Planning a How-To Guide
A2 · Reading: Reading for information · Technology in Daily Life
🎬 HOW TO: Make a Stop-Motion Film with a Phone — by Zoe, Grade 7
🎯 WHAT IS IT? A stop-motion film is made of hundreds of photos. You move a toy a tiny bit, take a photo, move it again and take another photo. When you play the photos quickly, the toy looks like it’s moving by itself.
🧰 WHAT YOU NEED: a phone with a free stop-motion app · a toy or some modelling clay · a pile of books · a table near a window
👣 STEP 1: Put your phone on a pile of books. It must stay steady, so don’t hold it in your hand. 👣 STEP 2: Place your toy in front of the phone and take the first photo. 👣 STEP 3: Move the toy a very small amount — about the width of your fingernail — and take another photo. 👣 STEP 4: Repeat this at least sixty times. Yes, sixty! 👣 STEP 5: Press “Play” and watch your film.
💡 TOP TIPS: Use daylight, not a lamp, because lamps make flickering shadows. Twelve photos make about one second of film, so be patient. And don’t let your cat walk across the table.
📝 ZOE’S PLAN: 1. What is it? (one sentence) · 2. Equipment list · 3. Steps — one action per step, start with a verb · 4. Tips — with “because” · 5. Short, friendly ending
Vocabulary
- guide — a text that explains how to do something
- step — one part of a process
- equipment — the things you need for a job
- tip — a useful piece of advice
- frame — one single picture in a film
- steady — not moving or shaking
Sample questions (10 questions)
- What is a stop-motion film made of?
- one long video
- drawings
- hundreds of photos
- Why must the phone stay on a pile of books?
- so it’s higher than the toy
- so it charges
- so it stays steady
- Why should you use daylight?
- Daylight is free.
- Phones don’t work at night.
- Lamps make flickering shadows.
Answers and hints from Migo appear when you do it online.