Stop Frame Animation

What is Stop Frame Animation aka Stop Motion?

It is the process of photographing and then physically manipulating objects within your frame. As each frame is played in sequence, the technique creates the effect of an object moving itself. Stop motion animation is a technique whose secret lies between each frame of the action.

Stop Motion App

First experience of App.

Used physical puppet and set, lighting & DSLR camera
Straight ahead action scene
Replacing the puppet out for different shape balls to create 'squash and squeeze' effect
No Onion skinning used on this take.
Found method surprising easy - helped by no emotional attachment to graphic as provided by Orla

This can be a quick fire method to create an animation.

Second attempt at depicting anxious dog.

Managed to avoid casting hand shadows, these happens because I was too hasty to click the shot before moving completely clear.
On reflection the 'nervous shake' was far to exaggerated making it look unnatural and possible not identifiable. Needed to be much smaller movements and maybe quicker.

Added scenery.

Depicting 2 emotions now, 'sulky to grateful', more complex to convey with limited movement of puppets, so more thought required.
The lighting changed which affected the hue of the background, I discovered that this needs to be considered and managed.
Again a lack of care with hand shadows - need to slow up a little.
The puppet is beginning to show finger marks - a potential solution could be gloves.

Added a title page - On a re-do, if timing permitted, I would add the letters frame by frame to have it appear it was being written by 'magic'.

More emotions - 'Jumping for joy'
This is clunky due to the timing, at the end of the tail wag it slows as if in slow motion, which might work if there wasn't a few frames that speed up mid wag.

'Green with Envy'

Again this employs the same methods as previous 5 animations. Change of scenery and a second puppet to assist with the emotion of jealousy.
My thought here is that dog 2 could have moved more to create more of dynamic between the characters.

Adobe After Effects

This is in essence the same animation as the first Stop Animation but fully digital.

Using 2D Rigging technique.
Uses onion skinning to produce a smoother more realistic bounce.
Using the pen tool I created a path for the ball to follow.
Added anchor points allowing the ball to pivot and using ease in and out effect to produce a more natural speed.

I experimented with the setting to see how it affects the outcome - in this second attempt the shape and angle of the ball squashing and squeezing isn't right and the pause in the middle creates a 'sticking' effect. But arguably this pause is an exaggeration (1 of the 12 principles) that emphasises it's cartooniness.

These dogs are 'digital puppets'

Similar to their physical counterparts they are given pivot points on their joints using the puppet pin tool, creating an axis on which they can move limbs independently.

This second attempt has my dog skating rather than walking! Not intended, created through experimentation, while exploring what effect the different positioning of each leg creates.

Added cape to the dog - for the cape to look believable as the dog makes its way across the stage it also required movement, this adds a secondary action to the scene.

Experimentation with the wave effect on the cape to produce better symbiosis to dog's movement.

Wanted to create a narrative for the emergence of the cape so used a series of recognisable cartoon tropes (such as a flashing visible skeleton)

to produce the storyline of the Dog becoming Superdog through being struck by lightening.

Timing of the lightening strike is off and needs working on.

Main Learning

Need to be 'over the top' or exaggerated.
Big contrasts needed to for audience to register the changes
Care should be taken with every detail in the set as this can show up in ways unexpected
Adding details such as faces to the puppet creates appeal
Timing makes all the difference to the outcome.
Puppets have physical limitations but this can result in charm an appeal.

Stop Motion vs After Effects

While Stop Motion (SM) has an 'authentic' hand made and organic feel to it, creating a sense of nostalgia from one's childhood, it is just not practical or competitive in a commercial market place. To make changes post production on SM, depending on what they are, will most likely require remaking the full animation from scratch. Where as After Effects (AE) allows you to make quite big structural changes, which could only take a matter of minutes for an experienced user. Eg. to make the dogs legs longer for SM would definitely require remaking the puppet - re-draw, laser cut, re-attach, then shooting the piece again. However, AE only requires you lengthen the legs in Illustration, then relink the file and export again. There are techniques for producing a piece that does look like it has been made in SM such as texture overlays and shadows.

In short After Effects is much quicker, easier and cheaper to produce, then change.

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