AnimatingAncient Vases

www.panoply.org.uk

Dr Sonya NevinClassical Association Annual Conference

Panel: New Approaches in E-Learning

Nottingham 2014

Ure Museum

56.8.8Visit www.panoply.org.uk/everysoldier for an animation trailer made from this vase. Full version out 17th Oct 2014

eLearning. 3 degrees

• Enriching my own direct interaction

with learners

• Supporting teachers and learners in

their teaching and learning

• Very broad unsupported use

The 3 types of

animation

interaction we’ve

been addressing

• Very broad unsupported use

50+ countries

70,000+ views

•Enriching direct interaction with learners

•Supporting teaching and learning

Benefits of using vase animations in class:

• Improved attention to and understanding of artefacts

• Animation linked to improved recall

• Accessible route into discussions• Improved mood: improved learning

•Enriching direct interaction with learners

• Creative interaction:

e.g. storyboarding, character creation, drawing, writing dialogue, etc

• Illustrative thematic use:

i.e playing animations as accompaniments for talks and discussions about topics such as the Olympics, myth, Troy, Aphrodite, athletics, chariots, combat, etc

Existing Topics in animations on the Panoply website:

• Myth: Clash of the Dicers, Pandora, Heracles, Pelops, Medusa, Amazon, Persephone and the Sirens, Eros and Aphrodite

• Athletics and Sports: The Cheat, Runners, Love of Honour, Dance Off, Pelops

• Troy/Homer: Clash of the Dicers, Amazon

• Warfare: Hoplites! trailer, Well-Wishers, Combat, Amazon, Clash of the Dicers

• Monsters: Plant Food, Sirens, Heracles, Medusa

• Horses/Chariots: The Cheat, Amazon, Pelops

• Women: Pandora, Medusa, Amazon, Sirens, Eros and Aphrodite, Well-Wishers, Plant Food, Love of Honour

• Citizenship: Love of Honour (sport and symposium), Well-Wishers (warfare, family)

• Red Figure vases: Pandora, Eros and Aphrodite, Well-Wishers , Plant Food, Love of Honour

• Black figure vases: Persephone and the Sirens, Clash of the Dicers, Heracles, The Cheat, Runners, Dance Off

Creative interaction based around animations has been particularly strong in projects at the Ure Museum (see http://www.panoply.org.uk/ure-discovery.html# )

vase handling session at the Ure Museum for pupils from an arts

academy

Blank example storyboard.

Storyboarding involves

creating a

story and breaking it down into

itsvital elements using visual

markers and minimal notation.

Create stories based on scenes

on ancient vases.

‘Chariot 2 trips over cup and slows down. Chariot one reappears.’

The University of Nottingham demonstrated the academic benefits of storyboarding as part of a project on alternative assessments for undergraduates (project page at www.nottingham.ac.uk/classics/teaching-learning/modules/index.aspx )

Learning through Storyboarding

•Outcome-orientated artefact interpretation

•Motivated, detailed focus

•Characterisation

•Story development

•Creative engagement

Later this year, Panoply will be holding workshops with MA students at University College Dublin’s Classical Museum. The students will develop an interpretation project leading to the creation of a new animation for the museum. The project will strengthen the students’ understanding of interpretation and public engagement.

Panoply’s latest project is Every Soldier has a Story.

The project features:•An animation, Hoplites! Greeks at War, being made now!•Webpage www.panoply.org.uk/everysoldier•Activity Sheets (downloadable from project webpage)•Public workshops•Short film made from public activities•Exhibition at the Ure Museum•Animation launch event at the Ure Museum, 17th October 2014. Launch will feature the animation, with live music from ancient theatre specialists Thiasos, a showing of the short film, exhibition of public contributions and artworks, and a reception. This event is free and public.

This page from the downloadable activity sheet invites people to join in an activity based on the vase.

The questions help people create a character for their hoplite.

People’s responses will be collected in a short film that will be posted at and shown at the launch of Hoplites! in the Ure Museum on October 17th 2014.

The Hoplites! vase (56.8.8), in situ in the Citizenship case at the Ure Museum

‘I am too old to fight!!! Save me, god!!!’

‘My hoplite would preferto be at a symposium’

‘My hopliteis a feminist’

‘My hoplitesoldier loves to be the leader’

•Creative interaction

•Illustrative thematic use

Olympics, myth, Troy, Aphrodite, athletics, chariots, combat, etc

•Primary•Secondary•Higher Education•Learning beyond the classroom

The Panoply animations can be used with learners at all stages, only the supporting discussion needs adapting

•Supporting teachers and learners in their teaching and learning

•Supporting teachers and learners in their teaching and learning:

Learners watching the animations in museums

The animations created in the Ure Discovery project (www.panoply.org.uk/ure-discovery.html# ), were built into a museum trail. Visitors could take the animations around the museum at their own pace, bringing them to the vases they were made from, with additional access to database entries on the vases and a vase-based computer game

Clash of the Dicers will be featuring in an exhibition in Switzerland called Veni, Vidi, Ludique. Visitors will watch the animation along with game-related artefacts and other exhibition materials.

•The Roman Museum of Nyon from May 2014•The Swiss Museum of games from September 2014•The Roman Museum of Vallon from Spring 2015

•Supporting teachers and learners in their teaching and learning:

Supporting learners via the Panoply website

Each animation comes with a resources page that features information about the myth or history in the animation, about the vase and the music, links to related ancient literature and museum sites, example storyboards, suggestions for further reading materials and activities based on the animations

Sept. 2015

Panoply is developing a series of educational resources made from four vases housed in the British Museum. These four vases are superb pieces all on the UK national curriculum. The animations made from these vases will be joined by information on the vases and their subjects, and a greater integration of animation, learning resources, and interactives