what is being taught to my target audience in school, as well as look at external resources such as BBC bitesize to learn if there are any resources already covering mental health and wellbeing.
National curriculum for Key stage 1 and 2
Compulsory national curriculum subjects at primary school are:
English
Maths
Science
Design and technology
History
Geography
Art and design
Music
Physical education (including swimming0
Computing
Ancient and modern foreign languages (at key stage 2)
Religious education
Schools often also tech
Personal, social and health education (PSHE)
Citizenship
Modern foreign languages (at key stage 1)
As is shown in the compulsory subjects taught in primary schools, mental health or wellbeing is not one of the subjects covered. However, in the section detailing what schools also tend to cover along side the compulsory subjects there is the subject of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) which is most likely where the topics of mental health and wellbeing would be covered if schools chose to teach those topics, although I can’t say for certain. While looking into the national has given me some insight into what is taught in primary education, it’s still fairly ambiguous whether or not the subjects of mental health and wellbeing are covered in primary schools or not.
BBC Bitesize
BBC Bitesize is an external learning resource for children to use when studying. The site is divided into the different key stages so that children can access learning resources at the appropriate learning level for them. Below is the list of subjects that a key stage 2 student may be studying and can find resources for. As is shown in the image below, there is not specific section on mental health, however, there is a section for PSHE, which is most likely where any resources on mental health and wellbeing would be if this sites has any at all.
After selecting the subject PSHE and Citizenship, you are then brought to this page where the topics are self, relationships, health and safety and community. Again there are no particular topic which seem to cover mental health, with the closest being ‘Emotional wellbeing’ under the topic of self. Within this topic there is not much coverage on mental health, instead the videos cover the topics of anger, what it’s like to live with various illnesses and allergies, and what it is like to be the new child in class. While all these are very important topics, it is a little disappointing that there is not more coverage on mental health.
Resources available on BBC Teach
The next external learning resource site I looked into was BBC Teach which provides classroom resources for students. Just like with BBC Bitesize, the resources are split into key stages with various resources for the different subjects of the curriculum.
After clicking on the subject PSHE I came across a lot more resources that had links to mental health than I did when looking on the BBC Bitesize website. Below are some videos available to key stage 2 children on mental health issues from the perspective of a young person. While these clips are great in highlighting some of the mental illnesses in society, however, there seem to be no clips that explain what mental health actually is to children, only what mental illnesses are.
I think these clips on mental illnesses are presented for key stage 2 children in a very informative yet child friendly way. The videos are narrated by children who have a mental illness and talk about their experience with coping with the condition. The animations highlight the children narration in a way that does not mock or undermine the seriousness of the topics being discussed. The animation style and colour scheme used to the videos is very fitting in illustrating the children stories but not drawing too much attention away from what is being said in the video.
Underneath each of the videos as talking points which teachers could ask after showing the video to the class. These talking points allow for children to open up and potentially discuss what they have just watched and ask questions about mental illness and how to help someone with mental illness.
Below are some more resources from BBC Teach which cover the topic of growth mindset, and how to develop a positive mindset.
After watching these videos I was a little disappointed that it didn’t cover more about mental health. These collection of videos basically cover how it is good to have a positive mindset and how to obtain that. Again I think that the animation style and the way the topic was discussed was in a child appropriate manner, and has given me a lot to think about where the presentation of my mental health animations are concerned.
While this has helped me to understand what is taught in the curriculum for primary school children, and the resources that are available externally to children on the topic of mental health, I still don’t know if mental health is talked about in schools, or if the children even access these external sources. Because of this I plan to interview a primary school teacher in order to gain more of an understanding on if the topic of mental health is ever discussed with children in primary school, and if my project of creating mental health animations that could be shown to primary school children to educate them on the subject would even be appropriate or useful.
