Animation Faqs

There are different types of Stop-motion animation

1. Clay animation – Clay models are used as objects to be animated. A light aluminum wire and thermocole armature/skeleton is first made upon which the colored clay is coated. Some models also have miniature clothes stitched for them while others mite have the clothes itself made of clay. A very famous example of Clay animation is the film Wallace and Gromit by Aardman Animations. Another style of clay animation is the Embossed effect animation in which the clay models are almost flat such that they can be placed on a horizontal surface with a camera vertically above it and then be animated. This technique is used when you want to show motion of fishes underwater or of flying birds; and it works because you don’t have to bother animating against gravity.
2. Puppets – Another form of stop-motion animation can be used by animating puppets made out of wood or plastic or any other material.
3. Sand – This is another very beautiful medium for animation. Here’s how to animate with sand. Take a flat surface and put thin layer of sand on it. Now place a camera vertically above the surface. Now with your finger make some shape in the sand, now click the image, now modify the shape slightly and click an image again. Keep on gradually modifying the sand surface and keep on clicking images. And when you will play it you’ll get a beautiful animation.
4. Beads – A similar style can be tried with colored beads, wherein you make designs with beads and you photograph them.
5. Cut out – In this style you use images cut out from magazines to animate. The images are placed on a horizontal surface and then moved frame by frame.
6. Pixilation – In this method live humans are used as stop-motion animation props. A very good example of this is the old sci-fi movies in which actors acting on screen used to just vanish in a split second; one frame they are there and the other they are gone. An awesome example is Norman McLaren’s Neighbors and A Chairy Tale. A must watch.