What is stop-motion animation? Simply put, it is a series of photographs that when played quickly in succession give the illusion that the objects are moving across a plane. When you view a Hollywood blockbuster, it is essentially just 24 photographs played back per second. Our brain fills in the milliseconds in between and we see seamless movement.

Stop-motion is a very forgiving medium. It's quite easy to get started, and it has unlimited potential

Stop-motion animation has been a part of the Hubbard Woods School tradition for decades. In fact, when Bob Golden retired from the Resource Center and Winnetka after 33 years, he shared one of the film movie cameras that he used when teaching stop-motion here at the school decades ago!

Imagine undergoing this process and never 'knowing' if you got the frames just right until weeks later when you developed the film!

Stop-Motion is a medium that can bring success to all ages. When first graders used it to illustrate the lifecycle of the Rainbow Trout we raised, it was pretty obvious that they could use it to communicate much more! That's where the idea for an animation project came about.

Last winter we created a grant that requested funds to purchase some tools and software that would allow us to explore stop-motion animation with our students. These tools included iPad stands and lots and lots of paper, clay and assorted other materials. The three key goals of the grant were to:

1. Explore and create animation
2. Encourage student voice and creativity
3. Collaborate with others

Our incredibly supportive Winnetka Public Schools Foundation awarded us this grant and encouraged us to go "...above and beyond!"

The idea for a student film festival came about after attending the Global Student Voice Film Festival at ISTE this past summer in Chicago. The festival invited students age 5-18 to create short films around a central theme.

"The main goal of the festival is to empower student voice and agency. We hope this program gives students around the globe a chance and platform to share their perspectives with the world and embody the mindset that they don't have to wait until they grow up to make a difference - their ideas can impact people now."

It was inspiring to hear the stories of the students who were selected as winners in each of the categories from around the world. This cemented the idea that we wanted to give our students an opportunity