For those who are interested in using softwares like iMovie or windows movie maker, these tips are pretty useful for stopmotion production. I’ve highlighted in red these tips which definitely stood out to me because our film project definitely has similar traits.
- Keep in mind that the more photos you have, the smoother your video results will be.
- If you do not have a tripod, good alternatives include balancing on solid books, poster tack on the surface of the set or a piece of solid furniture at the same height.
- In single frame, 24 pictures equals one second of film. It’s best to take two pictures of the same shot, so you only require 12.
- Make sure your battery is fully charged.
- Stay out of the way of your light source or position it so you don’t create distracting shadows over your animation that change with each frame.
- To reduce flicker and create a smoother animation, set your camera’s white balance and exposure settings on manual mode so they don’t change with each shot.
- If you use clay as your medium, try putting wire inside the clay. This will help you move the figures more easily.
- If objects are going to be moving limbs, make sure you can keep them in that one position without holding on to them. Poster tack or looped over adhesive tape works well for this.
- If your computer is slightly slow and you try to preview your video in the editing stage, all the pictures may not play and the film will get stuck on one image. It’s okay for this to happen. When you save it, it will flow fine.
- If you do not want every frame saved on your computer, then you can delete them.
- You do not need Windows Movie Maker. There are some programs specifically for stop motion that are better. Windows Movie Maker is free though, which is often a compelling reason.
- This way of making movies can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the length. Make sure to have a lot of patience when making a movie.
- Watch other stop motion animations for inspiration. These may give you some new ideas about how to do your own animation. “Wallace and Gromit”, “Fantastic Mr Fox” and “Knox” are fresh and popular animations.
- You will become faster at moving the figures and judging the distances with more practice.
- If the frame rate (frames displayed per second) in Windows Movie Maker is too fast/slow, you can use the double (x2) speed or half (x0.5) speed effect on the video for a faster or slower frame rate. The minimum amount of frames per second required for humans to perceive motion is 24.
- When you are beginning, try shooting the sequences where characters are moving in stop motion. when they are talking, just take single shots of their faces. It speeds up the process and still looks okay.
- If you want to make a toy fly (such as a pterodactyl or a bird), attach clear string to it. Hold it up in the air for every shot that you want it to fly. Make sure you have two people working on this part.
- Make sure that your camera is compatible with any movie maker you are using. If the movie maker will not find your files, you might have to download a different software for movie making.
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