Stop Animation

GRAB A PHONE, FIND YOUR STARS AND MAKE YOUR VERY OWN MOVIE WITH STOP ANIMATION!

EQUIPMENT

• A smart phone (iPhone or android)
• App to create your video (Stop Animation Studio or similar)
• The stars of your video – you could use Lego, cardboard, Jelly babies; it’s up to you!

METHOD

1. You’ll need a short story you’d like to tell (less than 60s)
2. Ideally you need your phone on a stand or stable surface, so it doesn’t move between each shot.
3. Take a still image for the first frame of the film
4. Move the pieces a tiny bit and take another still image
5. Repeat this process until your happy with the result, you may need to edit or redo some parts to get it right.
6. Add in any music or sound effects to your film.
7. Don’t forget to put credits on the end.

THE SCIENCE

Putting lots of images together makes it look like something is moving. If the images change fast enough then our eyes and brain, see it as movement rather than lots of still pictures. This method is used in the cinema by many studios, most famously by Aardman Animation Studios to create Wallace and Gromit and other characters.