Stop Motion 2021

Stop Motion
Character

Students will create a stop motion character with a distinct personality. The character will be a paper puppet, a plasticine claymation, or a green screen puppet of themselves.

• Make a Paper Puppet

• Make a Background for your Puppet

• Edit the images into a video

• Sync the movements with a soundtrack

Refer to the 12 Principles of Animation!

PAPER PUPPET INSTRUCTIONS

Puppet Design

MATERIALS: COLORED PAPER
EASY TO SEE: BOLD COLOR CHOICES (4 COLORS IN THE CHARACTER)
DIMENSIONAL: VOLUME CREATED BY VALUES OF ONE COLOR (LIGHT AND DARK VERSIONS OF A HUE)
PERSONALITY: CHARACTER HAS DETAILS THAT MAKE IT FEEL UNIQUE AND SPECIFIC, NOT GENERIC - IT HAS A SPECIFIC PERSONALITY
MOVEMENT: 6 OR MORE MOVING PARTS - OR - 12 OR MORE STILL POSES
CLOSE-UP VERSION: CREATE A LARGER VERSION OF THE TOP HALF OF YOUR PUPPET FOR THE CLOSE-UP THAT WILL HAVE MORE FACIAL DETAILS.

Puppet with Joints

OVERLAP: JOINTS HAVE OVERLAPPING PAPER. CUT OUT THE TWO PIECES THAT WILL BE JOINED SO THAT BOTH PARTS HAVE THE JOINT ATTACHED.
HOLES: CUT A SMALL HOLE FOR THE BRAD. THE HOLE SHOULD BE SMALLER THAN THE HEAD OF THE BRAD.
POSITION: IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THE POSITION OF THE PUPPET SO THAT IT CAN MOVE NATURALLY. FACING THE PUPPET TO THE RIGHT WILL ALLOW YOU TO HAVE YOUR PUPPET ENTER THE SCREEN FROM THE LEFT AND MOVE TOWARDS THE RIGHT.
SWAP OUT HEADS: MAKE MORE THAN ONE VERSION OF THE HEAD SO THAT THE CHARACTER CAN CHANGE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. THIS COULD BE A HEAD OF THE SAME SIZE OR A HEAD THAT IS LARGER IN SIZE FOR THE CLOSE-UP.

Text Design

YOU CAN USE TEXT TO TITLE YOUR CLIP, TO ACCENTUATE ACTIONS OF YOUR CHARACTER, AND/OR TO GIVE CREDIT TO THE ARTIST.

MATERIALS: WORDS MADE FROM CUT PAPER, NOT PENCIL, PEN, OR MARKER
USE VALUE: ATTRACTIVE, READABLE FONT
CONTENT: YOUR NAME FEATURED
ADDITIONAL CONTENT: SOME OTHER WORD(S) INCLUDED
CONSISTENCY: FONT MATCHES THE MOOD CREATED
CRAFTSMANSHIP: TIME AND ATTENTION WAS TAKEN TO MAKING THE TEXT

Background Design

MATERIALS: CONSTRUCTION PAPER AND CARDBOARD, OR YOU CAN GET FANCY WITH GREEN SCREENS AND VIDEO YOU HAVE CAPTURED
CONTRASTING COLORS: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHARACTER STANDS OUT FROM YOUR BACKGROUND
VISUAL INTEREST: THE BACKGROUND SHOULD ADD TO THE VISUAL INTEREST OF THE VIDEO. MAKE IT EXCITING TO LOOK AT.
INTERACTION: THE CHARACTER SHOULD INTERACT WITH SOME PART OF THE BACKGROUND.
CONSISTENCY: SOME PARTS OF THE BACKGROUND SHOULD REMAIN STATIONARY, TO FOCUS THE VIEWER ON THE MOVING CHARACTER.
MOVEMENT: SOME PARTS OF THE FOREGROUND OR BACKGROUND SHOULD MOVE, TO ADD VISUAL INTEREST.