Bibliography
BBC Bitesize (2021) Key stage 2 PSHE and Citizenship. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zqtnvcw. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
BBC Teach (2021) PSHE KS2 / KS3: When I Worry About Things. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/pshe-ks2–ks3-when-i-worry-about-things/z7jyd6f. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
BBC Teach (2021) PSHE KS2: Growth Mindset. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/pshe-ks2-growth-mindset/zkph92p. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
Government (2021) The National Curriculum. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-1-and-2. [Accessed 8 March 2021]
There are many different animation softwares available for media practitioners to use, each with their own advantages and short comings. Within this post I aim to explore three different softwares, Character Animation, After Effects and Adobe animate in order to understand what each of these programmes has to offer. This will hopefully help me in determining which software will be best to use for my mental health animation videos.
Character Animator
Character Animator is an Adobe programme that uses your webcam and microphone in order to animate characters in real time. The characters are able to mimic your expressions through tracking in order to match your expressions with lip syncing and eye tracking. The programme also allows you to rig the character and control different gestures using your keyboard in order to create walk cycles or make your character wave. In order to create a character, you first have to design them in either Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, making sure to create the different limbs of that character in the appropriate files labeled correctly, before importing the character over to Character Animator in order to animate it.
These animations can be used in a variety of different ways. Below is an example of where Character Animator was used to during The Late Show to create a funny interview between a cartoon Donald Trump and interview host.
Cartoon Donal Trump Delights Audiences On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Adobe Creative Cloud
This animator software has also been used quite a bit by live stream gamers. Instead of just recoding themselves playing the games on a live stream, some gammers have created a character version of themselves on Character Animator and then narrated over the top.
The software can also be used to make fun and education videos which provide information in a more engaging formate. Below is an example of an educational video that I actually created in my second year of university for primary school aged children talking about climate change.
Nettie the rag doll
When creating this animation in second year I found the software very easy to pick up, especially with the help of numerous tutorial videos on YouTube.
Strengths of Character Animator
Integration with Photoshop or Illustrator
100% functionality
Tracking facial expressions
Automatic animation of limbs
Recording and editing takes
Real-time work on animation
Weaknesses of Character Animator
Isn’t sold as a standalone product (although this is not an issue for me due to having access to the whole Adobe creative cloud suit as a student at Lincoln)
Requires a webcam and a microphone
Confusing UI
Character Animator is great for creating a talking character, especially for real-time streams and in-person events. However, I don’t personally think that this software, or at least this software alone will be the best to use for creating my mental health animations. For my videos, I don’t wish to create a character that just talks about mental health and positive mental health, I want my videos to be more engaging and maybe be a mix between narrative and education. Because of this I think that using Character Animator, or at least Character Animator alone is not an option for me.
After Effects
After Effects is the industry standard motion graphics and visual effects software. The software is used for multiple tasks, including animation. Some of these include, 2D vector animation, basic 3D animation, Character animation, kenetic typography, UI/UX mock-up animations and visual effects. After Effects really excels when it comes to motion graphics/ info-graphics, with the software often being used in commercials and explainer videos.
Subtle Character Animation in After Effects | Workflow & Process
Strengths of After Effects
Range of different effects
Compatible with the creative cloud
Industry standard
Good for small/short projects
Weaknesses of After Effects
Steep learning curve
Not great for telling long stories
No variety of brushes
Adobe After Effects seems to be great for creating short projects, and is good for creating explainer videos. The software has a variety of different effects and is compatible with the whole of the creative cloud. Where the program lacks slightly is in the fact that there is quite a steep learning curve, more so than with Character Animator or Adobe Animate. The programme also doesn’t work so well with bigger projects, which is why it is often used along side Premier Pro when wanting to undertake a larger project. There is also that fact that the programme does not do so well with narrative driven projects, meaning depending on if I make my project more like an explainer video or a narrative story, this software may not be the best to use.
Adobe Animate
Adobe Animate allows you to create interactive animations for games, TV shows and the web, which can be published on multiple different platforms in almost any formate. These include HTML5 Canvas, WebGL, Flash/Adobe AIR and customised platforms like SVG. The software allows you to draw expressive characters that are able to blink, talk and walk with simple frame-by-frame animation.
Below is an example of a video detailing the multiple effects and animations that can be created using Adobe Animate.
