Stop Motion Animation

The phrase, 'stop motion' is used to describe animation created objects or sometimes people, and then physically manipulating them frame by frame until a sequence of images is strung together to create the illusion of motion. There are many types of stop motion animation, some include using materials and objects such as clay animation, sometimes referred to as clay-mation whereas others use live actors such as Pixilation.

Clay mation is a free form style of stop motion animation, where the clay is manipulated as the images are captured rather than using separate models. The process includes, molding the clay then taking an image, then molding the clay, taking and image and so on until the animation sequence is complete. Essentially the clay evolves as the animation goes on. An example of this type of clay-mation animation is 'Dante's Inferno' by Alexis Waller.

Another form of stop motion animation is 'strata cut'. This is where the animator takes a block of clay and uses the process of cutting off layers of clay to reveal images. As the layers are removed, the images are recorded and sequenced together to form an animated sequence. This process appears to be very meticulous but reveals an interesting style of animation. An example of this style of stop motion animation is, the 'Clearasil' commercial by David Daniels.

An interesting and unique form of stop motion animation is 'pin screen' animation. This involves using a board or screen filled with hundreds of tiny movable pins that can be moved in or out by pressing them into the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast a shadow, the shape of the shadow is determined by the arrangement of pins. This technique is used to create animation with a range of textural effects that would be difficult to achieve using other animation techniques.

Graphic animation is quite a self explanatory form of animation. Using images and using collage with photographs and images from magazines etc. Images are formed and frames made before the collage is adjusted, added to before the animation is completed. This is another example of a very meticulous and difficult method to pull off. Frank Mouri's 'Frank Film' is created using the graphic animation technique.

Time lapse, in a sense, is also a form of stop motion animation. The illusion of time moving faster is created by taking photographs at a frequency that is much lower than that used to view the film. So images are captured at regular intervals and then played back in sequence, giving the illusion of time moving quickly. Time lapse photography is considered the opposite of high speed or slow motion perspective. One of the main uses of time lapse photography is to reveal process that would normally appear very subtle to the human eye, such as motion of the sun and stars in the sky, which become very pronounced and obvious over time. Examples of this technique being used are, David Attenborough's 'Secret Life of Plants' and Noah Kalina who took a photograph of himself everyday for twelve years before compiling them to demonstrate the aging process over a long period of time, sped up.