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Welcome to Wallace & Gromit’s Activity Pack 8-11 years vvHO THOUGHT OF THAT? Fun facts, stories and inspiring activity ideas for 8-11s from the world of innovation and Intellectual Property! Aimed at parents, teachers and club leaders. 8-11s might quite like it, too... Time to get cracking! www.crackingideas.com © Aardman Animations Ltd. 2010

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Welcome to Wallace & Gromit’s Activity Pack

8-11 yearsvvHO THOUGHT OF THAT?

Fun facts, stories and inspiring activityideas for 8-11s from the world of innovation

and Intellectual Property! Aimed atparents, teachers and club leaders.

8-11s might quite like it, too...

Time to get cracking!

www.crackingideas.com © Aardman Animations Ltd. 2010

Innovative ideas surround us in everyday life. Innovation means a new idea ordevelopment that makes something possible. Every idea has its origin in thecreativity of one person. Their creativity – a product for the home, a piece ofmusic, an animated character – is protected by their Intellectual Property (IP)rights. These rights identify the creator as the owner of the idea and enablethem to earn money from the idea so they can continue to innovate.

This resource introduces children age 8-11 to the world ofinnovation and the four types of Intellectual Property (IP). It isinspired by Wallace & Gromit and Aardman Animations but isalso filled with other fun facts and activities to encouragecuriosity about how things work, and ideas to make thingswork better!

PATENT: Protects the technical side of an invention –what makes it work?TRADE MARKS: A badge of origin – what sets it apart?DESIGN: Protects the way a product looks –what makes it look great? COPYRIGHT: Protects things like books, art, musicand films – what makes it original?

Curriculum Links: See World of Cracking Idea

s website

for details.

1-hour Innovation: Free 60-minute intro

ductory lesson plan

for 8-11s. Can be u

sed in conjunction w

ith this resource to

explore the nature a

nd process of innov

ation. See World of

Cracking Ideas web

site.

Eureka Challenges and Cracking Ideas Competition:

This resource can su

pport planning and i

deas for these initiati

ves

on the World of Cracking Idea

s website.

This

resource is

aimed at

8-11s

INNOVATION

www.crackingideas.com © Aardman Animations Ltd. 2010

patents

Patents protect the technical side of aninvention – what makes it work? Patents aregiven to inventions that are novel and include atechnical step forward. In real life you have tokeep your invention secret until you file apatent application. If people don’t protect theirinventions using a patent, other people mayuse, make or sell it without their permission.

Let’s talk about: Inventors havefound ways of using wind, sun andwater to provide energy for hundredsof years. Find two examples foreach, one from long ago and anotherfrom the last 20 years. How do theywork? Patents are important toprotect an inventor’s idea.

Discover

Let’s draw: A new improved version of a

handheld gadget

Choose a favourite hand-held gadget –a

mobile phone, MP3 player or games console.

• Rate your chosen gadget using these 4

questions: Function - What is its purpose? Is

it useful? Shape/decoration - What does it

look like? Materials - What is it made of?

Does it have different components? Comfort

factor - Does it fit comfortably in your hand?

• Have you found any problems in how your

gadget works? Re-design it to improve it!

• You can re-position buttons, use different

materials, make it a different shape or add

new things to make it more useful to you.

Can you power it naturally? Label each

change to the original.

Explore

Explore

www.crackingideas.com

Wallace invents machines that hehopes will make life easier for himand Gromit. In A Matter of Loaf andDeath they start a bread bakingbusiness in their house; Wallacehas the idea to put a windmill onthe roof to provide the energy forthe machine to grind the wheatinto flour. Wallace wants toprotect his idea with a patent.He says his invention is ‘patentpending’ – he has to wait tosee if his idea is new.

Who thought of that? A new favourite toyThe first DS™ (‘dual screen’) handheld video gameconsole was made by the Nintendo® company in Japan in2004. A patent was granted because it used new anddifferent technology to other consoles; this meant thecompany could grow and develop new consoles. TheDSi™ is smaller and thinner. Aardman licensed acompany called D3Publisher todevelop and publish videogames for the DSi™ with Shaunthe Sheep. Baa-rilliant!

Who thought of that?An old favourite toy An art teacher, William Harbutt,invented Plasticine® in 1897.He wanted his students tohave modelling clay thatdidn’t dry out. He alsowanted children to enjoy it.

