stop motion, yippee!

Brace yourself, you are about to learn about the glorious world of stop motion animation and video. Most of you are probably familiar with it – the advertising industry caught on to this little gem pretty quickly. Nothing like seeing Skittles in doing a silly stop motion dance to make you lose faith in all-things-original!

mmmBA mmmBA mmmBA

Stop motion is essentially hundreds – if not thousands – of pictures strung together quickly to give the effect of a moving video. You know when you take two similar photos and you switch from one back to the other? That is a very small example of how stop motion works! 

First of all, let's get our inspiration boilin'! Western Spaghetti by PESfilm cooks up a unique way to transform seemingly innocent inanimate objects into a delicious meal. The director's keen eye for objects with lots of texture and movement was a major factor in the overall quality of the film. Was it just me, or did you scream {inside your head}when he chopped up the dollar bill like it was a measly leaf of basil!? No..? Well, this just got a a teensy bit awkward.

Another great piece is Oren Lavie's music video for the song 'Her Morning Elegance'. Something as simple as a bed and a few props spin a beautiful story in an aesthetically interesting way.

I think there might be a misconception that stop motion is easy to produce. Stop motion is incredibly difficult and painstaking. For a truly amazing piece, the main subject's movements with each passing frame should be minimal. This means having a patient subject willing to work with you for one (or two...or three) looong days. 

When I first tried stop motion, I used myself as the subject. Yeah..... it shows. It ain't easy to reposition yourself after running back to your camera to press the capture button once more. Another issue is making sure that lighting is consistent. 


Take a look at this video to your right. If you are not behind the lens, making sure everything is fine 'n dandy - you are going to end up with major lighting issues (like seen in this video 0:35 - was there just an atomic explosion next door?) If the lighting had been more consistent in this video, it likely would have become a piece that I was proud of.

Here's another video where I (attempt) stop motion. Start the video at 1 min and 24 seconds. As you can see, working with an inanimate object really improves the quality of your work immediately. This is by no means perfect, but a major improvement from my first try. You might be wondering why my Captain Crunch just told me to die - it's actually not about obesity. If you are ever-so-curious just watch it from the beginning :)

I hope I didn't intimidate you too much! Let's get cracking on this project. Even if you start with something as simple as, say, 10 frames, it is worth the time put in.

Here's How You Do it

First - you absolutely need a tripod for this project. Especially if your subject will be moving in an open space. Tripods help steady the camera and ensure that every shot keeps the subject in the middle of the frame.

Second - have a model. Okay, I mentioned this before but seriously... find a sexpot friend a photograph them instead. The finished result will still be just as fantastic even if it's missing your beautiful face. 

Third - find a function on your camera that allows you to take multiple pictures within seconds. On my digital, it is located near the self-timer and is an icon with a camera and a multiply sign. Because my camera is pretty basic, it will only shoot 3 frames. Many cameras go way beyond that, making stop motion much less labor intensive. 

Finally - open up your video editing program. On Windows Live Movie Maker, a common program, import all your photos - making SURE they are ALL in the right order. You have your work cut out for you if technology accidentally shuffled your deck in the wrong order. 

Once all photos are imported, highlight ALL of the photos and find "Video Tools --> Edit" Find "Duration", and change the value to a much higher speed. It depends on the project, but many stop motion projects show the picture for just fractions of a second. 

Got all that? NOW START SHOOTING! I'm so excited to see what you bring back. 

See ya next week, 

Emily