The 3 Little Piggies - Shadow Puppets Film-making workshop:

Colchester & Ipswich Museum working with Signals Media Arts Centre to provide educational workshops in Film-making using Shadow Puppets.

This little movie was made over 2 days in June 2013 at Ipswich Art School as part of their Saturday Art Club for young people. The participants were all 7 to 9 years old and worked in groups, in two 2 hour sessions per day.

Digital Media Artist Gary Leach worked with the concept of using a traditional folk tale based on the animals exhibited in the adjoining Museum. As an experienced tutor he is concerned not only in the learning process but also of the child centred approach to digital media art creation. In this movie it is very evident that it is the children's work alone that is seen, and heard, on screen.

The film-making process covered such elements as shot types, voice overs, trailers, sound effects and various dramatic conventions. The children also created their own special effects, such as blowing away of letters, the lightning scene, the shaking of the wolf dying, and the reveal of 'The End'.

Through use of various templates, and those directly from the children's imagination, many versions of the characters were developed. There are at least 7 different pigs and 4 or 5 different wolves. The shadow action was shot on a high definition camera worked by the children themselves, with a group of children acting as directors.

The shadow puppets were operated by the children both in front of the screen and using a projector. The dance-off scene during the final rolling credits was made by using the puppets that the children had made during the lead-up to the filming workshops.

Thanks go out to all the children that took part in the workshops! Without them it would not have been possible to make this film!

Watch the trailer here.
vimeo.com/68986423