Case studyAardman LicensingManager – Rob Goodchild:“At Aardman there are twothings that make us special:we make brilliant animatedTV shows, adverts andfilms, and we create thecharacters and storieswhich we call ourintellectual property (IP). Itcosts a lot of money and takesa lot of effort to create them, so we protect them tomake sure that other people can’t use them without ourpermission. Often, we give a license to other businesseswho want to make products (such as toys, books, clothes)using our IP and then we earn money from ‘royalties’, part of the price that these products are sold for.”

Rob Goodchild

A Matter ofLoaf and Death

Shaun the Sheep, the game!

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trade marks

Trade marks protect a badge of origin/brandname – what sets it apart? Trade marks canbe words, a logo, or both. When a trade markis registered the owner canuse the ® symbol next to it.If people register theirtrade mark, they can stop other people using it without their permission.

Discover

Aardman Animations is the companythat makes the Wallace & Gromit films.It also makes Shaun the Sheep, AngryKid, Planet Sketch and much more.These are the trade marks for Aardman,Wallace & Gromit and Planet Sketch.

Who thought of that?A new way to sell a biscuitAardman Animations also makes animated televisionadverts. It’s made them for lots of things, including onefor biscuits. This is the trade mark for McVitie’s®, a kind ofsweet biscuit made of wholemeal. What does the trademark tell you about the product? They also make achocolate-covered version. Perfect for dipping in ahot cup of tea!

For the advert, Aardman createdblades of wheat with CGI(Computer Generated Imagery).Each blade had a character and itwas in a little story. At the end of theadvert was the packet of McVitie’s®

Digestives and the trade mark.

Who thought of that?A new biscuitA young Scot called Alexander Grantinvented the digestive biscuit in 1839.He worked for McVitie’s® bakery. They were called‘Digestives’ because they were thought to help digestion.We like them, whatever they’re good for – in the UK wenow eat an average 52 chocolate-covered Digestivesevery second!

® McVitie’s is a registered Trade Mark of United Biscuits (UK) Limited

Case studyThe director of the McVitie’s® commercials wasAlan Short. Inspired by the McVitie’s® wheat sheaf-like logo, he turned it into three characters: a bravewheat sheaf telling his parents about his dream to bewholemeal, a romantic wheat sheaf singing aboutrunning away with a strawberry to become a Yog Fruitdigestive and an excited wheat sheaf with the new jobof becoming a chocolate digestive. In this way, thetrade mark is used all the way through thecommercial.

Let’s draw: A logo for a packet of

Wallace & Gromit’s biscuits

In the Top Bun bakery, Wallace & Gromit

have made a special recipe biscuit. They

need a good name for the biscuit and a

logo so that people know that it’s theirs.

• What is the shape and flavour of the

biscuits? They might be made of

Wensleydale cheese!

• Think of a name and a logo. What/

who will be in the logo? Make sure it

doesn’t already exist! Research the

logos for biscuit packaging –

how are they different?

• Make a simple biscuit box out of card

or thick paper and add your biscuit

logo. Yum!

Explore

Explore

McVitie’s® logo

Let’s talk about: What do these logosand words tell us about Aardman, thecharacters and the TV show? Focus onWallace & Gromit – what are the thingsthat make their films so recognisable?Think about other trade marks you’veseen – what are the things that makethe product recognisable? How doesthe trade help with this?

www.crackingideas.com

Design

Protects the way a product looks – whatmakes it look great? Designs must be new andlook different to already known designs.Registered design protects how it looksincluding the materials and also any pattern.

Let’s talk about: Why are there somany different shapes and colours ofthe same kitchen products - likekettles - if they all do the samething? Find pictures of differentdesigns of the same kitchenproducts. How do the designs makeyou prefer some more than others?

Discover

In the Cracking Contraptions series,Wallace invents the Autochef to makebreakfast and serve it to him andGromit. The design is great: It lookslike a real chef but has a blenderinstead of chef’s hat and switchesand dials instead of eyes andbuttons. Smart blue and whitechecked trousers complete theoutfit. Unfortunately the robotdoesn’t work as well as it looks:the tea pours so fast throughthe kettle spout ‘nose’ that Gromit has tojump out of the way and when the fried eggs land onWallace’s eyes he asks “Who turned out the lights?”

Who thought of that? A new way of readingAs well as making films and TV shows, Aardman alsoresearches and develops innovative ideas that use newdigital technology to help people. With the BBC andAdobe computers, Aardman developed the idea for BookNotes. It’s for students at secondaryschool or in college: instead of writingnotes into the margins of text books,they can read it on screen, typing innotes and saving ideas to a‘scrapbook’. The design mattered –if it wasn’t clear students might goback to pen and paper!

