Animated Learning Conference

– Philosophical thinking and creative filmmaking

In this workshop the participants will be working both philosophically and creative. It is based on one or more phenomenas that we recognize from our everyday life and which simultaneously have been object for philosophical wondering through history, for example happiness, evil, freedom, friendship and courage. Through various philosophical exercises, aesthetic-creative processes and conversations rooms, the participants will look into which perspectives and dilemmas that are combined to the phenomena. It can be questions about what happiness is, are humans born evil, is freedom a goal for life, is friendship something you can choose and is courage better than fear. In film production the participants will show how the philosophical questions and dilemmas appears in concrete and recognizable everyday situations.

The entire workshop is organized so that it can be used with children in different age groups afterwards. With Lho Høiris and Louise Nabe-Nielsen from Rum for Undren and animator Tina Klemmensen.

(This workshop will be held in Danish.)

This workshop is split in two parts. From 12.00-14.00 with Nikolaj Rodkjær Kristensen from Tjek Det and from 14.00-16.00, Rebecca Sørensen and Munib Kardasevic from Enigma .

In this workshop we’ll investigate how to teach and engage students in critical thinking and fact checking. You’ll get hands on experience with the Danish learning platform: STOP. THINK. CHECK IT! which you can use in your own practice. The learning platform engages students through podcasts, videos and hands on activities. The aim is to strengthen their digital literacy by providing them with tools to identify mis-, des- and malinformation. Short explainer videoes introduces the themes and the podcast series, ’Digital Detective’ follows a danish fact checker from Tjek Det in his investigation of real life cases through 7 episodes. The hands on activities focuses on the use of fact checking tools. The students produce their own fake information based on criterias typically found in mis-, des- and malinformation. Finally they fact check each others productions with the tools that Tjek Det also uses professionally. In this workshop you’ll experience the activities first hand as you are put in the role of the students. Target group: Teachers of students age 14-18 years old.

The learning platform is developed by:

• ENIGMA – Museum of communication
• Tjek Det – a danish fact checking media/organization
• The danish media council – For children and young people (Medierådet)
• The Association of teachers in social science (FALS)

In this immersion workshop, Camil Hesse will give a thorough introduction to his world as a facilitator of play, creativity and developmental work with digital media as play tools. Focusing on play processes with stopmotion animation and film on iPad, we will explore the possibilities for didactic work with language, well-being, culture and personal development in day care. During the workshop, we will test the two creative apps Stopmotion Studio and PuppetPals directors cut, which are easy to use for both adults and children and have great play potential.

There will also be the opportunity to try out different types of iPad stands if you would like to invest in these aids, and there will be time to share experiences with both participants and the presenter. After the workshop, you will be able to implement digital play and animation production activities in your institution on your own.

Bring an iPad and make sure you can install the apps or download the apps in advance.

The TinkerQube is a wooden wireframe/space for instantly constructing scenographies, project environments, machines, experiments and other physical fun in more dimensions. The cubes works fine as a tinkering filmstudio for creating stop motion, multi-camera footage, jigs, rolling backgrounds etc. in a fun, engaging and hands-on way. At the workshop/micro adventure playground, we will play with building a movie with scenes, jigs, lights, narrative processes etc. A co-creative frame by frame animation made by participants at the conference.

Feel free to jump in and out of the story and make exactly what part you want.
The TinkerQube is open from all sides and all ideas. Join us!

– With Martin Spenner and Sia Søndergaard

The Animation Workshop/VIA UC and the Danish production company Lommefilm (Pocketfilm) has co-worked in development of the material Mama Lighthouse. The target group for the material are students age 7 – 10 years old. With a mixture of professional animation film and the students own produced films, Mama Lighthouse reminds us that we are all connected and obliged in relation to each other. The workshop is a hands-on workshop and teaches all participants how to use the Mama Lighthouse material on their own.

 

– With Leo Antolini

In this workshop, we will discuss how character design can become a powerful tool to address social and cultural issues. Using examples from previous experiences with Armenian, French, and Ukrainian students, you will learn how to use basic character-building techniques to connect with students’ backgrounds and showcase individual voices and concerns. Core design concepts like shape, contrast and personality will be reviewed. Finally, you will try your hand at creating your own personal character, connected to a specific topic. By the end of the workshop, you will be able to apply this know-how with your own students, in a variety of projects.

 

This workshop track consists of a speak from The Danish Film Institute and a number of short presentations from partners in film literacy who will present their daily work or specific projects. There will also be time for a common discussion focusing on the responsibilities and ethics working with film and media literacy in a digital age. We will raise the question what do we need to be aware of to make sure that children and youth will gain the right sense of judgement in the digital age?

Together with Mads Møller Tommerup Andersen, we will collect the answers and after the conference make them into an article to share with the participants and we will encourage the participants to keep the discussion alive by inviting them into a think tank in film and media literacy.

