stop motion techniques

Stop-motion animation is an animation techniques.

Mix equal parts digital camera, computer, and imagination (you’ve got all three), and you’re on your way, Although flashier computer-generated animation is in vogue, stop-motion has a rich heritage of its own. 

Almost anything can be used in stop-motion animation, there are many ways to go about shooting, editing and finalizing a stop-motion short.

AN EXAMPLE

Here’s an example of what you can do with stop-motion photography:

What's needed

The first thing:An idea. Try to stick with something simple, any action that can be split up into smaller parts works well.

It may be to make an inanimate object appear as though it is alive; for example, a sock inching its way across the floor or a piece of paper that crumples itself up. Keep in mind that you can expect to shoot around 10 photos for every second of film!

Second thing that will be required is a digital camera. Depending on the length of the video it may be advisable to “fill and dump” this is copying the photos to the computer and erasing the memory card multiple times before finishing.

Finally, in order to turn the images into an animated video video editing software like Apple’s iMovie/QuickTime Pro/Final Cut is necessary. 

STEP 1: SHOOT the ANIMATION

Let’s say, for example, the video is of a sock moving itself across the floor. Start at the beginning: place the sock somewhere and take the first photo. 

Using a tripod and only moving the object will make it appear as though the object is moving through the frame. Keeping the object in the same general area in each frame by moving the camera along with it will make it appear as though the camera is traveling with the object.

After taking the  first photograph, move the sock slightly and take another photo. Move it again by the same distance, and take one more. Continue this process.
Think about manipulating the object in creative ways to add visual interest to the film, just make sure that whatever movement the object makes is done slowly over several frames.

Finally, if there's a mistake while shooting, delete that picture on the camera and take another. This will save from having to edit your film later.

STEP 2: DOWNLOAD the PHOTOS

Now that the images have been captured, get them onto the computer. Put them all into one folder and name it. 

STEP 4: ANIMATE the PHOTOS

In order for the animated short to play properly, tell the editing software how long you want each photo to appear before showing the next one. Like creating a slideshow, except instead of giving each image a few seconds, give it only a fraction of a second. The timing chosen will affect the overall tempo and length of the film.

For the sock example, it has a duration of 3 frames-per-photo. 

Using the 3 frames-per-photo setting, its easy to estimate how many photos are needed to create a movie of a given length. Around 100 photos are for 10 seconds of video. To fine tune the animation, it can be slowed down by choosing to use more than 3 frames-per-photo. 

FINAL TOUCHES: MUSIC AND SHARING

Add music to the short, and share the stop-motion video!!

That’s it! Don’t forget to save the project often.

Have fun, be creative and always EXPERIMENT!

INFORMATION EDITED FROM: http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/stop-motion-digital-camera/