Stop Motion Animation

Stop Motion 

Stop motion (stop frame) is a newer animation Technique that manipulates objects to make them appear to move by its self. Just like Flip-book animation stop motion requires the object to be moved slightly in each photograph creating the illusion of movement. The way this works is by taking a picture of a clay figures (Wallace and Gromit) or dolls with movable parts added in to a movie like continuous sequence to produce movement.

Stop motion has been a long term technique in film, The first form of stop motion was created by Albert E. Smith and J.Stuart Blackton in 1898 for Vitagraph film studios production of (Humpty Dumpty Circus).
Smith and Blackton used toys of acrobats and animals to make the illusion of an animated circus in motion and come to life. Around December 1916 Helena Smith Dayton became the first female stop motion animator used clay figures in her stop motion projects and by 1917 she released her own stop motion version of of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In more modern times stop motion can be found in a verity of well known feature length movies such as in star wars: the empire strikes back AT-AT walkers and return of the jedi AT-ST Walkers were shot in stop motion, Robocop used Go motion in there films a type of stop motion.

Here are some examples of stop motion short and feature length movies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl55Cvy4L6Q (Angry kid)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUdew5gMbTg (Chicken Run Movie)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWqaXw0Vb48 (Spiderman Vs Green Goblin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGFzxGmFXDA (Superman vs predator) 

it is very easy to create stop motion animation movies all you need to do it take photographs with very small movements in each different picture and use a program on a pc or laptop even phones or tablets to add your pictures to a sequence that will move them fast enough to make them movie and come to life.

advantages

Very fun to make can be low cost if you are drawing and using clay but if you already have a camera even if its just on your phone then you can make a stop motion video.

Disadvantages

Very time consuming,  can need a high level of art and drawing skill can cost a bit of money to get a decent camera and also a professional program to make your videos.

Zoetrope Animation

Zoetrope

A Zoetrope is one of many pre-film animation devices that use optical illusions of static image movement that make images become animated caused by our persistence of vision.

What a Zoetrope looks like when its working https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBg6dAE3mI0

It was created around 100BC by Chinese inventor Ding Huan However the exact nature of the zoetrope very unclear it is commonly miss reported by historians due to the variety of the device.

The basic drum like base Zoetrope was created around 1833-34 by A British Mathematician called William George Horner who was aware of the recently invented and closely related Phenakistoscope disc.

Horner cut slits in between the images so when the device was rotated it would have animated pictures he called this (Daedaleum) which was wrongly acclaimed to mean “The Wheel of the Devil” The Daedaleum failed to become popular till the 1860s when modifications to the device were made i.e. the slits were made higher than the images to make it easier to use and be able to replace the strips of image’s it was patented by both English and American inventors including Milton Bradley and William f. Lincoln who named his device ( The Zoetrope) meaning “ Wheel Of Life”.

How to Make

All you need to make a Zoetrope

  Circular cardboard container (4" diameter)

 Ruler

 Plastic thumbtack

Marker

 Utility knife

 Zoetrope template – Images of your Choice

 Scissors

Electrical tape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nXbSRxR6yA

How it works

Zoetrope works by cutting slits in to the top or side of the cardboard container and placing your image wheel into the circular cardboard container and spinning the container which will generator the speed needed to animate the image.

Advantages

Very cheap to make easy to customize and change images

Disadvantages

time consuming to make and also may require a lot of artistic ability 

Flipbook Animation

Flipbook

A Flipbook or Flickerbook is a paper booklet that has pictures on it that slightly vary from page to page so when you flick through the pages rapidly the picture becomes animated by simulating motion. Most commonly used in childrens books however can be moved towards adults by using a serise of photographs apposed to drawings.

First seen in 1868 patented by John Barnes Linnett named kineograph ("moving picture").

The first flipbooks were the first form of animation of a linear sequence of images instead of  a circular phenakistoscope another form of animation used to make an optical illusion caused by our persistence of vision. It was even used by Walt Disney from 1928 till 2007 were a blacked out logo flipbook would appear and by flicking through in rapid succession Mickey Mouse: Steamboat Willie would appear for the intro for some Disney Movies. 

It is very simple to make all you need is a couple peices of paper 3 Pieces Paper
Stapler Scissors Markers, Crayons, Colored Pencils.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29SCiHN9zCI (How To Make)

It is also very easy to use all you need to do when you have finished making your flipbook or Flickerbook and use your thumb to flick through the pages in rapid succession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD_iNT8uwQ0  (How to use)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NQyzcDnMdE (Disneys Steamboat Willie 1928)

In my opinion the advantages of flipbooks are that it is very low cost to make it is highly flexible because it can be anything you want it to be book, brochure, comic books, virtually anythng can be made into a flipbook even websites. Disadvantages it takes alot of time to make also you have to make very minor changes to the next picture you draw or the illusion wont work.



Thaumatrope Animation

Thaumatrope

A Thaumatrope is a device (toy) that creates and optical illusion it blends two images together that make us see something move this is caused by our persistence of vision.

The Device (Toy) was popular in the 19^th century created around in London by Sir John Herschel but John Ayrton Paris and Peter Mark Roget Popularized it to demonstrate the device.

In 1824 John Ayrton Paris used the device to Demonstrate persistence of view to the Royal College of Physicians around 1824 The Device Works By having two separate images on a piece of paper or cardboard for example a fish one side a bowl on the other with two pieces of elastic or string tied to both sides witch are twirled to make the piece of paper or cardboard spin witch creates the optical illusion alternatively you could stick the piece of paper or cardboard on a stick and use the pam of your hand to spin it.

The advantages of using our persistence of vision is best described by watching movies or television our vision lets us enjoy the images that flash in rapid succession to create the illusion even though to our eyes is seems like a constant lit screen it also stops us from seeing the world as black every time we blink for a split second.

This is how you make a thaumatrope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SivM3UVHMeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vypEOfWjzv8