STILL BACKGROUND ELEMENTS

MOVING FOREGROUND ELEMENTS

YOU CAN USE THE INSIDE OF THE BOX AS A DIORAMA FOR A 3D BACKGROUND

------ OR ------

YOU CAN MAKE A FLAT BACKGROUND AND USE THE BOX AS A MAKESHIFT TRIPOD FOR YOUR CAMERA

Framing

FRAMING IS ABOUT THE DISTANCE OF THE CAMERA TO THE PUPPET

LONG SHOT (FULL BODY OF THE PUPPET IS VISIBLE)

MID SHOT (HALF OF THE PUPPET IS VISIBLE, ON HUMANS IT WOULD BE WAIST UP)

CLOSE UP (FACE AND SHOULDERS IS VISIBLE - SHOWS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS)

Still Puppets

WALK CYCLE: HAVE A MOVEMENT CYCLE OF 6 POSITIONS
NEW MOVEMENT: HAVE A SECOND MOVEMENT CYCLE OF 6 POSITIONS
OPTIONAL: YOU CAN ADD ADDITIONAL POSITIONS TO ADD A NEW MOTION, CHANGE THE EXPRESSION OF THE CHARACTER, OR AS A JUMP CUT

Movement

EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT: YOUR CHARACTER SHOULD HAVE MOVEMENTS SPECIFIC TO AND EXAGGERATIONS OF YOUR CHARACTER'S PERSONALITY
FOCUS: HAVE YOUR CHARACTER'S ENTERTAINING MOVEMENTS HAPPEN NEAR THE CENTER OF THE FRAME, SO THAT THE VIEWER DOESN'T MISS THEM
CORRESPONDS WITH SOUND: IF YOU CHOOSE A MUSICAL SCORE, THE MOVEMENTS SHOULD MATCH THE BEAT. IF YOU CHOOSE FOLEY SOUNDS THAT MIMIC THE SOUNDS OF MOVEMENTS, THEY SHOULD MATCH THE MOVEMENTS MADE BY YOUR CHARACTER.
FLUID MOTION: THE NUMBER OF FRAMES USED TO MAKE A MOTION SHOULD MAKE THE MOVEMENT SEEM FLUID AND NATURAL, NOT JERKY. THERE ARE ENOUGH TWEENS IN BETWEEN THE KEY FRAMES.
TEXT: YOU CAN DECIDE THE POINTS AT WHICH TEXT APPEARS ON THE SCREEN. YOU CAN START OR END WITH THE TITLE. YOU CAN CREDIT THE ARTIST AT THE BEGINNING OR END. YOU CAN OPT TO HAVE TEXT INTERACT WITH YOUR CHARACTER OR REMAIN SEPARATE LIKE A SPEECH CARD DURING SILENT FILMS.
SPEED: TEXT SHOULD BE LEFT VISIBLE LONG ENOUGH FOR YOU TO READ IT ALOUD THREE TIMES.

Set-up Possibilities: Two Ways to Keep Your Camera Still

THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF SETTING UP YOUR WORKSPACE IS A STATIONARY CAMERA.
YOUR CAMERA CANNOT MOVE AT ALL.

Creating Your Paper Puppet

BE SURE TO GO OVER ALL OF THE REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE (AND REPEATED BELOW).

Jointed Puppet

Design the Puppet on a piece of paper - DRAW it full size
Draw a BLOW OUT DRAWING of all of the parts you will need to cut out
CUT out all of the colored pieces for the puppet
GLUE the pieces on the thick cardstock
CUT out the final puppet parts
Add JOINTS to connect the pieces
You should have one jointed puppet with additional face parts or head parts that you can swap out to adjust the facial expression

Still Puppet

Design the puppet on a piece of paper - DRAW it full size
DRAW 6 movements for one motion cycle
DRAW 6 movements for a second motion cycle
CUT out all of the colored pieces of construction paper to add color to your puppet
GLUE the colored paper to the thick cardstock
You should have a minimum of 12 puppet pieces
WRITE numbers on the back so you know the order of the cycle

PUPPET DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL PUPPETS

MATERIALS: COLORED PAPER or PHOTO PRINT OUTS
EASY TO SEE: BOLD COLOR CHOICES (4 COLORS IN THE CHARACTER)
DIMENSIONAL: VOLUME CREATED BY VALUES OF ONE COLOR (LIGHT AND DARK VERSIONS OF A HUE)
PERSONALITY: CHARACTER HAS DETAILS THAT MAKE IT FEEL UNIQUE AND SPECIFIC, NOT GENERIC - IT HAS A SPECIFIC PERSONALITY
MOVEMENT: 6 OR MORE MOVING PARTS - OR - 12 OR MORE STILL POSES
CLOSE-UP VERSION: CREATE A LARGER VERSION OF THE TOP HALF OF YOUR PUPPET FOR THE CLOSE-UP THAT WILL HAVE MORE FACIAL DETAILS.

