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Monday 17 July 2023

Molly’s Twin

The last post told how our then eight year-old daughter was able to make a stop-motion animation story, Molly’s Family, using her wooden dolls house and a video camera I’d borrowed from work. Our next attempt was more sophisticated, with sound effects and a few facial movements. It was also a better story.

For now forgotten reasons, she had two almost identical sets of figures for her dolls house. The story came from that. 

For so many years, she did not want these videos to be seen. She was embarrassed by her voice. At school she was called ‘posh’ because her accent was not as strongly Yorkshire as most of the others’. Now, her Yorkshire accent is all she hears.

Here is the second video, Molly’s Twin, with mums resting and drinking tea, and dads spending all their time playing on the computer.    


 

23 comments:

  1. That sounds West Yorkshire to me! Lovely ideas your daughter had about the twin motif. Especially the disappearing people!!

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    1. There are a lot of Barnsley accents around here, which are different and almost unintelligible to some. Quite easy to make people disappear on video - unlike real life!

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  2. I bet she had great fun making that. It was fun to watch, too.

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    1. The sound effects of the twins playing on the slide makes me laugh every time.

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  3. A perfect example Tasker to illustrate my point the othr day about how some children have so much better developed landguage skills than others. After years of teaching very disadvantaged children - many of who had so much to give which was locked inside through lack of skills I see this as a good example of how some children have these ideas locked in their heads because they haven't the language skills to develop them. Lovely story.

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    1. I think it also illustrates the advantages some children have: access to a video camera (not common then), an expensive wooden dolls house, plenty of bedroom space, parents who delight in spending time with them, ...

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  4. Marvellous stuff. I can hardly imagine the patience required to make these two videos. I have always been very proud of my East Yorkshire accent and have never sought to change it. Even when we were on holiday in Sicily recently, a man overheard me talking and asked, "Are you from East Yorkshire?". I was very chuffed.

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    1. I bet you can say 'ull' right. No matter how much coaching you give, you can always spot the genuine article.

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    2. Funnily enough, my village peers and I would sometimes mock the Hull accent as it seemed very different from a broad East Riding accent.

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  5. My understanding of this medium is mighty slim. That said, your daughter did an incredible job with this video and the twins' laughter is contagious.

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    1. It makes me smile every time as the laughter turns gradually into chickers, and the first time I saw it after a space of many years I laughed out loud.

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  6. Ey up, that were grand. You have a very talented daughter.

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    1. I gave her technical help with the camera and editing, but the story is hers and it's great.

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  7. How cute! Except I did get a bit nervous when BOTH grandmas disappeared!

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    1. That idea may have been because she had only one grandma, my mother never having known her, and there might also have been an element of wishful thinking. "wonn went in the shouwa".

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  8. That's pretty impressive for an eight-year-old, even with help! I loved the mom's screaming reaction when she first saw her daughter's twin. That would be very alarming for a parent!

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    1. Essentially, you make a still shot into the video. The same with mouth movements. We could have done a lot more with that, and also cut the background noise from the audio track. But, yes, I think she now realises just how good it is. A pity we didn't have a third attempt.

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  9. Meike (Librarian) here. Loved this, and it made me laugh out loud! How did you make the giggling sounds, is that your daughter's laughter recorded and played over? In any case, it is really great!

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    1. That's one of my favourite bits. It's 3 or 4 'clip-art' sound effects edited together. Nowadays I'd do it with the Audacity software which is a free download and brilliant.

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  10. I was a bit scared about the grandmas disappearing but enjoyed the original little story. As always with children, give them the tools and they will use them.

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    1. Later, I think she spent too much time on screens, but she can always find a way to do whatever she wants to do on-screen.

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  11. I'm glad nothing happened to wee Baby Annie. :) Your daughter was/is a lovely storyteller. Thank you for sharing her work.

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    1. Yes, the fairy seems to have spared baby Annie. I'm not sure she would have appreciated a competitor.

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