Macro photography shows the subject large as, or larger than actual life. It allows you to capture intricate details of tiny objects, which is especially useful in stopmotion animation.

To focus on subjects like this, twist the camera focus ring all the way to the left, and place the subject very close to the lens.

Bringing the camera close to your stopmotion actors helps the audience connect with them.

Arrow graphic credit goes to dragonartz.net

This is Ryan here. I’ve been away for awhile but now I’m back and looking forward to making some neat posts on this blog. I’m excited about the movies that people are making so keep up the good work!

I know a lot of people are interested in improving their animation, especially Stikfas which are a lot more difficult to animate. This is one of the coolest Stikfa animations I’ve ever seen – so make sure to check it out. This short was not made by us but I’m highlighting it as an example of some very creative animating and cinematography.

We really like the techniques that were used in the making of this movie. These include using LEGO pieces to clamp the Stikfas to the baseplate to keep them from moving during the filming.

It took quite awhile to make this short. Some of the shots are very complex and took a long time to animate just a few seconds. Patience and attention to details are the key to making an animation realistic.

If you want to see how it was made, check out Errol’s blog. There are some very interesting techniques and tools that he covers. http://errolsmovies.blogspot.com/

Hope everyone enjoys!

Caroline Leaf “The Owl who Married a Goose”

The sand blocks the light, creating light and dark shadows on the glass. A camera positioned directly above the animating surface grabs frames of the images created.

This film was created by Caroline Leaf, and here you’ll find a short explanation of her methods.

Sand animation can be used to achieve some surreal effects. See how heat and the dry desert are captured in this short clip. It’s like a mirage!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

United Airlines “Rose”

Alexander Petrov is a Russian animator who works with paint and glass. Pretrov literally “fingerpaints” every frame of his animations, using slow-drying oil paint which he smudges into dreamy landscapes of color and motion. His most famous work is a production of “The Old Man and the Sea”, by Earnest Hemingway, which took two years to make and 29,000+individual frames. That’s twenty-nine thousand individual paintings.

Alexander Petrov, Making of:

We’re sorry this is completely in Russian, but you can watch Petrov’s fingerpainting style and see his animating setup in this clip.

The Score of “Rose”

This is a little “making of” the score for “Rose”. Seems we’re not the only ones to have Gershwin on our minds…
Petrov currently works closely with Pascal Blais Studios. Watch the Newfundland “Pitcher Plant” clip. It’s really neat. Warning: Flash-based web design and gratuitous sound effects ahead. Make sure your speakers are properly adjusted.

Gershwin’s performance is better used as the score for two unique commercials directed by Jamie Caliri. Dozens of 2-dimensional puppets were made by drawing, scanning, coloring, printing and assembling many tiny pieces of paper. The animated results are beautiful.

• United Airline’s page
• Dragon production photos

We’d say more, but “Dragon” has a really great making-of that explains it all. The artistry and effort that went into this film is incredible.

• Heart production photos

We think the little computer setup featured in some of these pictures is both functional and artsy. It looks like the bottom of a rolling chair attached to a plywood platform which holds a Mac Mini, keyboard and monitor. Dig the pen holder.

“Heart” was shot with both Nikon and Canon DSLRs. It looks like “Dragon” was shot with a Leica DIGILUX 3.

Jamie Caliri and his brother created Dragon Stop Motion, the animation software used for both of these films. It is now available to the public. The price is fairly steep, but hey! This is animation software for professionals.

As a special treat, you can download a couple of high-resolution stills from “Dragon” here. Makes a great desktop background!

Hear the power of music. Write a few catchy tunes for your movie and it will stay on broadcast TV for decades. We’ll save analyzing the dysfunctional Donner family for another day, and look instead at the interesting history of this show.

Rudolph was produced for sponsor General Electric by the Rankin/Bass company. First broadcast in 1964, production costs were around $500,000.

The movie was shot using the revolutionary “Animagic” technique, an impressive label for simple stop motion. Early animation companies named their unique methods with retro flair, my current favorite is “Supermarionation”.

If you’ve ever noticed artistic similarities between Rudolph and other pieces of TV nostalgia such as: “The Little Drummer Boy”, “Jack Frost”, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”, “The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus” and others, pat yourself on the back for being extra observant. All of these films were produced by Rankin/Bass.

Rudolph is quite small, about 4″ high. His nose is (predictably) lit with a small red lightbulb and wire running through his nose and body to an external power source.

Recently a copy of the Santa and Rudolf puppets appeared and were restored by the folks at Screen Novelty. It’s a fascinating look at the construction of these small figures. The original owner has also put up a page detailing the process. Santa’s head was hand carved out of wood, proving you can construct a stop motion puppet out of any material.

Producer Aurthur Ranklin on the Bumble:

I always added a King-Kong like creature in the early days.

Still no connection between Rudolph and Komaneko, but I’ll keep looking.

For those interested in studying this film further, the book: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Making Of The Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic is a great resource.

Unfortunately, Rankin/Bass was also responsible for creating “Frosty the Snowman”. We do not thank them for this.