Stop motion animation is a great technique for creating attention-grabbing content to promote a brand or your own photography, or even just for fun. In this article, I am going to show you how to shoot and assemble a series of still images to create an eye-catching stop motion animation.
Watching Back To The Future as a kid, I always wanted to recreate the flame line scene after the DeLorean hits 88 mph. In my photography career, I have yet to come across one that works and has a Mr. Fusion. YouTuber Sirdork has beaten me to the punch by using toys.
Playing with Hot Wheels, I always remember staring deep into the vehicle to look at the smallest details. At an older age, I look back and wonder why someone would ever spend that much time making a steering wheel look so real, especially something that would likely fall victim to a child wielding a hammer...
If you've ever found yourself posting a photo in which you've masterfully designed your shadows, created asymmetrical balance, and selected a brilliant color palette just to see it wildly out-performed by a reel of a 20-year-old aimlessly walking down a sidewalk and spiraled into complete despair, then this is for you. In this article, I will walk you through how to shoot skillfully crafted images and easily stitch them into a stop-motion. The artist strikes a treaty with the Insta.
On1 has introduced their new time-lapse feature with the latest version of Photo Raw 2022. This training video shows how easily you can stitch the images together to make a seamless video.
The team at Syrp adds a stop motion feature to its motion control Genie 2 App.
One of the stranger titles I've written, but the subtitle would be stranger: Lithuanian man uses stop motion to make insects dance and influences some of the most iconic films of all time.
If you were a time-lapse photographer about to buy yourself a shiny new camera, what would be your choice? Time-lapse aficionado Matthew Vandeputte was contacted by Panasonic asking him to try out the new S1, and to say that he’s impressed is something of an understatement.
The stories told in stop-frame movies usually tap into our childhood imagination. Even though we know the characters are represented in a fictional way, they're able to make us believe and experience the story with the characters.
Wes Anderson's latest animated offering looks set to be another visual feast. In this video by Entertainment Weekly, we get to take a peek at how the animators created such detailed characters.
With today's photo and video tools at hand, and science in mind, filmmakers, and biologists Rob Nelson, and Jonas Stenstrom set out to teach us how to use our gear to their fullest potential. Every week, 52 Things (get it?), releases a video that aims to tell an engaging story that will not only entertain, but educate us on how to be better storytellers ourselves. I love this concept. It reminds me a little of Lee and Patrick's efforts to post 30 videos in 30 days (shameless self promo).
Sex sells. This basic advertising trick could be the number one rule of any marketing textbook. Unfortunately, as uninspiring as it seems, associating brands with provocative half-naked bodies draws people’s attention. Pushing this logic to the extreme, French Musician Hiérophante created a short stop-motion video showing naked women’s bodies being covered by brand logos. The result leaves you with an uncomfortable feeling of watching some sort of livestock branding.
LA-based rock band OK Go is no stranger to innovative music videos. Their single, “Here It Goes Again,” was accompanied by a treadmill-orientated dance routine that sent the clip viral upon its release in 2006. Now, the band is hitting headlines once again for their creative and resourceful visuals for "Obsession."
The art of animation in any form can be a long an tedious process however doing so with traditional stop motion techniques, manipulating your subject one frame at a time takes serious commitment and determination. Brett Foxwell takes this practice to a higher level creating amazing alien like organic worlds by slicing away one layer at a time from various pieces of wood in his newest short film "WoodSwimmer".
Frame Order is a Netherlands-based animation studio that normally creates cartoons. With their latest short film “Golden Oldies,” the team took on the challenge of pixilation using real people. This stop motion technique blends human actors with animated scenes, and this video is the perfect example of the creative potential and fun that can be had with it.
You think your camera is fast? Check this out. A group of researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a camera that is way faster than yours. I guarantee it. Their camera captures at a frame rate equivalent to five trillion images per second, a rate faster than previously thought possible. It’s so fast that even captures light in flight.
Today was a day of much needed motivation, so I decided to grab one of my speedlights and shoot a portrait with an element of motion. In this case, water.
You fall into one of two camps when it comes to Wes Anderson films. You either absolutely love his stylistic, quirky work, or you don't. And while those of you who fall into the latter of the two are entitled to your wrong (very wrong) opinion, we should all be excited about his latest film announced today, "Isle of Dogs."
Lately, I've found myself watching lots of stop motion films. It's something I've always wanted to try (I've tried very simple things thanks to Vine), but never really dove into. Now, after watching "Infinitude," my head is spinning at the possibilities of what you can create with stop motion.
Stop motion animation is by far one of the most forgotten mediums for filmmaking, yet it holds high respect for what it is and how it's done in large motion pictures today. Those pushing the envelope in 2016 are the geniuses behind Laika Studios where they blended hand crafted puppets, CGI, and 3D printing to build a world filled with imagination and story.
The Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens is nothing short of remarkable. With an internal 1.4x teleconverter matched specifically to the lens' optics, it's a unique piece of gear known for its stellar quality. Now, Canon has released a video showing just what goes into making one of their top lenses.
