“Reason for the Seasons” - Connections Academy

For this middle school science lesson, I created a 1:4 time ratio (1 year = 4 minutes of animation) model of the actual orbital and rotational speed, tilt, and lighting of the Earth in relation to the Sun to show how our position effects the seasons in certain parts of the world. I actually had to slow down the rotational speed of the Earth, because in order to show the orbit around the Sun over a course of a year, the spin was too fast to register as movement. Instead it looked as if the frames were skipping. It was incredibly fun and interesting setting up this clockwork of compositions.

The characters were used in dozens of lessons across several middle school courses. Though the designs were purchased through a stock site, I created the After Effects puppets used across our team.