Adobe Animate 2020
Strengths of Adobe Animator
Upgraded UI
Animation for any object
Scripting feature
New custom brushes
Additional filters and colour effects for a camera
Output to any platform
Built-in interactive tutorial
Wacom tablets support
Discounts up to 60% (This again does not affect me due to already having access to the whole adobe suit)
Weaknesses of Adobe Animator
Incompatible with many CC programs
Limited functionality
Overall Adobe Animate is great for producing frame-by-frame animator or if you want complete control over a characters motion. The software makes it possible to include multiple characters and camera movements, although it is very limited in the other creative cloud programmes that it is compatible with.
Overall I have learnt that all of these different animation programmes have certain advantages and disadvantages to using them. Having now looked briefly into how each software works, I will attempt to create a small animation using each of these programmes. This will allow me to understand how animating in each of these different softwares works, and will help me to decide which programme will be best to use for my project
Bibliography
Adobe (2021) Adobe Animate A new age for animation. Available from: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/animate.html?mv=search&sdid=N7FDRQJF&ef_id=CjwKCAiAkJKCBhAyEiwAKQBCkh1ieONkWsocxPvp_PyehqU2LxhWc5hWPGp5zg9-LNiE19rQ0TGXihoCseMQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3085!3!340721787110!e!!g!!adobe%20animate!1422700292!54632155863&gclid=CjwKCAiAkJKCBhAyEiwAKQBCkh1ieONkWsocxPvp_PyehqU2LxhWc5hWPGp5zg9-LNiE19rQ0TGXihoCseMQAvD_BwE. [Accessed 5 March 2021]
Adobe (2021) Character Animator Animate in real time. Available from: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/character-animator.html?mv=search&sdid=B4XQ3SY4&ef_id=CjwKCAiAkJKCBhAyEiwAKQBCkmnlpZzdESrCwM6lDO3zfnSob151cRP7L8ypJXPoxQiSNvQcl-V-BxoC-WQQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3085!3!414825074795!e!!g!!character%20animator!9149712170!95257217400&gclid=CjwKCAiAkJKCBhAyEiwAKQBCkmnlpZzdESrCwM6lDO3zfnSob151cRP7L8ypJXPoxQiSNvQcl-V-BxoC-WQQAvD_BwE [Accessed 5 March 2021]
Adobe Animate (2019) Adobe Animate 2020. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhoqpbesFs0&ab_channel=AdobeAnimate. [Accessed 24 February 2021]
Adobe Creative Cloud (2016) Cartoon Donal Trump Delights Audiences On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Adobe Creative Cloud. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD9-zrGxrs4&ab_channel=AdobeCreativeCloud. [Accessed 4 March 2021]
Ben Marriott (2020) Subtle Character Animation in After Effects | Workflow & Process. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6BXA3_TCH4&t=402s&ab_channel=BenMarriott. [Accessed 24 February 2021]
Eva Williams (2021) ADOBE ANIMATE VS CHARACTER ANIMATOR. [Blog] 25 February. Available from: https://fixthephoto.com/adobe-animate-vs-character-animator.html. [Accessed 5 March 2021]
Katherine Leveridge (2019) Nettie the rag doll. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi2ZgcpwkKg&ab_channel=RainbowFineArts [Accessed 24 February 2021]
Keijin Gaming (2020) CHARACTER ANIMATION FOR YOUR LIVE-STREAM TUTORIAL. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmOBhTcebgE&ab_channel=KeijinGaming. [Accessed 4 March 2020]
This is a great example of an animation film that illustrates mental health to children in a fun and child appropriate way. The film follows an 11 year old girl, Riley, and her emotions, Joy, Anger, Fear, Disgust and Sadness as they navigate their new life in San Francisco. The emotions live in headquarter inside Riley’s head, where they advise her through day to day life. However, after Joy and Sadness get separated from headquarters things take a turn for the worse as they try and find their way back for Riley.
This film illustrates one approach on how delicate subject matters can be approached in an appropriate way for younger audiences. The animation style for this film is phenomenal, with the bright and fun colours to attract children, but isn’t overly childish as to alienate older children. The narrative for the film is also highly impressive, covering big topics about emotions, and how children and adults alike should embrace what they feel and not pretend to be happy when they are not. The film provides valuable teaching on emotions, with some of the underlying messages of the film being that you should embrace all your emotions, as they are what help to shape you as a person, and that you don’t need to be happy all the time. Embracing all your emotions helps you to connect better to them and yourself.