French Filmmaker Maxime Baudin recently made this delightful short film in Paris that depicts a flirtatious couple. Baudin utilized stop-motion to make the film and describes it like this: "In a splendid and romantic Paris, while everything is going too fast, a young man rides a ‘bicycle.’ But his simple ride is going to take on a whole new dimension."
With a concept of traveling back through your childhood and experiencing that care-free, fantasy world of "pure imagination," Permagrin Films has put together an incredible time-lapse music video. In the article below, there's a full behind-the-scenes video and the producers of the film answer a few of my questions in a brief interview.
How are you getting people to look at and engage with your work? This is something we all have to think about constantly in today’s visually saturated market place. It’s why it’s all the more important to look at – and learn from – those producing stunning and engaging work. Let me introduce you to Leonardo Dalessandri, and his latest project “Watchtower Of Turkey”, a video that he worked on over the course of a year and quite possibly some of the best visual media you’ll see in 2015.
The calendar is about to turn over to 2015, and in my feeble mind I just assumed we were so advanced, that all of those new high-budget animation films were created by using elaborate CGI. I envisioned a team of computer animators sitting in a dark basement with endless empty cans of Red Bull strewn about, working around the clock to animate the scenes on screen in their elaborate and complex computer programs. Little did I know, old school manual, and tireless physical techniques are still used to this day.
Whether or not you knew it, you have most likely viewed a short film by Adam Pesapane, better known as PES. The director and animator has released several immensely popular stop-motion shorts, directed numerous commercials for major companies such as PlayStation, Scrabble, and Bacardi, and has even been nominated for an Academy Award. Along with the release of his newest short, "Submarine Sandwich," PES and Nikon Cinema have teamed up to bring you a rather comprehensive behind-the-scenes look into the process that goes into the making of PES’ films.
Have you ever wondered what fashion trends will be in style, let’s say 20 years from now? Well some say the best way to predict the future is to look at the past, and this video does exactly that. "100 Years of Beauty in 1 Minute" illustrates hair and makeup styles from each decade, starting at 1910 straight through to 2010.
I have to say, it's been a blast seeing where Carli Davidson's passion for dogs has taken her, starting way back in 2012 when I first featured her on Fstoppers, and again last year with the release of her book Shake. Today marks the official release of her new book, Shake Puppies, and she somehow managed to create a book of cute that surpasses that of her original printed piece.
If you follow any of my work, you know I am a sucker for anything Back To The Future. I even recreated my own BTTF image using a real DeLorean awhile back, so I HAD to share this video. The guys over at Shanks FX have created another inventive tutorial on how you can create your own time travel scene on a budget using a DSLR, simple time lapse software, a toy DeLorean, and some LED lights. Think you may want to try something like this at home?
Today I stumbled upon the incredible body painting work of Emma Hack and I started surfing the web for body painting projects. I ended up finding 13 totally unique body painting projects that I believe are worth sharing.
Tinybop, a Brooklyn-based studio building educational apps, asked Kelli Anderson to make a trailer for their app. Inspired by the app’s original illustrations by Marie Caudry, Kelli and her partner, Daniel Dunnam, cut a forest entirely out of paper. 400 tiny leaves, 500 blades of grass, and 25 squirrels were just some of the elements required to produce this time consuming, 6000 photo project. See how Kelli and Daniel turned out this trailer and know that if you exhibit a fraction of their dedication and patience in your own craft, you'll do just fine. Inspiring work .
Stop motion is one of the oldest and historically most popular tricks in the industry. It was used in many great films, music videos, advertisements and children's TV shows for many years. Recently Lexus decided to take the stop motion idea and combine it with some cool practical effects to create their new TV advertising spot. In order to execute their idea, they hired 40 engineers and many stuntpeople to help them with that complex task.
Gillette, founded in 1901, has been around for just over 100 years now. To celebrate, they recently put together a genius stop-motion video showing the evolution of men's hair during that time. This video takes us behind the scenes of the four-day production and shows the painstaking level of attention-to-detail involved in creating an animation of this magnitude.
It's not the first time I'm sharing Michael Shainblums work and it won't be the last time. Timelapses are one of the most time consuming forms of photography and only a dedicated person with patience can produce quality results as often as Michael.
Marc Donahue from Permagrin Films keeps popping up with new and interesting timelapse or GoPro projects– and his latest work features the gorgeous city of San Francisco. Using unique motion timelapses, Marc and his team put together another amazing piece of work. Marc shared some insight on the production, and we've also got some behind the scenes video too so you can see how it was made.
San Diego based photographer, Michael Shainblum, is not only a great photographer, he's also an incredible time-lapser. When Michael was young he was diagnosed with Dyslexia and learning disabilities, and got discouraged when he saw that other kids succeed and do well while he struggles. He quickly realized he can excel in art, and decided to take this route to succeed in life. For the past few years Michael has created some of the best time-lapse videos ever created. VICE filmed this very interesting documentary about him and his work - sit back and enjoy!
