History of stop-motion ~ Jess Hitch

History of stop-motion animation

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments and photographed in each position, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played back at a fast pace. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning.

Stop motion animation has a long history in film. It was often used to show objects moving as if by magic. The first instance of the stop motion technique was made by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton with The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), where a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life. French director Georges Méliès used stop motion to produce moving title-card letters for one of his short films, but never exploited the process for any of his other films.

The Haunted Hotel (1907) is another stop motion film by J. Stuart Blackton, and was a big success when released. Segundo de Chomón (1871–1929), from Spain, released El Hotel Eléctrico later that year, and used similar techniques as Blackton.

In 1908, A Sculptor's Welsh Rarebit Nightmare was released by Billy Bitzer. Italian animator Roméo Bossetti impressed audiences with his object animation, The Automatic Moving Company in 1912.

Wladyslaw Starewicz was became a big name in stop motion animation in Europe. He animated The Beautiful Lukanida (1910), The Battle of the Stag Beetles (1910) and The Ant and the Grasshopper (1911).

In December 1916, the first woman animator Helena Smith Dayton, began experimenting with clay stop motion. She released her first film in 1917 which was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Another well-known animator known was Willis O' Brien. His work on The Lost World from 1925 is known, but he is most admired for his work on King Kong, a milestone of his films made possible by stop motion animation.

In its early days, stop-motion was dull, jerky and grainy due to the poor quality camera equipment and lack of knowledge in lighting and modeling. It was also highly time-consuming as each model had to be moulded and adjusted by hand. Even playing the finished product back was poor quality, as film back in the 1890’s was grainy, jerky and in black and white until the 1950’s. The Camera also had to be operated by hand which can cause movement on the screen, making the overall finished product appear fragmented and stuttery. It also would have been difficult to recreate realistic looking water and clouds without an artificial substitute, even moments of flight could have been easily spotted due to the light shining off the fishing wire used to suspend the object in the air.

Nowadays, big name stop-motion companies like Aardman studios create feature length films and children’s TV shows entirely out of stop motion with ease. Different software exists today to allow for quick and high-quality capturing of stills and a wider knowledge in modeling and lighting. A stop-motion effect can even be created without having to physically create a model using CGI and motion-capture.

For our music video, we want to include stop motion animation to create a childish and nostalgic atmosphere however, we want it to look jumpy and fragmented much like the early styles of stop-motion animation to tie in with the retro feel of some of daft punk's songs. This will also reduce the amount of time needed to create a stop motion chunk as not many photographic frames will be needed.

Cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion

-Jess Hitch