Who thought of that?A new way of listening In 2009, British inventor TrevorBaylis - who first invented the‘wind-up radio’ that worked using a clockworkmechanism instead of batteries or electricity - invented awind-up MP3 player. After one minute of winding with thehandle, the ‘Eco Player’ gives 40 minutes of music. It alsoincludes a tiny screen, a radio, a voice recorder and a torch!The invention is important because it’s good for the planetbut the design or look of the product is also importantbecause it encourages people to buy it.

Case studyCreative Director, AardmanDigital – Dan Efergan:“Thinking is at the heart ofall Aardman creations.We always start withprocesses such as creatingand gathering ideas inbrainstorms, exploring userjourneys, pencilling outscreens for wire framesand prototyping simpleworking versions of the application. The time takenresearching is vital to ensure that the things we makeare unique, successful and the best possible solution forthe people who need them. No design can be trulyinnovative without it.”

Let’s design:A new kitchen gadget for children

Design and draw an everyday kitchen gadget

to look great to people of your age and to

encourage them to cook or help out more in

the kitchen.• How do you already help out in the

kitchen? What would be a great looking re-

design for the gadgets you use?

• What would make life easier for you to help

out in the kitchen? Think of a funny idea like

Wallace’s if you prefer, as long as it looks

fantastic and fits well into the kitchen.

Explore

Explore Dan Efergan

Wallace’s Autochef

Book Notes

www.crackingideas.com

© Aardman Animations Ltd. 2010

copyright

Let’s talk about: What Wallace &Gromit merchandise have you seen?Do you own anything you could showas an example? Can you find the ©symbol? Why do TV shows work withother companies to produce thismerchandise? How does copyrightprotect their original idea?

Discover

Explore

Explore

Let’s draw and act: A storyboard for an advert

Draw a 6-shot storyboard to advertise the Wallace

& Gromit biscuits or your new kitchen gadget for

children. For each shot, write the words to be

spoken or jingle to be sung next to it.

• Include the biscuit box with the logo or the

drawing of the gadget.

• Include exciting words to appeal to your target

audience. Who will buy your product?

• Act out your storyboard with your zippy

words or catchy jingle. Or why not film it?

Copyright protects things like books, art, music and films – what makes itoriginal? Copyright protects these things as soon as they are written downor recorded. From this moment on, the copyright owner must give permissionfor their work to be used or copied. They can mark their work with thecopyright symbol ©, the date and their name. The copyright owner has therights for every way their work could be used – e.g. to turn their book intoan audio book or a film or to use part of it on a website.

www.crackingideas.com

The person who had the original idea for Wallace &Gromit in 1985 is Nick Park. If anyone wants to usethe pictures or character of Wallace & Gromit tomake and sell something they have to ask Nick andAardman. Then they pay for a license to use it, fora toy or a cake recipe or a video game or…anything else! Aardman also make their ownWallace & Gromit goodies (‘merchandise’).

Who thought of that? A special tune for Wallace& Gromit sheet music/recording sessionThe theme tune for Wallace & Gromit wascomposed by Julian Nott. He has the copyrightfor the music (the ‘score’). The IPO had to askhim before they used it for the Cracking Ideaswebsite, DVD and as part of the exhibition.

Julian was inspired by brass bands from the north ofEngland where Wallace & Gromit are from. He has writtenthe scores for all of their adventures: for A Grand Day Outhe waited until the animation was finished before he startedwork and then recorded the music with a few musicians.For Curse of the Were Rabbit he composed a temporaryscore for the animators to use while they filmed the action,and then recorded a final version with a big orchestra.

Who thought of that? A special tune for a special dayTwo teachers, Mildred and Patty Hill, wrote an originalversion in their book 'Song Stories for theKindergarten' in America in 1893: thewords were 'Good-Morning to All'.The copyright for the tune and the'Happy Birthday' words have beenowned by many different people sincethen. To use it in a film, TV show or anyperformance a licence is required alongwith a royalty fee being paid to the ownerof the copyright.

Case studyComposer – Julian Nott:"We wanted the Wallace and Gromittheme tune to be the kind of music thatWallace might like, something that the localtown brass band around West Wallaby Streetmight play. It also needed to be upbeat andhappy because that's the kind of world Wallace& Gromit live in. Writing music takes time and

can fill a whole working day. Copyright makes sure we can get some income when our music is played aroundthe world.”

Brass band

Nick Park

Happy Birthday!

© Aardman Animations Ltd. 2010

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