Pros and Cons of stop motion

If used appropriately, stop motion can be extremely successful. We can see this from examples such as Wallace & Gromit or Coraline, where a stop motion film has become hugely well known and appreciated. This is mainly because with stop motion, near anything is possible as the worlds and characters are created from nothing. No need to cast people (except for voices), and it is easier to get a location as that too may usually be created from scratch. But this type of film also has its disadvantages. First of all, if a character is going to be destroyed, it may be difficult to replicate the character perfectly again, although this can be avoided by doing the destroying part last. This also applies to the setting if that had also been created. Another disadvantage, specific to clay stop motion, is the problem of leaving fingerprints on the models. This can be fixed by wearing gloves or handling with care. Finally, the greatest disadvantage is how time consuming it is. It can take two or three years to create a good, full length, stop motion film, meaning you need the characters and set to look the same for this time period which may be very difficult.
Overall, I would say that if you have the time, stop motion videos can be amazing and are worth taking time on.

Stop motion

Today, we have been testing and creating our own stop motion videos. We did this to test the method as it has been very successful in film, with Wallace & Gromit for example. Although it takes lots of time and hard work, a good outcome is easily possible and anything can be brought to life.

In our video, a small seal swims into some water and floats back up to the top. But then, a giant shark like animal jumps out of the water and back in on top of the seal, ripping it to pieces (how lovely). The reason we did this is because I thought it would be a very good idea to test ripples on water because if they were done well, it could look very effective. Making the creatures proved to be quite difficult in the end, as they are only small and after the clay gets on your hands and colours start to mix, its the start of a disaster. Taking this in mind, if I was going to do this type of film for my film opening for example, then I would make sure that the colours do not get mixed up.

The great thing about stop motion videos is that anyone can do them with enough time and
patience. All you need is a camera and an object and you are ready to go! When Nick Park and the rest of the team were making Wallace & Gromit, it took them two or three years to fully complete an episode. This is because they have to make such small movements with each photo and each had to be perfectly sculpted, positioned and the lighting had to be right. The film Coraline is also a good example of stop motion filming.

As well as our short stop motion video, we also tested out making different characters from 'Family Guy' as this helped us to not only practice using the clay, but also to realise how long it would take to make a full length movie in this way and it surely is incredible how they do it. After doing this today, I am considering making a stop motion video for my short film project next year.

Ours is finished, but just needs to be put together on a computer until I can post it here.