To conclude the short story unit in English 9, we filmed a stop motion movie of Will Stanton’s “Barney.” The story portrays a scientist’s failed attempt to maintain authority over a rat in his experiments. As the story opens, the scientist decides to dismiss his only employee who is thought to poison his precious experiment subject, Barney. Shortly after, Barney develops unsurpassed intelligence thanks to the scientist’s glutamic acid treatments. However, the scientist begins to feel threatened and locks Barney in a vault. Out of revenge, Barney plots and traps the scientist in the well, leaving him to his own demise. The next day, Barney pretends to be the scientist and writes a new journal entry to cover the crime.

The Production

My group was fortunate to have a sizable LEGO collection to build the scenes of this project. Although I had previous experience with the Stop Motion Studio app, this project was not all smooth sailing. It was time-consuming to produce a high-quality stop-motion video, and coordinating a time after school with my teammates was challenging. Fortunately, we respectfully acknowledged one another’s skills and perspectives. In this project, I played the roles of choreographer and technical editor. I applied various sound effects and music to enhance the film. I also used different cinematography techniques such as different angles as well as a mixture of long, medium and close-up shots. This project was a valuable learning experience. Not only did it sharpen my technical and collaboration skills, but it also challenged my creative thinking during the production of the video. In the end, I”m proud that we brought our vision to life.

The Movie

Proudly directed by Caleb, Emmaly, Emilia, and Lucas.