I’ve just had Selina’s answers back for this interview and feel sick. Some numbers - 80 hours shooting, 7000+ stills, 40+ hours of rendering, sleeping in shifts to meet deadlines. I thought my current project was tough - compared to her's, I feel like I'm sat on a beach drinking a piña colada. Her video “Limitless” has had 6+ million views in 2 weeks, so all her hard work paid off. Read on to find out how she put this beautiful video together.
Whether you’re a photographer or you focus on video, this article highlights the high octane visual set piece created by Slaughterhouse Pictures, who successfully combined principles of both stills and motion work to create high impact visual media with zero budget and very limited resources. Read the exclusive FStoppers article and watch the BTS video to get some simple and highly effective little tips that you will be able to apply to all aspects of your own work.
The short film "Pictures" made by Gioacchino Petronicce is a prime example of how patience is a main ingredient in creating captivating cinema from still photos. Gioacchino spent over three years traveling multiple continents to capture perfect moments, and the images that led up to that perfect moment using a DLSR. I absolutely loved the tempo he created in this film with the acceleration up to the actual moment he froze in time.
In the last few years, video-sharing sites like YouTube have become a marketer’s best friend.
These sites offer the opportunity to disguise advertisements as pure entertainment. As more people recognize the marketing opportunity, getting exposure becomes more difficult. Video producers are constantly scrambling to stay relevant and unique.
It’s interesting times for those of us shooting photo and video. I enjoy highlighting photographers or videographers who are utilizing elements of both stills and motion work, and are pushing the creative envelope by integrating them so that the end result is more than just the sum of the individual parts. I'm going to go all in and lay my cards down here and say that the video in this post is going to be the most innovative, creative use of combining stills and video together that we’ll see in 2013.
It seems utility companies are looking for more creative ways of bringing their message across to television viewers in their commercials. Ontario Power Generation has recently come out with two commercials using miniature sets in their commercial production. Watch this very detailed behind the scenes video on how they created the sets, and how they filmed the fresh new take on water safety.
The Youtube channel Friends in Faux used over 1600 Instagram uploads to create a stop motion video depicting the crazy adventures of one character throughout his day, creatively manipulated using the available tools on the iPhone app.
This is the kind of story that just boggles my mind. IBM just released a Guinness World Record-setting movie called "A Boy and His Atom," made by moving atoms using an IBM-invented scanning tunneling microscope. It weighs two tons, operates at a temperature of negative 268 degrees Celsius and magnifies the atomic surface over 100 million times. IBM researchers used the microscope to control a super-sharp needle along a copper surface to “feel” atoms.
Fabian Oefner’s latest series entitled Black Hole shows us a world of paint, drills, and motion, all within 1/40,000th of a second. While high speed photography is nothing new, the art of it is still underground, as its still incredibly expensive. Oefner’s newest work uses high speed photography to show us a world of color that our eyes normally could not process.
Jurassic Park is my favorite movie of all time. The story line itself is captivating but the incredible special effects are what really set this film apart. The movie was released 20 years ago in 1993 and the CGI and robotic dinosaurs still look more realistic than the majority of special effects in movies today. Stan Winston has just released 3, never before seen videos of the creation of the robotic dinosaurs from the original Jurassic Park.
In a fun and unique approach that combines many different facets of art and multimedia, production group CanCanClub out of Buenos Aires worked with Antonio Balseiro from Gazz and 1st Ave Machine, Art Director Hernán Aragunde, and the crew from Nintendo to create a 30-second commercial for "Paper Mario Sticker Star." In this first of two behind the scenes videos, you catch a peek at the live action video shot,
A few weeks ago Eric Pare released the 24x360 project which included 24 cameras taking a long exposure picture of a single subject. It's difficult to explain but once you see it you will understand. Eric was kind enough to write up an article just for us on how these incredible video clips were made.
Typically I am not a fan of timelapses or stop motion videos. However, sometimes I come across one that is done so well that I am left with no choice but to admire the beauty and creativity of it. Christophe Thockler is one of those magical people that have momentarily turned me from a hater of timelapses, to a lover of them. Christophe's 4 minute 33 second video "Degiheugi - Un Jour comme un Autre" consists of more than 35,000 photos, 120 timelapses and 160 hours of shoot time.
It's that time of year again. Children dress up in ghoulish costumes, grab their jack-o-lantern baskets and extort candy from the neighbors. Although, in Norway Sandnes Media AS, an animation studio, had the children who participated in their latest children's animation workshop do something a little bit different this Halloween.
Take a behind the scenes look at how the intricate ad for the game "Joy Kingdom" was created. Almost all of the elements that you see in the ad were shot as a scene, there was obviously some degree of compositing done, but the meat of the scene was done in camera. They even shot some stop motion elements using ice! I can't imagine how time consuming this shoot must have been.
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