Using Your Mac and Digital Camera to Make Clay Animation at Home

Some of the students in my last class said their parents asked if they could make clay animation movies at home using the digital cameras and Macs they already own. Answer: Definitely!

Not only is making movies at home easier than ever, it's a really fun way to spend the day together as a family.

Since we used Windows MovieMaker in class, I tracked down this great tutorial (written by Jaclyn Campanaro) to explain how to make a stop motion movie at home on a Mac--if you use clay instead of a sock (in her example) you will be doing what we did in class.

I'll paste an excerpt below, but please go to the link to see the entire article. Happy movie making!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

The first thing you need is, of course, an idea. Try to stick with something simple for your first one–any action that can be split up into smaller parts works well.

You may wish to make an inanimate object appear as though it is alive; for example, a sock inching its way across the floor or a piece of paper that crumples itself up. While brainstorming, keep in mind that you can expect to shoot around 10 photos for every second of film.

Second, you’ll need a digital camera. Since you won’t be printed these photos, you can set your camera to the lowest size image setting. This will let you fit more images on your memory card at a time. Depending on how long you’d like your movie to be, you may need to “fill and dump” your camera (copying the photos to your computer and erasing the memory card) multiple times before you are finished.

Finally, in order to turn your images into an animated video you will need video editing software like Apple’s iMovie or QuickTime Pro. There are also a number of free and shareware programs for Mac, Windows, and Linux, some of which are listed at the end of this tutorial. More information about these programs is available on their respective websites.

STEP 1: SHOOT YOUR ANIMATION

Let’s say, for example, that you would like to make that sock move itself across the floor. Start at the beginning: place the sock somewhere and take your first photo. Remember, you want to use camera (still frame) mode, not movie mode.

Using a tripod and only moving your object will make it appear as though your object is moving through your frame. Keeping the object in the same general area in each frame by moving the camera along with it will make it appear as though you are traveling with the object. It’s up to you.

After you’ve taken your first photograph, move the sock slightly in the direction you want it to travel and take another photo. Move it again by the same distance, and take one more. Continue this until the sock reaches where you want it to stop. You can manipulate your object in creative ways to add visual interest to your film, just make sure that whatever movement your object makes is done slowly over several frames.

Finally, if you make a mistake while shooting, delete that picture on your camera and take another. This will save you from having to edit your film later.

STEP 2: DOWNLOAD YOUR PHOTOS

Now that you’ve captured your images, you’ll need to get them onto your computer. This process varies widely from camera to camera and computer to computer. Consult your camera guide and software “Help” if you are unfamiliar with this process. We’ll be using iPhoto and iMovie for the Mac, but you should be able to do the same with the Windows and Linux software listed at the end of this tutorial.

First, import your image files to iPhoto from the camera, and give them their own album. Once your photos have been imported, close iPhoto and open iMovie.

STEP 3: FIND YOUR PHOTOS IN IMOVIE

Create a new iMovie project and call it whatever you like.

Now click on the “Media” button to the right above your timeline and select “Photos” at the top right of the window. (On older versions of iPhoto, you’ll click the “Photos” button instead of the “Media” button.)

Select your stop-motion album. All of your photos should now appear in order.

STEP 4: ANIMATE YOUR PHOTOS

In order for your animated short to play properly, you must tell iMovie how long you want each photo to appear before showing the next one. It’s kind of like creating a slideshow, except instead of giving each image a few seconds, you give it only a fraction of a second. The timing you choose will affect the overall tempo and length of your film.

For our sock example we used a duration of 3 frames-per-photo. Since videos you create in iMovie usually play at 30 frames-per-second, a setting of 3 frames-per-photo means you’ll see 10 photos every second. Now you can see why you have to shoot so many photos!

If you use the 3 frames-per-photo setting, you can easily estimate how many photos you’ll need to create a movie of a given length. In our example we used around 100 photos, for 10 seconds of video. If we wanted to make an animation exactly 30 seconds long, we’d shoot 300 photos.

Time in iMovie appears in “0:00″ format (see figure 3). The number before the colon is the number of seconds and the number after the colon is the number of frames (so 3 frames-per-photo looks like this “0:03″).

