Stop Motion

Stop motion is an animation technique that is used to make a physically manipulated object appear to move of its own accord. The object/s in the shot are moved in small increments between individually photographed frames which create the illusion of movement when the series of frames are played through as a continuous sequence.

An very basic example of an older method where stop motion is used is a movie called The Lost World in 1925:

The use of stop motion in this clip makes the dinosaurs appear alive and moving, even though it is a well known fact that they are dead.

More recent uses of stop motion are very common within Tim Burton films, such as
The Nightmare Before Christmas:

James and the Giant Peach:

and Corpse Bride:

From my research into stop motion films, I have noticed that the majority of relatively new stop motion-based films are aimed at audiences of younger children to fuel their imagination with the creation of animated characters and use of colour and content within the film itself.

The main target audience for stop motion-based films, such as those mentioned above, does not match with the target audience Courtney and I are aiming our coursework film opening at as well as the complex story line, dealing with mature topics such as sex, drugs, alcohol and money that children would not be familiar with and therefore does not interest us in our opening.