Animation workshops: phonotrope

Visual arts — 6-11 years old

Educational activity based on the short film Come on

« Learning outcomes »

Implement an artistic project.

« Identify the elements of visual language in a piece of work: colours, shapes, materials, medium. »

Come on © Nikodio

TitleCome on

ThemeChase

Genre & keywordsMusical, geometric shapes, square, triangle, round, vinyl record

Age (for the film)3-11 years

Duration03 min 35 s

DirectorNikodio

MusicKing Biscuit

ProductionNikodio (France, 2014)

Educational activities

Understand the principle of the phonotrope. Create an animation using the phonotrope technique.

« A beautiful short film that will make children want to bring drawings to life. » Using simple geometric shapes, invite the children to invent, like these three adorable characters, the adventure of 3 new heroes.

Before experimenting with this animation technique with children, « watch the very informative video of a Nikodio event where a film is created on a disc in real time »: The phonotrope in concert... More information on the Nikodio website...

This exciting activity for children requires special equipment and remains a little difficult to set up; « teachers should try this technique themselves before using it in class ».

« 1- Materials for this activity »

A vinyl record player.
A vinyl record.
Sheets of paper.
Colored pencils or coloring pens.
A digital camera and a tripod.
A video projector. This animation technique does not work without a camera; « The optical illusion results from the synchronisation between the camera's shutter speed and the disc's rotation speed ». Another technique would be to create the visual interruptions using the flashes of a strobe.

« 2- Preparing the disc »

Cut a sheet of paper into a circle (same diameter as the vinyl record).
Separate the paper disk into 20 parts. This preparation can be done with the children. To do this, before sticking the sheet of paper on the vinyl record, separate the paper record into 4 quarters by tracing the first two diameters. Each quarter must then be separated into 5 parts. You can also download and print a 20-part disc separation template.
Glue the sheet of paper to the vinyl record.

3- Drawing and animation

Imagine a movement that can be repeated endlessly (a bouncing ball, clapping hands, etc.). For a first animation, choose simple geometric shapes like a triangle, a square... Discover examples of children's creations...
Draw each step in order on each of the 20 parts of the paper disk.

4- Viewing

Position the digital camera vertically above the disc.
Spin the record on the record player and turn on the camera. « The camera settings for the disc's rotation speed should have been tested beforehand. »
« Watch the animation through the camera lens, connected to the video projector. »
Compare the projected animation with the animation on the disc itself to understand that this illusion does not work when looking directly at the disc but only thanks to the adequacy

between camera settings and disk rotation speed.

« Phonotrope animation like the one in the short film is quite difficult to set up. » Another technique, simpler but just as exciting, can be adopted: the phenakistiscope. The phénakistiscope (1832) requires neither a record player nor a camera, simply a cardboard disc.

Print the materials for this activity...

Other extensions

The ancestor of the cartoon on disk is the zoetrope (1834), « an animation technique that led to the invention of cinema », the principle of which was to draw a sequence of drawings representing a cyclical movement inside a cylinder pierced with slots. Looking at the rotating cylinder from the outside, the slits allow the drawings to be seen and the solid parts of the cylinder act as a shutter, « briefly interrupting persistence of vision and creating the visual illusion of movement ».

Activity sheet written by: Christophe Defaye

Watch the film and its teaching guide|All educational activities