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What is Stop Motion?
What is Stop Motion?
Stop motion is a cinematographic technique where the camera is repeatedly stopped and started, for example, to give animated figures the impression of movement. Like GIFs, stop-motion movement is achieved by using frames (in this case images) and putting them back to back to create the illusion of motion of inanimate objects without human involvement.
Attempting Stop Motion
Attempting Stop Motion
While it seemed easy to do stop motion at first, I quickly found out how difficult it was. Through trial and error, I found out what made an effective stop-motion and what failed because objects/people were moved too quickly or the lighting changed in different shots. A lot of the issues I didn't even realize would occur until after I made the stop motion and went to watch each image back to back. These first few attempts below show my trial and error as I figured out how to make the best stop motion.
This was the first stop-motion I ever did. I took two figures and experimented with them moving. By doing this, I realized just how much effort it takes just to make a short stop-motion clip. I'm pretty proud of my first-ever attempt, but in the future, I wanted to achieve a smoother movement with a more even camera.
With the materials I was given in class, I attempted to make another stop-motion video that ran smoother and was longer than my first-ever attempt. I like this much better than my first attempt, but I wanted something that seemed more realistic for my final pieces.
This was our first attempt at making pixilation. This type of stop-motion animation involves working with people instead of objects. It looks good, but the camera being on a tripod definitely would have made it better.
While this attempt is fun, the steps are too wide and goofy to make an effective pixilation. It is easy to see each picture taken to make the stop-motion rather than the images flowing together seamlessly.
This attempt was so close to perfect, but the camera was shaky due to the lack of a tripod and the one frame of someone in the background messed up the smoothness of the pixilation.
I really enjoyed how this stop-motion came out, but I'm disappointed on how the lighting gets dark randomly. I have no idea what caused this, as nothing changed between shots, but I figured that redoing this with a more direct light source would be more effective.
I tried attempting to have my dolls kick their legs like they were gossiping at a sleepover, but instead, they looked like synchronized swimmers because the legs moved in unison with only one leg moving at once rather than each leg moving in a different way. It looks good, but not what I was going for.
Final Stop Motion
Final Stop Motion
After a lot of trial and error, I finally was able to make stop-motion effectively. I figured out what worked and what I had to be cautious about when taking the individual pictures. I was extremely careful with light sources, made sure the figures/people were stable to stay in place, and used my watch to take pictures without moving the camera.
The movements in this one are very smooth, which makes for an effective stop-motion. There is also a lot of movement that went into making this one, as well as making sure our motions were in synch.
I really love how this one turned out. The camera is very still, the movements of the actors are very smooth, and the pan-over is hilarious. It feels like an old-timey comedy clip.
Originally, I wanted the doll to fan its face, but the stop-motion would have been too short for my liking, so I just played around a bit with different motions. It turned out smoothly, but it doesn't make much logical sense like the one blowing a kiss does.
This stop-motion was my redo of the one earlier to make it actually seem as if they were kicking their legs as if giggling over a secret. I like how it came out and I'm very proud of it.
This is the redo of the stop-motion of the doll blowing a kiss. This time, the doll stays mostly still and the lighting stays consistent. I am very proud of how this came out, as it feels like she is genuinely moving on her own accord.
This stop-motion was created as a group. Allison was the actor, Ashley moved the props, and I filmed. This particular stop motion took a while to film and get correct, so it is very gratifying to see how well it turned out. My favorite part is the beginning where the shows creep towards her and she steps into them, as it feels straight out of a Tim Burton stop-motion film.
Process Images
Process Images
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