Documentation:Stop Motion/What do I need
Hardware
Stop motion animation is created by stringing together a series of static images, creating the illusion of movement. To create a stop motion animation project, you'll need...
- A digital camera
- A set of objects
- Lights
- A microphone to record voice-overs (optional)
| Camera
Almost any camera will work for creating stop-motion animation. When you're choosing a camera, look for the ability to hold a large number of pictures, take pictures relatively quickly, control exposure, and stay firmly in place. These are important qualities for several reasons.
Again, the majority of modern digital camera will fit the bill, including phones and webcams, but double-check that you're set up to use your equipment. An expensive camera won't do you any good if you don't have a tripod, or know how to use it. |
Set of objects
You can use almost anything for the subject/medium of your video. You're only limited by your imagination, and how you think you can best communicate your ideas. Claymation is a popular professional technique: clay figures, moved small amounts between pictures, can create very effective and realistic videos, although it's a hugely labour-intensive technique: the standard is 30 pictures per second of video. Stop motion animation with Lego, also known as Brickfilm, lends itself to stop motion relatively easily: figures hold their position, have a simple but full range of movement, and can be easily posed. Lego is relatively ubiquitous, easy to make complex shapes with, and entertaining—lots of people have memories of playing with it at some point. A simpler technique is sticking to two dimensions. At the top of the page, Rosie Redfield used candy on a construction-paper background to illustrate the process of DNA uptake by bacteria, by drawing larger, static, shapes, and moving the smaller, mobile parts of the cell (represented by different kinds of candy) around between pictures. Blackboard animation, another kind of 2D stop motion, consists of images drawn, photographed, modified, and photographed again, on a blackboard or whiteboard. By making small changes to the images between pictures, the illusion of movement is created. Even paper cutouts moving on a background can be effective, and it's easy to customize your objects when you can print out or draw whatever characters you want. |
| Lights
When you're filming stop motion animation, it's important that you're in complete control over your lighting. If you allow any natural light in your presentation, small changes in shadows will become very obvious as the photos are time-lapsed together. A three-point lighting setup is ideal, but any lights will work as long as your pictures are well-exposed, and the level of illumination remains constant over time. You can use any sources of light you have on hand. Desk lamps with flexible or movable arms work very well: you can position them so your shot is illuminated exactly as you need it, and they're sturdy enough that they shouldn't move over the course of your shoot if you're careful. |
Microphones
Here are a few useful links if you're looking at microphones.
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| Software
To get the best results, you probably don't want to use the same software you'd use for normal video projects for your stop motion project. You're concerned with different things: how long each image stays on the screen, being able to adjust for things like slight shifts in your camera, and subtle changes in lighting between individual frames. While you can use a normal piece of video editing software, like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, you'll have an easier time if you use a piece of software designed for stop motion. If you'd prefer to use a normal piece of video editing software, head over to the video basics toolkit for some suggestions. |
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