In Newtown Continuing Education's camp "Stop Motion Filmmaking - Lights, Camera, Action!," students became movie-makers in merely a week's time.

The specific art of crafting stop motion productions includes physically moving objects or people in the scene in small increments that, when sequentially photographed and put together, create the impression that there was continuous movement.

The program ran from July 16 to 20 in Reed Intermediate School's computer lab, and each day, instructor Suzanne Hurley taught students new techniques that they could implement in their films to achieve their creative visions.

Each student used the free app Stop Motion Studio on an iPad as their movie camera and had props like Play-Doh, Legos, and a floor-to-ceiling green screen for scenes that needed a specific background setting.

Students worked independently or in groups and made multiple projects that allowed them to gain experience writing scripts, acting, directing, and editing.

Zara Kosovac, 8, had experience with making iMovies before coming to camp and was eager to use the Stop Motion Studio app for the first time. In Thursday's class, she diligently worked to create multiple Play-Doh figurines, which she reinforced with Legos inside each to help them stand. She set up her scene in front of a green felt backdrop and planned to have two characters walk across the frame while another set walked in the other direction.

Across the room, Theo Ewasko, 9, lay on the ground and propped the iPad onto a chair to ensure he got the perfect angle for his action movie. He estimated it would take him 30 to 40 still frames to showcase his Lego bicycle character riding and crashing through a window. Out of those many photos, he said, the movie itself would be about 30 seconds in total.

Nearby at the computers was John Jensen, 11, who wanted to make a rendition of the classic movie The Blob and its modern version The Blob That Ate Everyone. He designed a large blue sphere out of Play-Doh to be The Blob and had multiple Lego characters nearby get sucked into its mass.

On the last day of Stop Motion Filmmaking camp, family and friends were invited to attend a special movie screening party to watch the projects the students had created throughout the week.