Stop Motion?

Hey there! I can’t believe it’s almost March already! As days are flying by, I’m still unsure about my film opening. My group and I are still thinking of a genre and ideas. With that being said, I really want our film opening to stand out. One way it may stand out is by doing a stop motion film opening. 

You may be asking yourself, “What is Stop Motion?”. Stop Motion Animation is a technique used to bring static objects to life by moving objects in increments and taking each frame per increment. When all the frames are put together as a sequence and played, it shows movement. 

As I was doing some further research, I stumbled upon Rob Nelson’s video on “How to Make Stop Motion Videos”. Within his video, he shared some useful resources to use when making a stop motion film on a budget, such as the app Stop Motion Studio which mimics the $300 professional app, Dragon Frame.

Rob also breaks down 4 forms of stop motion:

~ claymation: using clay to form objects used within stop motion animation

~ object-motion: using any non-malleable objects to create animated movement through stop motion

~ cutout-motion: cutting paper to create props and characters for stop motion animation

~ pixilation: the use of people within stop motion animation

Rob provided easy tips and tricks as well, such as:

~ use a tripod! For a stop motion film, it is important to use a tripod since the slightest movement to the camera will cause a change of position in a frame and lowers the quality of the overall film. 

~ keep your iso, aperture, shutter, white balance and focus in manual to prevent any changes while filming. 

~ lighting!! This was one of the biggest issues stressed within the video when creating stop motion. He suggested filming indoors and away from windows in order to keep good, constant lighting. 

Personally, I think a stop motion film opening would be unique; however, it may not be feasible with the amount of time we have. Rob mentioned that on average, 10 frames per second are used to create stop motion. With a two minute film opening, that would mean we needed roughly 1,200 frames. As students in high school with extracurricular activities multiple times a week, I’m not sure if we would be able to dedicate multiple hours in a day to create stop motion as it is very tedious and time consuming. Although this is still an option, we may have to think of an idea first and see if it fits in. Be sure to let me know what you think about a stop motion film opening in the comments below!

                                                                                                                                                          ~rtmedias

Sources: 

"3 Ways To Increase Your Employability: TIP 2." News24. 23 May 2015. 24 Feb. 2019  

          <https://www.news24.com/MoveMag/Archive/3-ways-to-increase-your-employability-tip-2-20170728>.

"Eli Whitney Museum." The Cotton Gin | The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop. 24 Feb. 2019 

          <https://www.eliwhitney.org/7/workshop/projects/april-2013-stop-motion-animation-studio>.

Tips, Science Filmmaking. "How to Make Stop Motion Videos." YouTube. 09 Jan. 2018. YouTube. 25 Feb. 2019  
          <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ppedXZHhE0&vl=en>.