Stop motion
The history of Film begins with the story of Edweard Muybridge and the flying horse
His story is amazing. He was born in Kingston Upon Thames in 1850 but made his name and fortune in America
He worked as a phoptographer in Samn Francisco and became famous as the man who made the first stop motion
(or photo-animation) sequence of a horse galloping.
His experiments in the 1870s led to the creation of the first movie camera a few years later - and cinema was born.
You can read more about him here Edweard Muybridge - or watch this cool animation
A cool animation describing Muybridge and the galloping horse
Stop-Motion - People
Muybridge needed 24 cameras in a row to make the first stop motion animation.
Each camera made just one frame Today's cameras let us do the whole thing with just ONE camera.
Shooting pictures one after the other until we build up a sequence.
Tips
Think of your idea first - Fights & dances work really well.
Use a Fast Shutter - Set the camera to ISO 400 and TV (Shutter Priority ) and set a
shutter speed of 1/250th sec.
Take one picture every second or 2 seconds
Make small movements between each picture - if the movements are too big
the motion won't flow
Practising making people disappear and reappear in different parts of the frame
Take turns to be the cameraman. The cameraman calls the moves
1 !! (Takes picture as he/she says it )
Move - Stop !! ( people move a little and then freeze )
2!! (Takes second picture )
20-30 pictures for each little scenario
Classroom Stop-Motion
Pencil case emptying or filling up
Food being eaten or moving around
Shoe laces tying themselves or items of clothing going on or coming off
Shoes marching around ( camera following )
Drawing or painting on White board or Paper
Books moving around - marching - opening and closing
Coats on / off the pegs
20-30 pictures for each little scenario. More if you are making something complicated
use your own cameras for this and set the camera to AUTO or Program mode.
Assignment - Making your own Stop-Motion animation at home
Preparation Think carefully about your idea. There should be a story. Use Lego, dolls or toys or anything you think will be fun and interesting. Draw a background on a big piece of paper and cut out paper characters or shoot on a table top or the floor. If you use Blutack try to hide it as much as possible.
Shoot at least 20 images to make your finished stop motion. Keep the camera in the same position - use a tripod if possible or just try to keep the same frame (it doesn't matter if it changes a little each time)
Move the subjects a little bit each time. The smaller the movements the smoother the finished result.
You can do this with your friends or on your own
Tips
1. In theory you should have a fixed camera position - to make an accurate animation - but in reality it looks just as good if the camera is almost in the same position (nobody will notice) - and it can look brilliant if the camera is moving
2. Try to keep the lighting consistent or the film will have a flickery appearance
3. Make small movements between shots - to replicate real movement - or be creative and have people and
things appearing and disappearing randomly.
You may have one of the animation apps on your phone or ipad
but if not please send us the images and we will put them together
HAVE FUN
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