Stop Motion Animation

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:15 am

For my senior year I am taking an AP Studio Arts class and I have the opportunity to make a stop motion film. A stop motion consists of a bunch of still photos taken, and then compiled to make a video out of it. I've never made a stop motion, so I made a little animation two nights ago and I was pleased with the results. I used 508 still frame pictures to make a 34 second video. It took about a good 2 hours to shoot. You can watch it here if you'd like. Has anyone else had experience with stop motion before?

Super Cameraman · Post by **Super Cameraman** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:21 am

I've been into stop motion for a few years. I'm not as into it as I used to be though. I've lost my patience. It's very sad.

If you want help with stop motion animation, you should join the Brickfilms.com forum. I'm a member there. It's a forum for stop motion animation with LEGO's, but any kind of stop motion is good there.

11up · Post by **11up** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:28 pm

Nice stop motion, much better and longer than my first stop motion.

I been into stop motion for at least 4 years now, it's really fun to make them.

In fact, I'm working on one right now. I and a friend finished filming it and adding special effects like light sabers(HARD TO DO!!!) and stuff. We just need to add all of the music, sounds and compile all of the footage. I've made many of my stop motions using action figures I've collected over the years, especially my G.I Joes, EarthWorm Jim, TMNT, Mario, and etc... action figures. I've been recently thinking about putting them all on youtube.
Lego's are fun to use too, I had lots fun making lego stop motions. As long as you have a good lego stage that doesn't budge to put them on, they're perfect for your first stop motions.

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 7:31 pm

@Super Cameraman: It's never too late to get back into it, I agree that stopmotion makes one lose their patience quite fast, but if you spend good time on it the results are great

I'll take a look at that brickfilms joint sound interesting.

@11up: Heh, thanks I decided to make it fairly short because I've never done a stop motion before. I wanted to also make sure it looked animated and not too cheesy. As for your work, I'd love to see it! In fact if you have an account I will glady subscribe to your youtube vids.

Glad to see there are some stop motion filmers on this forum. Cheers!-minkster

11up · Post by **11up** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:19 pm

I too am glad to see another stop motion fan as well. Stop motions are really fun for me when I have the time to make them. None of my old stop-motions I've been thinking about putting on youtube aren't worth big-time brag rights, but their worth watching. The new stop motion my friends and I are working on should be worth all the work we're putting into it.

I haven't created a youtube account as of yet, because I haven't had the time to. But I'll create one when the new Stop motion is done and start posting all of them up, I'll pm you if you want to see them for yourself.
By the way minkster, pm me whenever you finish another stop motions. I'd like to see it.

And subscribe to your vids while I'm at it.

So Many Kinds of Bagels · Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:07 pm

Super Cameraman wrote:I've been into stop motion for a few years. I'm not as into it as I used to be though. I've lost my patience. It's very sad.

If you want help with stop motion animation, you should join the Brickfilms.com forum. I'm a member there. It's a forum for stop motion animation with LEGO's, but any kind of stop motion is good there.

Ditto on the first part.

Limewater · Post by **Limewater** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:57 am

Years ago I did several stop-motion shorts using an old HI-8 camcorder.

I am curious what tools you are using for your stop-motion.

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 6:21 pm

I'm using a Sony Hardrive HD Camera called the HDR-SR1. and I mount the camera on a tripod. It came with a remote control to take pictures and control other functions too.

Super Cameraman · Post by **Super Cameraman** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 9:16 pm

Minkster... I watched the video.

You have to look out for that light flicker. It's the reason many stop motion animation don't come out good. You can help prevent this by putting everything on your camera on manual, and not using sunlight as your light source. Sunlight can change when it goes behind a cloud, so look out.

If you need help with software, ask me. I recommend MonkeyJam (Google it) for stop motion. You plug in your camera using USB or Firewill (preferably Firewire) and take pictures using that.

SCM

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:27 pm

Super Cameraman wrote:Minkster... I watched the video.

You have to look out for that light flicker. It's the reason many stop motion animation don't come out good. You can help prevent this by putting everything on your camera on manual, and not using sunlight as your light source. Sunlight can change when it goes behind a cloud, so look out.

If you need help with software, ask me. I recommend MonkeyJam (Google it) for stop motion. You plug in your camera using USB or Firewill (preferably Firewire) and take pictures using that.

SCM

Thanks for the advice, I was reading up on stop motion and how to improve it bc the flicker was annoying. After making the first video I set everything to manual except for white balance (there is no option except changing it to outdoors indoors or auto..should i just set that on either one besides auto?). My latest video came out really good...not nearly as much flicker.

It's called Shave-motion and you can watch it here