This next step is very important, so stay with us! In iMovie, select all of the photographs in your stop-motion album (the quick way to do this is to click on the very first photo and then, holding down the shift key, scroll down and click on the last photo.) Now click “Show Photo Settings” and type in “0:03″ for your duration in the floating window that appears. Click the Apply button and your photos will start getting sucked into the timeline at the bottom of the window. [Older versions of iPhoto let you set the duration in your editing window without clicking "Show Photo Settings."]

Once iMovie’s finished filling the timeline, hit play.

You just created your first stop-motion animated video short!

FINAL TOUCHES: MUSIC AND SHARING

To fine tune your animation, you can slow it down by choosing to use more than 3 frames-per-photo. You can also add music to your short by dragging MP3s or AIFF files to the timeline, or browsing your iTunes library from within iMovie.

To share your stop-motion video, you’ll want to convert it to QuickTime. The steps in this process depend on which version of iMovie you are using. In general, look for “Export” or “Share” options, and try one of the default options. If you want to get more advanced, start by trying “Sorenson 3″ as your codec for good quality and decent file size. Your iMovie help section will have more detail on exporting to Quicktime.

Nick Park Documentary

This has five sections, although only the last four seem to be available right now, and is a great inspiration, especially when Nick Park talks about being a kid and making movies. His realization that with clay animation, he could be a film maker, "even someone like me could make a movie." 

If you still want more Nick Park--and who doesn't?--here is a print interview from Animation Art Conservation.  Read about his artistic influences, his development process, and the creation of Wallace and Gromit. 

Designing Shots

An important tool for filmmakers, and one that ought to be thoughtfully considered prior to shooting a claymation movie, is shot design. In your breakdown list, each shot or cut of the film needs to be planned for its action and content, as well as the type of shot: Close up, Medium Shot, Establishing Shot, Long Shot, Extreme Close Up, or Two Shot. 

This knol excerpt from Angelo T.  gives a fine description of the main types of shots. Look through your favorite movies to see if you can identify each type--before you start to shoot your film. 

2.0 The four main shots.

To bring variation in scenes, and to keep the audience's attention refreshed, the camera angle will change to a different shot every few seconds. In film and television productions, professionals use mainly these four types of shots. All four of them can be combined easily to form a coherent and linear productions.

• Long shot (LS)

This one shows the bigger picture, lets the audience have a look at the subject in relation to its surroundings.

Here we see the protagonist either leaving or entering what looks like a club.  

• Medium shot (MS)

Puts the evidence as center, while getting rid of surrounding distractions. Useful as transition between Long shot and Close-up.  Useful to show body languages, poor for facial expression.

Example of the medium shot.

• Close-up (CU)

This one is to show details on the subject.  If only head and shoulders show,  we have a closeup shot. They should fill most of the picture.  Suitable to show possible facial emotions on the subject.

A typical closeup.

• Extreme Close-up (ECU)

Used to show very small details on the person or in the scene. Makes focussing on the important part of the subject. Deemed less useful for establishing the subjects emotions.

The extreme closeup, though in lesser extent.


3.0 Other types of shots.

• Two-shot

This type of shot frames two people in the same view, thus making them the subject. Both subjects do not need to stand besides eachother to form a Two-shot. The shot allows good visualization of the subject's interaction and emotional reactions and establishing relationships between the subjects.

The two-shot

• Establishing shot

An establishing shot sets up a scene's setting and/or its participants. It will usually be at the start of a scene, and helps the audience get insight of the scene's location.  Landmarks can be used as well, to establish for example that the scene is in a certain location.  For example the Statue of Liberty could establish the scene is depicted in New York.

Themes can also be established with this shot.  For example, an opening depicting combat between armies might establish the theme of war. Some television series like "x-files" rely on very detailed establishing shots, including written location name, and sometimes even the depicted scene's local time.

If a scene begins with this shot, we can safely establish the scene happens somewhere in Paris, France.

Dan MacKenzie

Here's some really creative clay work, including something that looks like a giant killer tomato. 

A Work in Progress: The Red Ball

Simple Design

Characters and sets don't have to be complicated to be expressive. Check out this link to some characters designed by Aardman Animation recently. And here's a clip from Aardman's Purple and Brown showing very simple but very effective character design.

Plasticine Crow

This film was released in 1981 by Russian director Aleksander Tatarskiy. Incredible design and production value!