Incredible Time-Lapse Shows the Time Consuming Labor Behind Stop Motion Animation

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.

I am very far from being well-versed about current pop culture, more specifically, movies and music. If you catch me working at my computer, chances are I am listening to Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM. I couldn't name one song in this week's top five, and chances are, I wouldn't even know the artists either. Now, new movies I do indeed enjoy, but am horrible at watching them. I can rarely justify taking two hours to sit in front of the television to watch them, especially when I have lots of incredible TV shows like "The Walking Dead" and "Homeland" to catch up with.

So, imagine my surprise when I was alerted to this jaw-dropping time-lapse that shows the behind the scenes process of filming a segment for the stop motion 3D animated film, "The Boxtrolls." Now, I rarely watch movies, and I don't have kids, so until today, I had never heard of "The Boxtrolls," or most recent animated movies for that matter. But I found myself staring in awe at this behind the scenes look into the laborious process involved with creating just a couple of seconds worth of footage, and it definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I need to watch more current movies. Not only for the sheer entertainment, but also for the inspiration that can be found when imagining the tireless dedication that goes into making animated feature-length motion pictures.

You can find more on the Focus Features YouTube channel.