Practice Activity

Stop-Motion Practice Activity

Get into groups of three. Make for sure for each group you have:

an 8.5x11 piece of black card stock
a stop motion frame counter sheet
a tripod
a camera (iphone)
candy (Once you are finished filming you can eat the candy :)

Forbes Conradhttps://www.forbesconrad.com/services/film-production/stop-motion/

Setting up the shot

The tripod should be set up with one leg on each side of the piece of paper - this limits shadows and makes setting up a straight frame easier.
The tripod should be set up ensuring that the primary light source is not directly above the camera. In this example the light source is about 2 metres to the right (as you can see from the shadows).
Once you have set their frame up you should give themselves some markers to know where the edges of the frame are. This will make the process a bit easier.
It’s also a good idea to turn autofocus off (if that is a possibility on your equipment).

2. Assigning Jobs

In each group there are three roles:

The Producer: responsible for keeping things on schedule, ticking off frames on the stop motion frame counter sheet, making the definitive decisions (when there is a disagreement about direction).

The Cameraperson: obviously operates the camera.

The Talent: responsible for moving the stop motion objects

Frame Counter and Process

Make sure you have a frame counter sheet and you tick off frames as you animate them. Getting all of these frames should result in them getting 4 seconds of footage (feel free to capture more if you'd like)

The instructions in the bottom left hand corner indicate what should be animated and how. The first shot should be of an empty frame – this will also be the final shot.

It should take about 30 frames (30 photographs) for the candy to travel through the frame. Then, more slowly, they will take 50 frames to return to the centre of the frame. They will then collide, seemingly bursting out of the frame, to leave an empty frame – this will take about 20 frames (probably less).

Feel free to deviate from this if you have a better idea! :)

Stop Motion Frame Counter Worksheet

3. Bring your files into Adobe Premiere

Once you are completed your filming you need to piece together your film. Each group member should transfer the photographs to their own computer to produce their own copy of the final edit.