Session 1.2: Stop-Motion Animation

Session 1.2: Stop Motion Animation

There are three main types of animation used today: hand-drawing, computer generated and stop-motion with each having a different visual effect. An example of hand-drawing would be the classic Disney films such as Snow White, used in the early days of film. The Computer generated method is more modern and used in such films as Toy Story and Shrek.

Like hand-drawing, stop-motion is not a modern technique and has been used as early as 1906 in film, with the film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by the Edison Company in 1906. In basic terms stop-motion is the method of using a series of frames that are slightly different, connected together to give the impression of an inanimate object moving. When making films or TV, the more popular methods of stop-motion animation include silhouettes, models, puppets, cut-outs and clay.

An example of stop motion is Nick Park’s “Wallace and Gromit,” which were feature length films, made with plasticine and metal armatures (a solid structure on which a weaker material is built around).

Rather than explain what techniques and equipment are used, you can view a video by the Digital Arts Guild.