A Look at the Past, Present and Future of Stop Motion Animation

Stop motion animation has seen a resurgence of late. In addition to filmmakers continuing to make use of the technique despite the rise of CGI, stop motion apps for smartphones and outlets like Vine and Instagram video have brought many amateurs to the table as well.

Now it’s possible for everyone to discover the time-consuming joy of shooting little stop motion creations.

The folks behind the PBS web series Off Book have noticed this increased interest in the art, and so they’ve decided to put together an entire stop motion episode complete with a history of the art form and some incredible examples of the technique at its best.

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NYU Professor and Animator Dean Kalman Lennert takes you through the history of stop motion and a quick explanation of what stop motion is, after which animator Hayley Morris talks about her amazing animation “Undone” and points out the things that couldn’t have been captured using any other technique.

Then Off Book sits down with Mathew Amonson and Jeremy Bronson of Studio Nos to discuss the challenges behind creating intricate stop motion animations; and finally, Vine animator Meagan Cignoli weighs in on the whimsical present and future of stop motion animation from an amateur standpoint.

If you’re at all interested in stop motion, try to find 8 free minutes today and check out the video at the top. From an educational standpoint, you’ll probably learn a little something about stop motion; and from an inspirational standpoint, you might just find yourself breaking out Vine as soon as the video ends to create your own 6-second stop motion clip.

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