Stop Motion (Claymation, Cut-Outs)

Assalammualaikum, Hye Fanmators! 👧👦

"I love all forms of animation, but there is something unique and special to stop-motion: it's more real and the set is lit like a set. But I think it's also a kind of lonely and dark thing to want to do." 

~ Tim Burton    

Today, I am going to start on the last type of animation that is Stop Motion.

First of all, how is stop motion being done? Well, stop motion is done by taking a photo of an object and then moving it just a little bit and taking another photo. This process is then being repeated and when the photos is being played one by one, it will give the illusion of movement. This is kind of similar to traditional animation but the only difference is that it uses a real life materials instead of drawings. 

Stop motion can be refer as any animations that uses objects that are photographed in a sequence to create an animated action. The process of stop motion animation took a very long time. This is because each object has to be carefully moved inch by inch, while photographing every change, to create a smooth sequence of animation. Six categories of stop motion are claymation, puppets, cut-out, silhouette, action figures or lego, and pixelation. Lets dive a little into each categories. 

Claymation is one of the most popular form of stop motion. The process involve you working with clay or play-doh characters that can be easily manipulated for animation. Whereas, advanced claymation such as The Neverhood uses metal skeletons on which the clay is then molded for more sturdy rigs. 

Puppets, some animators use regular puppets instead of clay one, usually also built upon some sort of skeleton rig. The faces of the characters can be replaced based on the expression,or be controlled whithin the rig. Now, cut-out is another popular form of stop motion. Using construction paper or cardboard caharacters and placing them on a paper while shooting the animation from above. The cardboard is then moved a little each frame to create the illusion of movement. 

Silhouette is similar to cut-out animation where it uses cardboard or some kind of flat material, but the objects are all black and the shot is depicted with silhouettes only. This is also one of the oldest form of stop motion and is rarely used today. The other category is the action figures or lego, where some use the characters for animation. This catogery is very popular on Youtube where many channels dedicated to creating funny skits with lego characters. One of the great examples is Robot Chicken. This is because they use famous action figures to make fun of pop culture. Lastly is the pixelation which is the form of stop motion that uses real people and real environments to create unreal videos. It uses the stop motion method of taking a still photo, moving things around, then taking another photo, but the subject matter is usually real people instead of puppet. 

So, below is a video related with the 5 types of animation. Enjoy!