Stop Motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are slightly moved around in between individual pictures. It’s like hand-drawn animation, but with physical objects that you move. This animation can be found in everything from small YouTube videos to big-budget films like “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
What I love most about Stop Motion Animation is the creativity that it allows me to bring out. It can be hard sometimes to come up with a creative idea; fortunately, when it comes to Stop Motion, the amount of things you can make are seemingly endless.
A Stop Motion can be made with pretty much any object, but, in my opinion, one of the best things to start off with are LEGOs. They’re fairly simple to use, and there is an excellent amount of variety when it comes to using them. They can help beginners learn the basics and get used to their abilities so they can eventually move on to more challenging things to animate, like action figures.
One question every beginner animator should ask themselves is, ‘What do I want this animation to be about? Is it just an object doing something random, or is there an actual story behind it?’ For me personally, if it’s just a short animation, it can be as simple as an object doing something. However, if the animation is longer, it usually involves a story. For example, a fight scene often lasts longer than a minute. Ultimately, it all depends on what the animator wants to create.
Now, stop motion isn’t all fun and games. It can actually be a bit challenging. Sometimes the object will fall over, or you can accidentally hit the camera, causing you to lose your place on where you were animating. On top of all that, it’s a long process. How much an animation will take to get done will vary depending on the person and stop motion itself, but it can take 30 minutes to get at least 10 seconds of animation. Stop Motion is something that takes a lot of time, effort, and patience to get done.
After all the work is done, the most satisfying part is getting to watch the animation you made in whole. It’s one of the best parts of making a stop motion to be honest; seeing your vision come to fruition. Looking at it in its entirety and knowing that you made that is such an awesome feeling to have. And the next best part? Moving on to the next one.
So, if you’re someone who has an interest in making stop motion, then I highly recommend it. It’s one of the best outlets for creativity. It will take some time to get used to it and find your flow, but the end result will be worth it. Happy Animating!
