Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique which makes static objects appear to be moving. It is central to the claymation technique used on popular children's shows such as Gumby and to the puppet-based animation of such well-known films as (Tim Burton's)The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993), Chicken Run (DreamWorks/Aardman Animations, 2000) and Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, 2005).

Current Work

The first stop motion feature film to receive worldwide distribution was Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). More recently, stop motion has been used in the works of Aardman Animation, including the Wallace and Gromit films as well as their film Chicken Run (2000).

Related Topics:
Tim Burton - The Nightmare Before Christmas - Aardman Animation - Wallace and Gromit - Chicken Run

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Aardman also produced commercials and music videos, notably the video for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer", which uses a variant of stop motion called pixilation; this involved Gabriel holding a pose while each frame was shot and moving between exposures, effectively becoming a human puppet. More recently Aardman used this technique on a series of short films for BBC THREE entitled Angry Kid, which starred a live actor wearing a mask. The actor's pose and the mask's expression had to be altered slightly for each exposure.

Related Topics:
Peter Gabriel - Pixilation - BBC THREE

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Another more complicated variation on stop motion is go motion, first used on the film Dragonslayer, which involves moving the model slightly during each exposure to produce a more realistic motion blurring effect.

Related Topics:
Go motion - Dragonslayer - Motion blur

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Although nowadays the almost universal use of CGI (computer generated imagery) has effectively rendered stop motion obsolete as a serious special effects tool in feature film, its low entry price means it is still used on children's programming, commercials, and comic shows such as Robot Chicken. The argument that the textures achieved with CGI can not match the way real textures are captured by stop motion also makes it valuable for a handful of movie-makers, notably Tim Burton, whose animated film Corpse Bride was released in 2005.

Related Topics:
Computer generated imagery - Robot Chicken - Corpse Bride

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The internet is also home to hundreds, and possibly thousands, of short digital films known as Brickmation. Brickmation films are, for the most part, stop motion films featuring LEGO minifigs as a vital component. The limited flexibility of Lego's minifigs make for both ease of use and less than realistic action, which might be said to constitute a vital part of their appeal.

Related Topics:
Brickmation - LEGO - Minifigs

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Even amateurs can try stop motion with most ordinary video cameras with a few simple steps:

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• Use a tripod, a chair or something else to secure the camera;
• Toggle recording modes until you find the appropriate mode;
• Start shooting clay models, LEGOs, action figures, or any other desired object.