"First you have to draw the background where the entire story will develop," says 13-year-old Aivar. "That drawing was probably the most difficult thing in the whole process."
"After drawing the background, we cut out the characters and then the cinema bus's team started to photograph our stories. After each take we had to move the characters and develop the story," tells ten-year-old Tanel. "If one can draw and has the necessary technical equipment, one can make a cartoon."
After photographing the stories on the paper, the photos were scanned and then the cartoon was edited on the computer. "Everybody was fully concentrated on perfecting the drawing so it was quite silent in the beginning, but the cartoons were quite funny. That's what I liked," says 13-year-old Anton, who participated in the animators' group and made a cartoon called "Hunter."
After watching the four cartoons which the children had made, the guests made a present to the village - a digital camera. "I'm not sure if we can use it to make more cartoons, but we surely can make some home-movies," says social educator Heimar Tihane.
The purpose of the "Cinema bus project" is to present the art of cinema and information about filmmaking to the Estonian public. Travelling from town to town, the Cinema bus shows people Estonian and European films and organizes workshops.
In the workshops, the team teaches the basics of animation using drawing and cut-out techniques. The workshop's idea is to introduce the use of digital "moving pictures" technology, involving cameras, computers and programs that are meant for home users and non-professionals.