Animation App

[Frank W. Baker]

 “McLaren’s Workshop” is a creativity app for the iPad that allows students to practice classic animation techniques that were pioneered by legendary Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren. The app uses three basic animation techniques: paper cut-out, etching on film and synthetic sound creation. The app also gives access to 51 films from McLaren’s collection, including 11 documentaries about McLaren’s techniques. Every documentary starts with some inspirational images that helps to spark students’ creativity and that get them acquainted with the medium. The basic McLaren’s Workshop app comes as a free app. However extensions of the app with different modules available for the iPad only come at a cost.