An example from the film of this occurring is when Riley finally embraces her feelings of sadness and is able to tell her parent how she really feels about the move to San Fransisco. By opening up to her parents and embracing her sadness, she is finally able to be content having let everything out, and so is able to begin feeling joy again.
This film has provided me with a lot of ideas for where I could take my mental health and wellbeing animations. While originally I planned on creating animations that were directly education in talking about mental health and wellbeing, seeing this film has inspired me to consider making videos that are less directly education and more narrative based. This film has also informed me more about what sort of tone is appropriate for children and that I don’t need to create something that is “childish” in order for children to like it. I obviously need to do a lot more research into my chosen topic of mental health and my target audience of children, but this film has given me a good starting point to begin from.
Bibliography
Marcell Sipos (2015) Inside Out – Sadness helps Riley. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISaHt3ps1dM&ab_channel=MarcellSipos. [Accessed 23 February 2021]
“Animation is a method of photographing successive drawings, models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of movement in a sequence. Because our eyes can only retain an image for approx. 1/10 of a second, when multiple images appear in fast succession, the brain blends them into a single moving image. In traditional animation, pictures are drawn or painted on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed. Early cartoons are examples of this, but today, most animated movies are made with computer-generated imagery or CGI.”
(Maio, 2020)
When it comes to animation, there are numerous different styles in which an artist could present their work. Below are just some of them which I would potentially use for my project.
2D Animation
This type of animation is where characters, storyboards and backgrounds are drawn in two-dimensional environments (Renderforest Staff, 2020). Notable examples of this type of animation includes, The Simpsons, Looney Tunes, Classic Disney, etc.
Example of 2D animation – The Bare Necessities (from The Jungle Book)
3D Animation
This type of animation is when the images appear three-dimensional, and require you to be able to digitally model a character, sculpt it and give it a skeleton in order to rig it to move. This type of animation is often used to create short films, full-length films, TV commercials and many other things too (Renderforest Staff, 2020). Some notable examples of this type of animation include, Toy Story, Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and many more.
Example of 3D Animation – How to Train Your Dragon (2010) – Learning To Fly Scene (5/10)|Movieclips
Whiteboard animation
This type of is often used for explainer video animations and allows audiences to focus on the content due to the minimalist design of the style (Renderforest Staff, 2020).
Example of Whiteboard Animation- Stop Motion|Whiteboard Animation: The Marker Maker
Rotoscoping Animation
This type of animation is when animators trace over footage within a software using a rotoscoping tool (Renderforest Staff, 2020). Some examples of this type of animation include Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella and Fantasia.
Example of Rotoscoping Animation – Alice in Wonderland Behind The Scenes – Live Action Reference (1951) HD
Stop Motion Animation
This type of animation is a technique that requires animators physically to manipulate objects to make them seem as if they are moving on their own (Renderforest Staff, 2020). The character and objects are moved a little bit before a photo is taken, this process is then repeated multiple times in order to create a sequence and animation. Some notable examples that used this animation technique include, The Corpse Bride, Coraline and The Teddy Bears.
Stop Motion Animation – Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride main song – Remains of the Day
Cutout Animation
This form of animation is another form of stop motion animation. Paper cutouts are moved under the camera lens in order to illustrate the narrative (Renderforest Staff, 2020).
Example of Cutout Animation – “Coco” – Paper Cut Out Animation
Clay Animation
This again is another form of stop motion animation in which the characters and setting is made from clay and moved in increments in order to create the animation. The process of creating this type of animation is very time consuming and requires a lot of hard work (Renderforest Staff, 2020). Some examples of this type of animation include, Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run and Early Man.
Example of Clay Animation – Chicken Run (2000) – Official Trailer [HD]
After researching into the different types of animation styles available, I think that I will use 2D animation for my project. I think that this style of animation will allow me to be a lot more creative with my animation educational videos and advance my skills in the digital discipline. For my project last semester I worked on creating a 3D character, and so I think it will be interesting this semester to see the difference first hand between creating a character and animation in 2D compared to 3D. My next step in my research now will be to explore the different softwares I could use in order to create my 2D animation, and which would be best for my project.
