Blood, sweat and Go-Go's

This week I give you my very first attempt at animation.

Well there you are 34 seconds of your life spent being not very entertained but have you ever thought about what it takes to make something like this? Hours! And hours. First off after you’ve decided what to shoot you have to shoot it which can be a very long process ever for those with camera that work when you want it to and can stay in focus. On average film runs at about 24 frames a second which means 24 pictures for every second of film and of cause you need to move your subject between each photo; because they won’t move on themselves inanimate objects are lazy swine. So you take a picture, move your subject a little bit then take another picture from the same exact place as the first. Which with out a tripod is a very difficult thing to do. You then repeat this process over and over until you have all the shoots you need.

Then begins post-production, where you upload all the photos (that fit) put them all the correct order and adjusting the time span for each photo, spending ages and ages trying to fit them together in a way so tedious and boring to put into words. until you finally prefect it, or until it as close as you can be bothered.

And that’s just for my crappy 34 seconds just imagine how much time and effort it went into something like A Nightmare Before Christmas. So the next time you watch that film you appreciate ever moment, stand up and applaud ever second of it, weep tears of joy for and tear of sorrow for all the marriages that were no doubt ruined because of all the time spent on it. Because stop motion animation is a very difficult and under appreciated industry which is dying out due to more easier and cheaper forms of animation.

Simon.