Stop Motion Animation

How to Make a Stop Motion Animation

Before you start animating, you’ll need to download the Stop Motion or Stop Motion Pro app to create your animation. You’ll also need to think of a story to be animated. The story can be about practically anything, from fairy tales to a moment of your life.

The Setup

To setup your animation, you will need to make a good studio to work on it. Choose an open room which is not too bright, so you can add light to your liking. You will need a flat surface, preferably a table to record on. You will to place your phone or the device with the app on a higher spot than the table (like on a stand or a taller table) so the device can see everything on the table. You can choose to place a greenscreen on the table or a background of your liking. Once your studio is all set, you can begin to create the parts of your animation.

The Characters

The characters in your animation are movable and must be created separately. To make your characters' movements more realistic, you must use brad pins. Brad pins will combine the limbs and other appendages with the body and let the character walk and talk. Try to add color and texture to make your character as recognizable as possible, but remember, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Test out your characters to see that they move properly. Once you are done, it will be time to start filming.

The Animation

To start filming, just snap a picture of your background. Then, for the first scene after your background, position the characters needed in the scene exactly right, as the placement will affect how and where the character can move. After you finish positioning the characters, snap a couple frames of this scene before starting. Now start to slightly move (very little!) your characters around and snap a frame for each time you move it. Don’t forget to display words in your story, so people can understand it better. Once you are done and have reviewed each frame, it’s time for credits.

The Credits

After you finish filming, you may want to add credits to the animation. To add credits, click the + button and select Add Credits. Then you will be able to pick a theme and design both the title page and end credits to your liking. You can also select Audio from the + button’s menu to add sound. You can pick a sound for the whole animation or for a certain scene. You can also attempt to add a background, though I recommend exporting the animation and altering the background in a separate app.