The Magma Short Film Festival is held every year in New Zealand, encouraging filmmakers of all genres, from animation, to comedy, drama, documentary, and more, to share their work and hear from the industry's leading talent. This year's festival plays host to over 44 submitted films from around the world playing over the course of three nights and two days, from April 28th - May 1st. The festival also presents attendees with the opportunity to hear from wonderful guest speakers such as Hineani Melbourne and Alan Brash (Shoot First Productions).

The festival also offers attendees the chance to participate in a variety of filmmaking workshops, and this year it will feature a workshop soley dedicated to stop motion animation. Craig Lauridsen of the Newtown Movie School, as well as author of the iStopMotion Handbook, will work with children and young adults interested in making stop motion animations, teaching them the ins and outs of working with our very own iStopMotion.

When Newtown Movie School was invited to help grow the Magma Film Festival, we jumped at the chance. They were looking for a way to make movie-making accessible to younger movie makers," says Craig Lauridsen. "Over two full days we are offering two stop motion workshops, one for 8-12 year olds and one for 13-18 year olds, during which the children can write and produce thier own stop motion movies with iStopMotion."

To learn more about the Magma Short Film Festival click here!

Digmo!, the tech-ed blog covering mini discoveries, tips, apps, and website finds from the creative education realm, recently posted an article on Easy Claymation Animation Techniques, highlighting our very own iStopMotion as "one of the best and easiest animation applications" on the market. The post provides a brief overview of iStopMotion, giving readers the skills and confidence they need to embark on their own Wallace and Grommet style creations.

"I have been using iStopmotion for five years and to be honest I use it in the same way each time it loads. I tend to keep the workflow simple, a digital camcorder connected to my Mac via Firewire and then simply hitting the red button to capture each single frame. It works but the quality isn’t great in low light. The good news is iStopmotion also supports direct capture from a number of different digital cameras and DSLR cameras offering the ability to create High Def animations," says Digmo.

The post walks readers through the various steps of using iStopMotion, acting as a type of written tutorial for the application. It breaks the stop motion animation software down into eight easy steps, from source to composition, providing examples and tips along the way. "iStopmotion is one of the best (and easiest) animation applications I think have used. The interface is simple and the quality of the output is brilliant coping with video sources from iSight to High Definition digital SLR cameras."

Read the complete post from Digmo! here, and view some more great iStopMotion tutorials and reviews here!

Wired Educator recently reviewed BoinxTV and iStopMotion, giving both products A+ ratings! The source for integrating technology in classrooms, Wired Educator is known for taking a look at the latest and greatest software for the educational realm. Calling BoinxTV a "perfect tool for school video production," Wired Educator says, "BoinxTV's intuitive inferface and well-thought-out controls makes a quality first-time production not only possible, but fun. Often when adopting a new piece of software, especially for classroom use, the entry level of frustration is so high that the teacher and student become discouraged. Not so, with BoinxTV. This program is designed well. It's great the first time, and has enough layers of higher application and effects to keep you coming back to try it again and again. BoinxTV is a must-have for any school."

Reach the complete BoinxTV review on WiredEducator.com.

Wired Educator's review of iStopMotion is no less outstanding. "iStopMotion is quite simply the must-have software for any creative classroom, and every wired educator. This is an incredibly powerful educational tool that neither you nor your students will outgrow, and is only contained by the limits of your combined imagination. It is the single best piece of software for helping students become content creators and publishers we have ever reviewed. Period.

Read the complete iStopMotion review on WiredEducator.com.

Our latest search for new camera equipement to recommend to our iStopMotion users brought us to the Hue HD Webcam from www.huehd.com. Not only is the Hue HD Webcam great for video chats and recording your own YouTube videos, but also for creating dynamic iStopMotion animations. Its small size and flexible neck is great for capturing intricate animations at virtually any angle you want, while its manual focus ring is ideal for keeping the right objects in focus. The webcam comes complete with auto white balancing and supports a fairly high video resolution. The Hue HD Webcam's small size, flexible and adjustable frame, high-res image quality, and affordability make this camera an ideal choice for shooting great iStopMotion animations. We give it a thumbs up!