Bibliography
Alyssa Maio (2020) What is Animation? Definition and Types of Animation [Blog].18 November. Available from: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-animation-definition/ [Accessed 23 February 2021]
ChickenRunMovie (2013) Chicken Run (2000) – Official Trailer [HD]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEOfT7hUcDs&ab_channel=ChickenRunMovie. [Accessed 23 February 2021]
DisneySingItVideos (2011) The Bare Necessities (from The Jungle Book). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08NlhjpVFsU&ab_channel=DisneySingItVideos [Accessed 23 February 2021]
FandangoNOW Extras (2012) Alice in Wonderland Behind The Scenes – Live Action Reference (1951) HD. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWwO-h7ZSlw&ab_channel=FandangoNOWExtras [Accessed 23 February 2021]
Headexplodie (20140 “Coco” – Paper Cut Out Animation. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo6-6ENTl7o&ab_channel=Headexplodie. [Accessed 23 February 2021]
Jonny Lawrence (2010) Stop Motion|Whiteboard Animation: The Marker Maker. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZ0iqUS6sg&ab_channel=JonnyLawrence [Accessed 23 February 2021]
Movieclips (2018) How to Train Your Dragon (2010) – Learning To Fly Scene (5/10)|Movieclips. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDyEERuK31Y&ab_channel=Movieclips [Accessed 23 February 2021]
Ray (2011) Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride main song – Remains of the Day. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4p9WKnDQzQ&ab_channel=Ray [Accessed 23 February 2021]
Renderforest Staff (2020) 10 Animation Styles: Which One is Your Favorite? [Blog]. 3 August. Available from: https://www.renderforest.com/blog/10-animation-styles [Accessed 23 February 2021]
During today’s workshop I shared my initial idea for my final year project with the rest of the class in order to receive feedback on my idea. My proposed project is to;
“Create two to three animations that will talk about mental health and wellbeing, specifically positive mental health. These animation will be aimed at children in order to help educate them and give them a better understanding of how to maintain positive mental health”
Below is some of the feedback I received after pitching my idea.
Look into different styles of animation and character design
Look into the workflow
Think about the narrative (educational or my story like)
Make sure to treat mental health with respect
Do detail research on mental health and wellbeing in order to inform people correctly within the animations
Look into different ways to animate
Character animator
After effects
Illustrator
Adobe animate
After receiving all this feedback, I now have plenty of different avenues to research in preparation for creating my animations. One of the most important elements of my project, aside from the research into mental health, will be to decide which programme I will use to create my animations. This feedback has provided me with numerous avenues which I could use, and so one of my first tasks will be to research these and test out which programme/s and workflow will be best for my project.
On Friday I attended a talk held by Disney artist recruitment team. Within the talk I learned a lot about how animation series are created within Disney, and all the different teams that are involved within a production.
The pre-production artistic positions include:
Executive producer
Director
Supervising Director
Writer
Story Editor
Storyboard Artist
Storyboard Revisionist
Production Management Positions include:
Producer
Associate producer
Production manager
Production Supervisor
Production Coordinator
Production Associate
Production Department Secretary
The talk also covered how storyboards and character concept art is created for productions. This consists of numerous line sketches of a character from different angles and with different facial expression. After these line drawings have been developed, they will then be passed along to the next person on the production who will add colour to the drawings and start bringing the character to life. Below are a couple of slides from the talk in which we can see how storyboards and characters are developed for a production.
Reflection
This talk was very insightful in explaining how to create a well developed character and storyboard, which will be very useful for my project of creating character animations talking about mental health. This talk was also very helpful in providing good tips and advice on how to promote yourself as a media practitioner. The talks main objective was to talk about recruitment and so provided a lot of helpful advise on how to create a good portfolio, media CV and tips for interviews, which will all be very useful due to my degree being over in a few months.
Bibliography
Barela, S. Oxley, A. (2021) A Talk with the Artist Recruitment Team of Disney Animation Studios. [Lecture] University of Lincoln. 19 February
