Summarising Stop Motion

Finally to sum up my Stop Motion artical i thought i would incoperate a brief summary of all the different types of Stop motion along with their features, advantages and disadvantages.

Claymation
Claymation can be both 3D or 2D. The 2D version uses the same principles as cut out however rather than many pieces being needed onle a few are as they can be manipulated. Claymation itself is the use of modelling clay, putty or other such materials to create figures, they are then manipulated frame by frame and captured using a rigged camera.

Advantages
Claymation allows great control over models and much more flexibility than toymation generally, as models are not limited to set movements due to clay being moldable. As such they are also extremely good at showing fluid, realistic motion. Time taken to produce these are also normally shorter than that of dynamation or cut-out as you need less models and can less filming time.

Disadvantages
Claymation in terms of other stop motion animation methods is generally on par with little disadvantages, in comparison to dynamation particularly the main flaw is that claymation is not able to be integrated into real life filming, as such your unable to say use a clay model in a scene with human actors. In addition another disadvantage is the fact that small changes in factors such as camera position or lighting dramatically effect the consistency of the images.


Dynamation
Dynamation is a spin off of claymation, and as such is the same with the exception of how the images are taken. Dynamation allows claymation to be integrated into real life filming and in order to do this you need to first shoot the real life parts of the film. After doing this a special rigging needs to be set up so a screen displays the stills, the models are then positioned infront of this and manipulated before another camera takes a picture of them through a special glass window. This acts as a layering system and is like overlaying a picture ontop of another (like in photoshop).

Advantages
Dynamation is able to place models into real life filming, as such it gives a much broader use and allows more enhanced visual display and films to be created. In addition to this however the claymation advantages also apply.

Disadvantages
Disadvantages to Dynamation are the same as claymation again all be it without the problem with integrating it into real film. Another point to note with this is that the more specialised rigging means a significant increase in cost, as well as the time taken to create the finished product.


Toymation
Toymation is the use of puppets, or models/toys rather than clay or paper in order to create animation. This method generally is the same as claymation with a change in materials.

Advantages
Toymation generally costs significantly less than that of other methods, this is due to needing less staff and other such specialists, such as modellers. In addition the models themselves are also far more durable than things such as clay. Toymation is also extremely good for start up companies or amateur film making as its very easy to aquire and use.

Disadvantages
The main disadvantage to this method is the static positions models and such are in, they generally are much less flexible and versatile than that of clay, unless more expensive complex models are being used which significantly raises the cost.


Cut-out Animation
Cut-out animation is a 2D stop motion animation method. Characters are seperated into several pieces (generally limbs, body and facial features are all seperate from each other) allowing them to be 'built up', many different versions of each of these will then be created so that they may be interchanged to give the character a different pose. Frame by frame these are then changed in order to give the illusion of motion.

Advantages
Very simplistic and easy to do as well as being incredibly cheap and cost effective.

Disadvantages
Cut out animation is possibly the most time consuming of the stop motion methods. This is generally due to the sheer number of cut outs you need, of which they all but be the same scale, slight variations will dramatically affect consistency.

Contemporary Film Makers & Stop Motion

A large amount of films over the years have utilised Stop motion however only some have done it in such a way they have created a huge client base and raised the bar for stop motion animations or pushed the limits and made something so unique it is hard to forget. As such there are three film makers i would like to discuss.

• Tim Burton
• Aardman Studios
• The Quay Bros

Tim Burton
Another of my favourite film makers, he is best known in the animation scene for films such as 'Nightmare before Christman', 'Corpse Bride' & 'Frankenweenie'. Though he is also massively famous for his large amout of cult films, work with all time super star Johnny Depp and classics such as 'Planet of the Apes'. Tim Burton has always had a passion for making films which was very unqiue, different or have a cult spin on things, as such this is reflected in his stop motion work.

He began his career having graduated from CalArts, his work caught the attention of Walt Disney and he became an apprentice, working there for several years he further developed his skills before deciding to go solo. His career has advanced so much over the years, he is currently working on a 3D stop motion film as well as with Valve a giant games development company.

His work was very unique in the sense of his contrasting blend of light and shadows, as well as the dark themes, generally having two opposing 'worlds' mixing together, an example of this would be his often reoccuring theme of death, and the mix of living and undead living together or interacting in some way. Examples of this would be corpse bride, a human whom is married to a zombie, and Nightmare before Christmas, a friendly 'happy go lucky' skeleton. The conflicting nature of these characters is really what made this work stand out as it is such a unique way to display what is usually perceived as 'the bad guy'. His animation techniques however greatly embody these themes making them also very unique.

Burton favours claymation, and as such clay models. His models themselves however are very unique, using a mixture of dark dull colours, heavily incoperating whites, blacks and browns he creates very eerie themes. The proportions of the models are also very interesting, utilising real life proportions but with odd twists, scaling parts such as the waist and limbs and enlarging the head gives the impression of a weak, deathly figure. Until Burton, no other film makers managed to get this level of depth into models and such emotion. As such Tim's stop motion technique is less about the physical use and more to do with the design. Being one of my personal favourites, i thought i would include the trailer for Nightmare before Christmas as this really sums up the ability and techniques used.

