Stop+Motion

Stop Motion
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What is Stop Motion?media type="file" key="Breakdance_Claymation.mp4" width="288" height="288" align="right"
Stop Motion, or stop action, is a way to create a video by piecing together pictures taken in quick succession. For our purposes, we will be putting our pictures into iMovie at 10 fps... That means it'll take 10 pictures to make one second of video! If you want to make a 1 minute video, how many pictures do you need to take? That's right... 600!

Stop Motion can be made with ANYTHING. There are lots of examples of "claymation" which is just stop motion using clay figures. A lot of people use Legos because it's easy to determine the exact distance to move your object frame by frame. Small toys work well. You can use ANYTHING.

Your Project:
To create a Stop Motion project, you need to have a plan. Are you sharing information? Are you illustrating a concept? Are you trying to entertain? Are you just going for a cool effect? Will portions of your video be shot from different camera angles? Do you have a beginning, middle, and end? Are you going to include music? What about sound effects? Voiceover? Do you need text slides between portions of your video to help explain your point? **Plan**, **plan**, and **plan**.


 * NOTE* You can pick anything //except clay// for your project. NO CLAY.


 * Camera:** You can use any camera as long as you're able to then upload the pictures to a computer. Of course a regular digital camera on a tripod would be ideal, but we'll be using a document camera and PhotoBooth.


 * Saving:** When you create a new iMovie project, it will prompt you to save. It should automatically save in the Movies folder on the computer on which you're working. Be sure to use the same computer each day when you return to work on your project. You will be logging in as dms_tech rather than as yourself.

Claymation Examples:

 * Breakdance Claymation This one is pretty simple. It's short, uses one camera angle and one camera zoom, no sound effects. Only music. But it's quite effective.
 * First Try Stop Motion How did the filmmaker simulate a camera zoom?
 * The Box Claymation Notice the use of sound effects.
 * Mummification Claymation Notice the use of text to explain the mummification process.

Lego Examples:

 * Lego Stop Motion The camera angles, choreography (planning), and sound effects really made this project sophisticated.
 * Star Wars Lego Stop Motion The filmmaker used narration to help tell the story. How did he do the animations that were "in the air?" The filmmaker also used a wide variety of camera angles for different portions of his movie, and used manual focus to simulate some special effects. How did he simulate the holograph of Princess Leah at the beginning?

Animating Other Stuff:

 * Stop Motion of Everyday Objects This filmmaker mixed still photographs, video footage, and stop motion to create his video.
 * Coca Cola Stop Motion This is a stop-motion movie used as a very cool commercial.
 * Pac-Man Using Everyday Objects

Tutorials... Watch these in order as you are ready:

 * DMS Tutorial- Use Document Camera with PhotoBooth
 * **NOTE**: Hold down the option key when you click on the shutter button to snap the picture without having to wait for the countdown!
 * **NOTE:** Before you start taking pictures, go to the Edit menu and select Auto Flip New Photos otherwise everything will be mirror image. (view screen shot)
 * DMS Tutorial- Open iMovie, Save Project, Use Same Computer Daily
 * DMS Tutorial- Drop Pictures into iMovie, Change Stills Settings
 * DMS Tutorial- Add Title, Soundtrack, Sound Effects, and Export as Quicktime
 * Claymation Tutorial
 * Stop Motion Tutorial 1 Set "Ken Burns Effect" to "Fit to Frame." Set frame length to 0.1 seconds, and apply to all.
 * Stop Motion Tutorial 2 Set "Ken Burns Effect" to "Fit to Frame." Set frame length to 0.1 seconds, and apply to all.
 * Adding Text to your Project You can add text on top of your pictures, or you can create a separate frame for your text.
 * Adding Background Music to your Project You can add background music from iTunes or from iMovie jingles.
 * Adding Sound Effects to your Project Adding sound effects can make your animation "come to life!"
 * Recording Voiceovers (Narration) Your voiceover should be heard over background music. Make sure to set your voiceover to **DUCK**.
 * Exporting your FInal Project When you export, select **Export Using Quicktime.**