5.4 Stop Motion Animation

A lego character holds a wand, multiple photos overlapped to show the wand moving. — Stop motion animation demonstrated by the use of a Lego character, holding a wand. The creator combined 9 images to demonstrate how they animated the wand movement. **Source:** Image by BRICK 101, CC BY-NC 2.0.

What is Stop Motion?

Stop motion is an animation technique which allows static objects to appear as if they’re moving, by taking individual pictures which are eventually run together like the frames of a film. Between pictures, slight adjustments are made to the objects, creating the illusion of movement. Examples of stop motion used in education include Slowmation and blackboard animations. Stop motion is a good choice if you want to create a small number of videos conveying complicated physical processes.

Stop motion can be extremely time-consuming: a video shot on a video camera usually runs at 24 fps (frames per second). Each photo taken for a stop motion project is one frame. If each photo takes 30 seconds, creating a five-minute 24 fps video will take 60 hours. While 24 fps is a much higher frame rate than you have to use—2 fps will work well in most applications—stop motion projects take a long time to create.

On the positive side, stop motion animation doesn’t require a video camera, can be done with almost anything, and allows for a fine degree of control over the subjects of the video. It’s also naturally engaging: people love watching inanimate objects come to life!

Stop motion is just one way to create engaging video. Stop motion animation may be useful for:

Illustrating processes that can’t be seem by the naked eye.
Highlighting action and impact when telling a story. The example below illustrates this.

Stop motion animation using found objects

Animation is a great way to explain a complex process—learners can see it happening right in front of them. However, most forms of animation require a lot of time and training. To create even relatively simple animations, requires huge investments in time and effort: you have to learn animation software, and then create the animation, to say nothing of the cost of the software. While stop motion is still time-intensive, it doesn’t require anything more than the ability to take pictures and edit video. This video, created by Dr. Rosie Redfield, quickly and effectively explains how influenza cells take up DNA, using candy and construction paper.

Watch Dr. Rosie Redfied’s Uptakemovie+audio.mp4 on cell animation (3 mins) on YouTube for an example of illustrating processes that can’t be seen with the naked eye.

Video source: Redfield, R. (2013, March 6). Uptakemovie+audio.mp4 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-MKZpuiW_s

Stop motion animation using paper cutouts

Making the perfect objects for your stop motion project can be as easy as breaking out the pencil crayons and scissors. The video below from the Digital Tattoo project explains data mining using a whiteboard and paper cutouts. If you don’t feel like drawing, printed images would work, as well. Visit the UBC Wiki for more a complete explanation of their process.

Watch TBYI: Data Mining (4 mins) on YouTube

Video source: The Digital Tattoo Project. (2014, April 10). TBYI: Data Mining [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHs5wbN_XY0

Creating Stop Motion Animation

Consider: Audience & Approach

What do you want your audience to learn while watching your presentation?
What approach is best suited to support that learning (i.e. a narrative, an explanation, an animation, etc.)?

Step 1: Plan

Search for existing content on your topic. (Do you need to create or can you curate from existing content?)
Identify potential impact. (Why am I doing this? Who will benefit? What will it change?)
Define objectives. (What will people learn?)
Develop an assessment plan. (How will I know if I achieved my goals?)
Gather equipment. (See the What Do I Need? section)
Create a test file to practice using the software.
Export test file formats and import in editing software to ensure you can work with the files.
Determine what the timeline is.

Planning Resources

Scripting for explainer videos by Lee Lefever at Common Craft
Basic storyboarding for explainer videos by Lee Lefever at Common Craft
Plan Your Project worksheet
Storyboard Outline worksheet

Tips – Planning

Consider the aim of the video and limit yourself to what’s possible in a 3-5 minute time frame.
Consider what your viewers will need in order to obtain the message or story the video is sending.
Plan out the timeframe for scripting, recording, and editing. Allow a an additional 20% to account for unexpected delays or issues. Assuming you’re familiar with the software and tools, a good rule of thumb is to allow 3-4 minutes of pre- and post-production work for every minute of footage.
Test out your equipment beforehand to ensure that recording goes smoothly. Make and narrate a five-second video. You might catch computer, audio, or file format issues which you can solve before recording, as well as ensuring that you have all the required equipment, and that it all works properly.

Step 2: Script & Storyboard

Chunk your content into 3-6 minute segments.
Review principles for learning, instruction and multimedia development.
Create a script and storyboard
Design your slides for presentation.

Tips – Scripting & Storyboarding

Try to keep to the 3 minute mark per concept with a total video length of not more than 6 minutes.
Planning will save time later. Take time to prepare a script which include slide transitions.
Keep it simple and remember your objectives.

Step 3: Take pictures

Gather your equipment
Set up your recording environment
Take your pictures
Source any additional content you’ll be editing in
Record your audio
Familiarize yourself with copyright resources and guidelines.

Tip – Taking Pictures

Make sure that you control your lighting! Subtle changes over time will show up very clearly in your video.
Use your storyboard! You’ll have a much easier time if you avoid improvisation.

Step 4: Edit

Make sure your audio is clear and balanced throughout, with good pacing.
Check the pace and flow of your video: is it too fast? Too slow?
Ensure all graphics, sounds and effects are necessary.
Eliminate any extraneous information.
Review against design principles for effective multimedia for learning.
If possible, get feedback on a rough cut of your video.

Tips – Editing

Don’t use too many transitions: especially flashy ones.
Use the ‘remove noise’ filter in your editing software to take out background noise.
Try to stick to one piece of editing software: the fewer programs and file formats you have to deal with, the better. Don’t be afraid to handle audio in one program and video in another, but as a rule of thumb, the fewer programs, the easier you’ll find things.
Learn the basics of color correction: lighting, sunlight or your model of camera can make your images look red, blue, or green. Most video editing software should have features to allow you to adjust, or correct, for this.
Ensure you have enough computing power and hard drive space for editing.

Step 5: Publish

Consider reach. If you want a wide reach for your audience, choose an open hosting environment (like YouTube).
Consider privacy. If you need a certain amount of protection around your content, choose a locally hosted option (Kaltura, Microsoft Stream, etc).
Consider usability – if your presentations are long and learners need to be able to search key words

When you’ve finished recording, editing and exporting your content to an acceptable file format, you’ll need to publish it so that you can embed it where you like. You can publish your content on:

Your own website.
YouTube is an option if you don’t require privacy or security settings for your videos. YouTube enables you to share your video with the world, reach a wide audience, and students don’t need an account to view it. Set up your own YouTube account to save all of your projects.
Soundcloud for audio files.
another free content hosting service.

Tip – Review & Publish

Review your video with colleagues and double check if your video is delivering the message or story you would like it to.
Seek audience feedback about the resources you produce and use it to evaluate and improve.