Aimhigher - Making Dreams Fly

Abraham Guest High School, Orrell, near Wigan

Year 8 students worked with the animator, Rowena Kidd, discovering the process of animation in order to make dreams and aspirations fly. They worked in small production teams, creating installations that mapped out a narrative, thinking very symbolically about colour, shape and texture. Their three animations are edited together to create a group animation.

Their first animation explored very simple ideas to do with layering colour. The resulting beauty and sense of blossoming and opening is captured by the process of animation. Colour spreads, evolves, blooms into life, promoting a feeling of celebration as the pupils began to explore the theme of ‘aiming higher’.

The box is a symbol of hopes and dreams, with each group exploring the idea in different ways. Plain cardboard boxes labeled ‘fragile’ held smaller boxes, tipping over to reveal rolled up lengths of coloured paper. Other boxes were quickly transformed by exuberant vibrant combinations of dripping paint and tissue paper, interspersed with a real sense of fun and involvement as the group include themselves in the excitement of the shapes and textures.

The final part of the process involved the pupils in the Paul Klee idea of taking a line for a walk, again reflecting the sense of journeying and adventure, drawing themselves into the contours of an evolving landscape.