Stop Motion

What is Stop Motion?

Stop motion is an animation technique to make it seems an intimate object is moving on its own, when in reality individual photographs are being taken between small movements of the objects.

How does it work?

An object is photographed by a camera and then moved a tiny bit then another picture would be taken and so on till you have the movement you want your object to complete. Then once all the pictures are played through one after the other it will appear the object is moving by itself

They are advantages and disadvantages to this animation skill:

• The advantages are that its fun to watch, and fairly easy to make
• The disadvantages are that it requires a camera which costs money 

The credit of this animation skill can go to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for Humpty Dumpty Circus in 1898 which contains toys coming to life. 

Two well known examples are displayed below:

'Wallace and Gromit' is a popular Stop motion animation and is classed as a clay animation AKA Claymation.

Another example is 'Chicken Run' another Claymation.

Here is a video showing Stop motion animation is action:

Here is a video showing how to make a stop motion animation:

Flipbook

What is a Flipbook?

"A flip book or flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings." - Wikipedia 

How does it work?

A flip book works by flicking through a series of pages really quickly and only requires a book with drawings/printed images. It totally rely's on persistence of vision to create the illusion to the person watching that they can see a continuous film when in reality they are seeing loads of images after another.

They're advantages and disadvantages to this animation skill:

• The advantages are its pretty cheap and fun to watch
• The disadvantage is it may be difficult to try and make one yourself

The first flip book appeared in September 1868 by John Barnes Linnett

Two well known examples are displayed below:

The Cop shooting a Criminal 

Mortal Kombat

Here's a video showing a complex flip book in action:

Here's another video showing how to make a basic flip book:

Zoetrope

What is a Zoetrope?

A Zoetrope is a device that produces a constant loop of film as long as you keep spinning it. It is made up of a cylinder with vertical slits cut in the sides and on the inside there are images that wrap around the inner portion of the cylinder and appear visible through the slits.

How does it work?

A Zoetrope works by spinning the wheel around which causes you to see a different image every split second through the slits with makes it seem the image is moving therefore creating a mini-movie.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this pre-film animation:

• The adavantages is its very cheap and easy to do and it cool to watch
• The disadvantge is its difficult to make

The credit of the invention originally goes to Ding Huan, a chinese engineer around 100 BC. However, The basic drum-like form of the zoetrope was created in 1833 or 1834 by British mathematician William George Horn

Two well known examples are displayed below:

The devil jumping in and out of a hat


Man riding a horse


Here's a videos showing how a Zoetrope works:

Here's another video showing how to make a Zoetrope:

Thaumatrope

What is a Thaumatrope?

Thaumatrope is a skill used in animation and was a toy that dates back to the 19th century. A thaumatrope is made up of a disc with two different drawings on each side and two pieces of string.

How Does it Work?

A thaumatrope works by the two pieces of strings being twirled causing the two separate images to appear as one.

There are advantages and disadvantages of this animation skill:

• The advantages are that its very cheap and easy to make 
• The disadvantage is that it requires fairly good artistic skills

The credit for the invention of Thaumatrope is given to either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget and was first used in 1824 to demonstrate persistence of vision.

Two well known examples are shown below. One being the goldfish in the fish bowl (Left) and the other being the duck in the pond (Right)

Here is a video with many great examples.

 

Here is another video demonstrating how to make them.