A Different View to Animation – Stop Motion Animation

The animation industry gives us a great scope of experimenting with characters; making them move, dance, play, and what not. It is a magical world where we can make our fantasies come true and make stories come alive in 2D & even 3D! All we need is imagination, passion & the right training.

What is Stop Motion Animation?

One of the techniques of animation is Stop-Motion. Stop-motion animation has been around for many years—and it is still popular today.

Stop motion animation is animation that is captured one frame at time, with physical objects that are moved between frames. When we play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement.  While a film moves at 24 frames per second; and television/video moves at around 30, Stop-motion animation specialists recommend a range of 10 to 15 frames per second – depending on how smoothly we want the action to move.

Stop motion animation is cool partly because it’s insanely hard to make. We shoot one still frame, move the characters slightly, then shoot another — then repeat thousands of times to make a little animation. While each individual frame may not be so tough, the overall effort is massive, and it shows. There’s something about stop motion that just makes you say, “Wow — that’s real!”

But with today’s digital cameras and video editing software, stop-motion animation is easier than ever, so anyone can try it.

We see stop motion animation all the time—in commercials, music videos, television shows and feature films—even if we don’t realize it. It is commonly assumed stop motion is just one specific style – such as clay animation. But the reality is that stop motion techniques can be used to create a wide range of film styles using all kinds of objects.

In terms of the objects that can be animated, stop motion is not limited by any means whatsoever. Some good choices include clay, wire, Lego or similar building block figures. We can be very imaginative and innovative in the types of objects and figures that we use.

Not all stop motion requires figures or models; many stop motion films can involve using humans, household appliances and other things for comedic effect.