Stop Motion

Through Time

Through this article, we shall be talking about

the main aspects with in stop motion, and who
contributed to the advancements throughout
time. I will also look at how videos have improved and the positives and negatives from
each of the pioneers, developers and the contemporary workers.

Persistence of vision, this is the optical illusion of a set of images when in motion blend into a moving image or into a single image. This
is based on the fact that the brain will retain an image for the 0.4 second, for example when someone watches a film the images shall be
stored in the audiences heads allowing all the images in from of them to be blurred in to one, to show them a continuous movement.

Stop frame animation, is when an inanimate object is manipulated and changed to give the impression of this object moving this has been
something that has come about with the work from Developers such as Willis OBrien and Rayhausen to contemporary workers such as
Aardman Animation, Tim Burton and Mikey please and it continues to grow and improve.

The persistence of vision first occurred with the invention of the Phenakistoscope, created by Joseph Plateau it was a circular plate,
with the images around the edges, when spun the images would collide to give the idea of movement in the image, thought it didnt provide
the most seamless image but it provide the starting block to vast improvements and essentially to the first film.

Stop Motion started early on, it was demonstrated in the work within the Phenakistoscope and the zoetrope as it include images that
slightly changed, and had been manipulated to express movement, and demonstrated when theyre spun the it gave a persistence of vision.
This is the earliest form of stop motion, it the form of drawing, but due to advancements in technology we are able to use different objects
and create more of a seamless viewing.

William Horner tried to improve the Phenakistoscope, and he brought out the Zoetrope, this was a cylinder and at the bottom it included
images, on the top half of the cylinder there are slits, people would look through the slits when the cylinder is in motion and it displays
the images in movement- This is a slight improvement on the before Phenakistoscope as it improved the seamless quality to the actual
images within it, but it was also a setback due to audiences not being able to fully view the images as they had to look through the slits.
This clearly hindered their view.
This changed when Emilie Reynaud produced both the Praxinoscope and an improved version of both the zoetrope and Phenakistoscope.
This was a large change in the way of persistence of vision; first the improved zoetrope (praxinoscope) included mirrors and in clear
sight of the audience, with no obstructions such as the slits, and seconding looking into the mirrors displayed a clear image of moving
images, allows the audience to have a clear and seamless vision of the drawings. Praxinoscope, was the first projector device, it allow a
group of people to view the movement in which the praxinoscope was producing.
Edward Muybridge is one of the main presents within the development of persistence of vision, due to his capturing of animals movement
on film. One of his main set of photographs, was the horse galloping, this was the first demonstration of movement, and frame rates. This
demonstrates the necessities needed to achieve a persistence of vision.
Thomas Edison was one of the main people to be included in the process of persistence of vision as he created the kinestcope. This device
allowed one person at one time to view a film through a small peep hole, this was the first film maker, and it allowed people to see motion
in clear vision. It had a 24 per second frame, this allowed a clear film
Through the different devices created, persistence of vision has clearly improved. Within the early stages that have been discussed here
persistence of vision was on its starting block, but theses inventions are what started the film, media, and photography industry.
Frame rates, this is the frequency of the frames being played in one video. If an animation has a high frame rate this will create a rather
seamless finish, in comparison if you have a low frame rate, the video would become disjointed.
There has been clear advancements within this area of stop motion, though it has been a progression through time, but now with the
advancements within technology stop motion and it abilities have been improved to the best standard.
One of the Aardman animations productions was Wallace and gromits a grand day out, I feel that this production in comparison to recent
productions definitely demonstrates the movement within stop motion. Within the video of Wallace and Gromits Big day out, it is slightly
jumpy and disjoint, the actions of the characters do completely match that of a humans, and it seems slightly unrealistic, but the difference shown within their work now, with Wallace and Gromit and the curse of the Wererabbit and programmes such as creature comforts
and angry kid, they are seamless they demonstrated that with more frame rates and movements of characters the production becomes
more clear and refine, and the characters act as if they were real people. Tim Burton, is another of the contempory workers that is well
known for his amazing productions and his elaborate stories. His productions/work is known for its seemless and creative properties,
with the slight movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0qagA4_eVQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijV176lGLK8
Edward Muybridge when capturing motion within animals it demonstrated to others about how to capture motion, and how many frames
of a character to actually portray movement. In his most famous piece of the horse galloping, he had taken 11 pictures, for a 1 second clip
in a sense it showed the movement clearly but it showed that with more frames the movement would become clearer and seamless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heRuLp7CyTM