Facilitators: Laura Søndergaard Isaksen and Mads Møller Tommerup Andersen.

Speak from The Danish Film Institute

The Danish Film Institute will open this track with a talk and discussion Film and critical thinking. Different projects and partners will present their work, and there will be time for a common discussion about the responsibilities and ethics working with film and media literacy in a digital age. How can cinematic edification contribute to critical edification? Kari Eggert Rysgaard and Martin Schantz Faurholt will present ideas of critical thinking in a cinematic perspective. They will show concrete examples from Filmcentralen and FILM-X, including the activism material ‘To the fight for the climate’ and ‘The Occupation on Film’, where the students will work with authentic film propaganda. In continuation of the presentation, there is an opportunity for discussion.

Short Presentations

 

Cobostories

– Silas Andersen

Can digital storytelling be used in the classroom to foster creative learning? And can we build a training ground for digital behaviour amongst children? In this talk Silas Andersen will talk about CoboStories approach to creative learning through stop-motion production, their learning process, and the potential benefits from this. He will also talk about a social network they created to try and foster good online behaviour amongst children.

Animated Learning Japan

– Hiromi Ito

In co-working with research collaborators Yukio Hiruma and Chie Arai, Animated Learning Lab in Japan (ALLjp) now focus on 3 major projects:

• Demonstrating that animated learning can be used in school studies and social activities through our original activities. Create a Japanese-style teaching and learning method based on the results of those activities.
• Lead diligent teachers and social activists to to use animated learning in their activities.
• Develop online guidance for teachers and “Semiotics of visual language/animation” to Animated Learning and Special World.

Filmefterskolen i Ebeltoft

– Eva Klinting
How do we teach teenagers to develop an artistic voice of their own, even when they are learners and not trained filmmakers or animators? And how can we foster courage to take part in society?

The importance of film language

– Martin Spenner, Lommefilm og Sia Søndergaard TAW

To be active citizens, we must be able to communicate. Today, communication takes place to a large extent through moving images and sound. Children and young people should therefore master the audiovisual language to a much greater extent. Lommefilm and The Animation Workshop have collaborated for many years to implement film language in schools in Denmark and in other partner countries. In our short speech, we will give an insight into our work.

Filmfabrikken

For more than a decade, Filmfabrikken/The Film Factory has offered film workshops for students in primary school at the municipality of Vordingborg. Through various workshops designed for pre-school, third, sixth and eighth grade, they aim to develope students competencies in experiencing, understanding and creating moving images. With a focus on production, they support a creative collaboration using film as a communication tool. Jeppe Jungersen, the leader of Filmfabrikken/The Film Factory, will explain the thoughts and aims behind the workshops, and elaborate why they believe film production is a powerful learning tool in primary school.

IRIS

In 2023 The Aarhus Librarys will open a media literacy lab in the main public library in Aarhus, Dokk1. The lab is designed to give school children and other user groups the opportunity to work productively with media technology that lies behind the mediaproducts, they use and consume. Fx: VR, AR, VP, XR.

IRIS is combined with a web-based, digital toolbox, “POV Filmskolen for lærere og elever”, that enables Schools and students to work with media production locally in the schools. The activities build on the same teaching-method as in IRIS, and they are linked to the activities in the media literacy lab.

A new media landscape requires new teaching methods that correspond, and we need to enable teachers and students to work productively with film and media in a way, they can handle. This is in short the thoughts behind the POV method and IRIS.

Erik and Casper from the IRIS team will give examples of the activities in IRIS and tell about the didactic thoughts behind IRIS and POV.

All children and young people should learn the language of moving images

Film i Skåne works actively to ensure that children and young people from southern Sweden are given the chance to watch, create and discuss film and moving images. This area of work includes providing schools and municipalities with information about school cinema and facilitating individual creativity in moving images, providing advice concerning Skapande skola (creative classes), supplying film educators for classroom work and developing staff skills.

Film i Skåne also runs film educational networks that manage film educators and pilot projects, organises theme days and develops educational activity in places like Ystad Studios Visitor Center (ysvc.se).

Film i Skåne’s work takes place in close collaboration with the 33 municipalities in the region of Skåne.

“Why we left critical thinking”

Critical thinking is good. Since the Enlightenment, it has been a central driving force for the development of science and socity. But critical thinking is not good for everything. Critical thinking can lead to a general distrust of the senses and the intuition. That´s problematic, not least in the work with practice-based film education, where we find that critical thinking is too dominant. In the past few years, Station Next has worked purposefully to develop teaching methods that speak to the body, imagination and intuitive thinking. We have named it artistic film education.

This work started with the development of an accredited diploma program for film teachers and the creation of an artistic research program in film education. In the process, we have moved further and further away from critical thinking as a method and foundation and towards recognizing the value of the senses and intuition.