Stop motion animation is a general term for an animation technique which makes a physically manipulated object appear to move by itself. The object is moved by very small amounts between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion animations, known as claymation, for their ease of use,

No other technique simply demonstrates the basics of human movement and animation better then stop motion.  The child can physically move a object and in a relative short time see these movements turn into animation. 

Anything that can be move can be used for stop motion. All our products also come with a ‘Time Lapse’ function which can take single images over very long periods allowing the movement of clouds or even the building of a house to be compressed in time and later shown as a movie.

Different stop motion techniques can be used from filming cut out figures on a flat surface, similar to how drawn cartoons were produced, to moving people in a real environment (called pixilation).

Some Thoughts on Conducting a class in Stop Motion.

The first thing to remember is to keep it simple.  Often the Teacher /Students have ideas that are beyond the reach of beginners into animation, which can  cause frustration and waste allot of time. Also be mindful of the often short attention span of children.

Always try to have a story and keep it short and simple.   Eg. Jack the astronaut goes to the moon,  or  Natachia finds a lost dog and takes it home.

Don’t get too wrapped up in the many aspects and techniques of movie making. 

Once the children have sampled some success, then more ambitious and longer stories/ideas can be attempted. 

Try to mix some sound or narration if possible into the children’s movie.  Nothing jazzes up a movie more than a sound track.   If music is used, try to match it to the theme of the movie. 

Also remember that in animation it is often easier to make the sound track first and then synchronise the animation to it.   Both Stop MotionMaker HDMI and Stop MotionMaker Advance can be used to produce animation in this way.