Edward Muybridge produced the earliest piece of stop motion on film, as he captured a horse in movement to see whether all the horses
feet where not on the ground when running. This was the first captured motion, and this led to the first video by the lumiere brothers.
Lotte Reiniger one of the visionarys within stop motions, she made over 40 films during her lifetime, but what mad her work so interesting was that she used silhouettes, this were revolutionary and that point in which they were released, and they were seen as a bold
movement within stop motion, as they used different materials, and they were produced in a different way, for instance with music, the
simplicity of the stories. Her work was hindered though, as it lacked both a seamless quality, and fluidity of movement throughout the
production and her work.
George Pal was one of the first people to use an inanimate object and create a stop motion. He used puppets for nearly everything and
created main different television series such as puppetons, to become of the
Willis OBrien was another person that helped considerably to the advancements that have been made within stop frame animation. He
is known best for his work in King Kong, The Lost world, and the Mighty Joe Young, he won the award for the best visual effects. He used
materials that others hadnt experimented with, for example one of the short films that he was commissioned by Thomas Edison to create
was about dinosaurs. Whilst using sculpting materials like plasticise he used air bags inside of the animals; the bags could be inflated and
deflated this gave the audience the illusion that the dinosaur was breathing. His work in King Kong has been credited for the greatest use
of stop motion ever.
Ray Harryhausen work alongside Willis O Brien, and collaborated in the film the Mighty Joe young, and one of the things he was most wellknown for was his creation of dynamtion which contributed largely to the growth of the industry. It all started with a simple photograph,
when taking a picture of a women on a bike, it was taken with black tape over the bottom of the lens, the films was then rolled back with
the top of the lens covered, and there was a picture of the Paris skyline on the top, so the photo gives the idea of the lady riding in the
Paris skyline. The picture below demonstrates Rays creation and how it works, it was an innotive idea, and it have been used in may films
and is occasionally used in this day in age such as The Mighty Joe Young and Burke and Hare, though now we have more technology such
as CGI to create the back drop and the effects.
Aardman animations it a large company of both the 20th and 21st century they have produced many stop motion programmes or films
that have excited many around the world. They have created many different films such as Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit, and creature
comforts, these were broadcast to thousands of people and Aardman as now become one of the leading stop motion companies in the
world. You can see their input into the industry just by the improvement in their work. For example in their very first productions the
movements of the characters lacked fluidity, and was very basic. To recent pieces of work such as chicken run were the character mimic
human movements, and that all movements follow well, meaning their frame rates were raised which created their seamless films.
Tim burton is one of the most well know stop motion creators of all time, he has been credited for many different pieces of his work. Stop
motion was moved one dramatically by him, he used modelling plasticise as well as frames to create his characters the productions would
have miniature sets as settings.
Mikey please is one of the less well known of the stop motion creators, his muse is paper and he has created many different short stories
as well as working on many different adverts and music videos. For example Eagle Stag which has one a BAFTA for inspirational and
overall effectiveness of the video. He has created something rather diverse within Stop Motion industry, due to his materials and his
storylines, as nothing has ever been done like his work. His work has a seamless quality, yet some of his work can be seen slight jiggered
as you can see in eagles stag, the scene of the main character in a bar, whilst his mouth moves to correlate with what is being said his
movements seem slightly jiggered but still easily comparable to that of human. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5K2HUg11sQ

Movement within models, a stop frame animation relies on the slight and clearly executed movement to allows for consistent and seamless movement of the characters, I feel that many different piece of work demonstrate an advancement within this area of stop motion
animation, I feel that you can clearly see this in recent pieces of work such as corpse bride, Wallace and Gromit, and Eagle Stag- all
created by contempory workers such as Tim Burton, Aardman Studios, and Mikey Please but it is also demonstrated throughout history
with Willis OBriens stop motion work in King Kong.
Movement within model, is something that is becoming easier is seen more due to contempary workers such as Tim Burton and Aardman
studios. One of the earliest and most recongised uses of models, was the within willis O Briens stop motion within King Kong, when he
used a basic structure and used a material similar to plasticine, this was to show king kong on one of the building in the American skyline.
Lotte reiniger type of stop motion and her models were seen as equist and bold, as it was so different to what was generally seen. Her
movements of characters were slight disjointed, but I feel the material she used, disabled her to try and create the human movements to
create more of a realistic feel to her piece, but her work with the models were well executed and portrayed a story well to the audience.
Within her video for Hansel and Gretel, the children are seen jumping, and playing around, this demonstrates the story and human movements but the movements arent in a continuous flow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxkIGXVwZTM
Willis O Brien is well known for his stop motion within King Kong, he has influenced many of the contempory workers such as Tim Burton, and Mikey Please. His first stop motions, involved moving model creations of dinosaurs, and humans. They were based with the pre
historic era, when looking at the video you can tell that technology wasnt very advanced, and that the frame rates were slightly low due to
the video being seen as slightly inconsistence especially with the peoples movements, though you can see and tell where the stereotypical
human movements are, like for example when one of the character bumps their head on a tree, he shakes his head like we would when we
try to shake of the pain.
George pal was one of the most well-known for his use of puppets, and with his show puppetoons in the 1940s. This led for him to be
awarded with an Oscar for the developmental novel methods and techniques of productions. Within his work you can see that the puppets
movements are accentuated overly, but with the high frame rates in which the video must have it does create an effective and seamless
view for the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kXczJzL21k
Contemporary works, aardman and Tim burton work with the same materials to create their work. They would generally use a basic
structure for the characters, like the one below and then would actually create the characters with things such as plasticize, this allows
them to have overall creativity of the characters. But you can see that throughout time and this hasnt been the only material used, for
example Mikey please uses paper and its vastly interesting- though is movements of the characters whilst life like are slight jiggered, that
it is slight inconsistent
Format of Stop Motion, is the format of which stop motion can be seen. This has advanced throughout history. The first time you could
ever see stop motion was through a phenakistoscope as the drawings that were included them were the movement of an objected and
when this device as spun it all merged into one motion.
Television was the next format that stop motion was broadcast, with that of Lottes short stories and George Pals Puppetoons. This would
be inclusive of advertisements, for example a popular stop motion advert is for an insurance company
Film is an important aspect of stop motion, it started with Willis OBrien with his plasticine piece in King Kong, and his work with dinosaurswhich became broadcast on television. And now it has become the main format for many contemporary workers such has Tim burton with
his film Nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride or Aardman studios which has produced many films over the last 15 years such
as chicken run and Wallace and Gromit Beware the WereRabbit.