Aspiring animators and media arts enthusiasts as young as 5 years of age journeyed through the fascinating world of stop motion animation at a kids’ workshop hosted by the on-going Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2023) on the weekend. 

The workshop unleashed children's imaginations with a brief outline of stop motion animation followed by a demonstration of the techniques and equipment used in the creation process. 

“Stop motion animation is like an advanced flipbook-style form of animation”, explained Subhana Mansoor, the session demonstrator, adding “it involves physically manipulating objects within a frame, photographing, and playing them in a sequence so as to create the effect of an object moving itself”.  

“Though effortlessly simple in its final form, the flow and flourish of stop motion animation is a direct result of the attention to detail between each snap of the set-up”, she noted.

The workshop’s young attendees dabbled with the latest technologies used in stop motion animation and the props provided to them to demonstrate their unique storytelling abilities. They further learned how to create a storyline, pick angles when arranging objects within frames to add depth to their animations, and use the mobile studio. 

The workshop concluded with the children playing their final animations to each other. 

The Kids Workshop corner is one of the numerous creative hubs children visiting SCRF 2023 can access until May 14 in Expo Centre Sharjah.