Digital Overcast

Lego Stop Motion

Stop motion animation is defined as taking a series of photographs with the object positioned into place in each photo and then animated by sequencing them in order, simular to how a flip book works. This pain staking process of positioning an object, taking a photo and repeating is an art form in film reserved only for those who are truely passionate about this filming technique and having a lot of patients is must have attribute. To put things into prosective and often cited as a point of reference, video boradcasted on television is displayed at 30 (29.97) frames per second (30FPS), which translates into taking 30 photos for every one second if we were to use stop motion animation. Video we see on the big screen (movies see in theatres), however, is displayed at 24 frames per second or taking 24 photos for every one second using the stop motion animation technique. With that in mind, you can really appriciate stop motion animation by watching award winning motion pictures using this art form such as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) or the more recent Caroline (2009) that takes an average of between three to five years to finish.