history of stop motion

Stop motion animation is also called stop-frame animation.  This technique includes capturing frames at every movement to produce a moving film. 

Some early examples of stop motion animation is seen the ‘Humpty Dumpty Circus’ (1898) by Albert E Smith and James Stuart Blackton. The audience at the time were shocked at what they saw because they had never seen anything like it before. 

Stop motion has changed since the early 20^th Century and hardly used anymore, only in some advertisements and children’s TV shows.  With the development of 3D animation it became much easier and a faster process and allows the characters to seem to be alive and flow better. 

pixilation

Pixilation is the only form of stop motion animation that has people posing frame to frame instead of an object.  Pixelation involves using live talent and shooting them frame by frame, just as with other forms of stop motion. “El Hotel Eléctrico” (1905) by Segundo de Chomon is an example which also features object animation. 

The type of media Pixilation is currently used for is in music videos, advertisements and feature films.  A strange and creepy feature film was made in 1993 ‘Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb’ by the bolexbrothers using the exact technique you can see in part 1 of the ‘ below.

The target audience for this type of animated film using pixilation is adults as the content would be too creepy for a young audience.  The influence behind this animation was the Christmas season but was rejected by the BBC for being too dark for the festive season. 

I think it is effective because it shows a good comparison and contrast between stop motion where live actors and puppets share the same frame.  It works because they seem to blend in with each other to make this type of animation effective. 

claymation

Claymation uses plasticine characters and objects in this type of animation.   Claymation is used in the same way that stop motion animation is created by taking the pictures in a sequence and adjusting the clay as you do so and is most probably the main associate of stop motion animation.

Claymation was created around 1908 when the 'Sculpture Nightmare' was found to be a big hit with the viewers and so four years after it was created Claymation became really popular and became more frequent after 1897 when an art teacher invented plasticine which was so much easier to create moving objects. In time animators began putting wire skeletons which made models move like people with more ease for example. Wallace and Gromit use this technique with the wire skeleton frames.

Claymation is often now used in cartoons, TV and advertisements.  One example of a famous claymation is Wallace and Gromit which is a British series consisting of four animated short films and a feature film.  The characters are made out of moulded plasticine on metal armatures.  The characters are influenced on the very stereotypical British, which makes it appealing.  The target audience is mainly teenagers and adults but can also appeal to children. 

I think that it is successful because the concept behind Wallace and Gromit appeals to most people and the claymation technique improves the appeal because the concept may not work if real actors were used instead, for example, the bully dog character in ‘A Close Shave’ (1995)