Aardman Studios
Aardman are a British animation company based in Bristol which are extremely famous for their claymation, and more so Wallace & Gromit. Founded in 1972, until just recently (2006) they have been using claymation in order to create visually pleasing films and TV episodes. After 2006 they then switched to Computer animation as it offered much more control and made tasks faster and of a higher consistency.

Aardman has since the beginning mainly focused on shorts and TV episodes rather than films, however has partnered with Dreamworks & Sony to create several films, of which all were successful. Ironically however the movie they created using Computer Animation was infact the worst based on reviews and profits attained, this could be because they are new to using it, or possibly reflect the extremely high standards which went into their Claymation.

Aardmans stop motion techniques generally revolved around the complete use of clay, mixed with scale models for scenery. Utilising this they achieved very high quality, in addition however they favoured the use of bright colours to give a very child friendly, happy vibe. Aardman generally tailored all their work towards children and so were also careful of the models proportions and features ensuring they were not harsh or overly scary.

The Quay Bros
The Quay Bros are another incredibly famous duo whom have created some very ground breaking animations. Inspired by a wealth of key individuals, one of which was Jan Svankmajer whom they named an animation after, these brothers have produced a large amount of shorts, and several feature length animations. The Quay Bros enjoy using alternative stop motion techniques, favouring puppets composed of doll pieces and organic materials, this gives them a very unique look that has never been done before. In addition to this they are often dissassembled in some way in order to give a more spooky or eerie feel. Seeing their work it looks and feels very much like it was inspired by punch and judy, though more tame in its nature. A large number of their animations also contain little dialog or none at all favouring the motion of the puppets and music to set the mood, another technique which has not been used that much, the benefit of this is their work is very independant and easy to spot, making it more likely to be recognised.

Their very unique animation has carved out a nice market and allows them to amass more viewers, however the majority of their work these days is not as popular as other makers such as Tim Burton or Aardman studios.

Pioneering Animators

Now some of the most iconic stop motion films have been talked about i'd like to turn your attention to some of the pioneering animators that have really pushed the boundries of stop motion and its capability. As such there are three main people i want to discuss, of which they are:

• Jan Svankmajer
• Willis O'Brien
• Ray Harryhausen

Jan Svankmejer

Jan Svankmajer was known for being a surrealist and renowned for his animations. Born in parague in 1934 Svankmajer developed an interest in animation from his fascination with puppets. He used stop motion in a very unique way which allowed him to make surreal and creepy pictures. His favourite techniques to use were fast motion (he particularly favoured the use of this for when people were moving) and claymation for the hightened control over models.

His work was thought be have been a key influence on the Brothers Quay whom went onto creating several very popular leading animation productions.

Willis O'Brien
Willis O'Brien most famous for his work on the film King Kong in 1933, was an exceptional animator whom was recognised for his outstanding work with an academy award in 1950 for best visual effects. This man was a master of stop motion and the use of models in conjunction with claymation in order to achieve desirable results.

The advantage of the use of models with claymation was quite vast and allowed a hight quality product to be produced. For static positions models were used as they would offer higher quality than clay, however these were not used throughout due to them not being very posable. This is where claymation came in, replicas were created however these were fully posable and so allowed motion transitions to be created inbetween the static posses of the models (an easier way to explain this would be to take a model of a monkey on all fours, then one on its hind legs. Going straight from this would result in poor quality, and so clay models were used to bridge the gap and give motion). This procedure however was short lived when Willis employed Richard and Marcel Delgado, master model makers, in order to create custom fully posable models, this was a very advanced procedure using high detailed rubber skins placed over a complex metal frame.

It was these models which saw Willis to the top of his animating career, making both clay and normal models obsolete, and it was these which helped him create some of his best works.

Ray Harryhausen
A personal favourite, and my Stop motion idol, Ray Harryhausen was responsible for some of the most cutting edge and most fascinating stop motion techniques and films ever created. His style was easily recognisable, his models (favouring claymation) were very highly detailed and physiques were extremely close to realism. The man was a genius, even inventing his own stop motion method which completely revolutionised the use of stop motion, broadening its use and making it more seamlessly fit in, so much so that it actually was capable of being in the same scene as actors and such, which til now was not possible.

Dynamation was in effect the overlaying of a image upon another, this meant stop motion models could be worked with then the images overlayed on the live action film, this made it look as if they were real and were interacting with the actors, massively enhancing viewing quality.

But how did this work? Well the process was incredibly simple basically a projector would display the still images of the film onto a rear screen, then the models would be placed in front of this, next a glass screen would be placed in front of the models, this was used to remove the surroundings (i.e. the place where this process is taking place, for instance walls furniture etc), finally a camera would when the model has been positioned take an image through the glass pane, this would set up would act like layers in effect and create a single 2D still. I have found an image below to help explain.

This methods main advantage was the massive improvement upon visual quality and transition of stop motion in live action films. However two negative to this process was the increased creation time due to the film needing to be completely filmed and then models manipulated and overlayed, as well as the increased cost of creating a film in thsi way due to the additional equipment. There is no doubt however as to the dramatic quality gained from this and the leap in stop motion technology, for this reason i personally would say this was a necessary step as well as a positive one.