Animated GIF of Motion Cycle

MOTION CYCLE 1

MOTION CYCLE 2

Second Motion Cycle Demo

TYPE YOUR NAME IN ALL CAPS, the name of the motion cycle next in lower case letters (flyingcycle, walkcycle, etc.), a number for the version you made and the extension .GIF

File Name: YOURNAMEmotioncyclename1.GIF

- YOU SHOULD TURN IN TWO MOTION CYCLES -
PRACTICE TWO DIFFERENT MOVEMENTS WITH YOUR PUPPET

Edit Photos in Photoshop

Put all of your images in one folder
Make a copy of one image and save it outside of the folder
Open the copy in PHOTOSHOP
Create a new ACTION
Change the IMAGE SIZE to 1280 (width)
File: SAVE
File: CLOSE
Open the copy again and stop recording the action.
Delete the OPEN command in the action.
File: AUTOMATE: BATCH
Select the folder, action, and save folders, then run the automation.

Using Animate to create an Animated GIF

Create a new project (1280 x 720) 15 fps
File: IMPORT: IMPORT TO STAGE
Choose the ONLY first image in the series to import
A prompt will appear - do you want to import the series: YES
Adjust the frames in the stage, as needed
Adjust the frame length for each frame, as needed
Control: TEST
File: EXPORT: EXPORT ANIMATED GIF
Be sure to select animated, looping forever

Creating the Background, Text, Other Moving Assets

BACKGROUND

THERE WILL BE STILL BACKGROUND ELEMENTS AND MOVING BACKGROUND PIECES, SOME OF WHICH THAT INTERACT WITH YOUR CHARACTER.

MATERIALS: CONSTRUCTION PAPER AND CARDBOARD, OR YOU CAN GET FANCY WITH GREEN SCREENS AND VIDEO YOU HAVE CAPTURED
CONTRASTING COLORS: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHARACTER STANDS OUT FROM YOUR BACKGROUND
VISUAL INTEREST: THE BACKGROUND SHOULD ADD TO THE VISUAL INTEREST OF THE VIDEO. MAKE IT EXCITING TO LOOK AT.
INTERACTION: THE CHARACTER SHOULD INTERACT WITH SOME PART OF THE BACKGROUND.
CONSISTENCY: SOME PARTS OF THE BACKGROUND SHOULD REMAIN STATIONARY, TO FOCUS THE VIEWER ON THE MOVING CHARACTER.
MOVEMENT: SOME PARTS OF THE FOREGROUND OR BACKGROUND SHOULD MOVE, TO ADD VISUAL INTEREST.

TEXT

THERE WILL BE TWO TEXT ELEMENTS: YOUR NAME, AND SOME OTHER WORDS (COULD BE TEXT FROM YOUR CHARACTER, BACKGROUND INFORMATION, THE TITLE, ETC.)

YOU CAN USE TEXT TO TITLE YOUR CLIP, TO ACCENTUATE ACTIONS OF YOUR CHARACTER, AND/OR TO GIVE CREDIT TO THE ARTIST.

MATERIALS: WORDS MADE FROM CUT PAPER, NOT PENCIL, PEN, OR MARKER
USEFUL: ATTRACTIVE, READABLE FONT
CONTENT: YOUR NAME FEATURED
ADDITIONAL CONTENT: SOME OTHER WORD(S) INCLUDED
CONSISTENCY: FONT MATCHES THE MOOD CREATED
CRAFTSMANSHIP: TIME AND ATTENTION WAS TAKEN TO MAKING THE TEXT

OTHER MOVING PARTS

THERE WILL BE STUFF FOR YOUR CHARACTER TO INTERACT WITH.

CHOOSE ELEMENTS FOR YOUR CHARACTER TO INTERACT WITH THAT HELP BRING OUT THE UNIQUE PERSONALITY OF YOUR CHARACTER

CONSIDER IF YOU WANT TO HAVE FOREGROUND ELEMENTS YOUR CHARACTER WALKS BEHIND

YOU MAY WISH TO HAVE A LARGE HEAD AND LARGE VERSION OF INTERACTIVE OBJECTS TO MAKE THE DETAILS MORE ENTICING IN YOUR CLOSE-UPS.

Taking Still Images

EACH CUT SCENE NEEDS 50+ FRAMES TO MAKE 2-4 SECONDS OF VIDEO. USE VERY SMALL MOVEMENTS TO MAKE THE ILLUSION OF MOVEMENT.

89 FRAMES

DAY ONE - LONG SHOT 1

REMINDER TO USE A STILL BACKGROUND ELEMENT, A MOVING ASSET, AND YOUR CHARACTER OR TEXT LETTERS IN EACH CUT SCENE.

60 FRAMES

DAY TWO - MID SHOT 1

WHEN SETTING UP FOR A CLOSE UP, MAKE SURE THE CAMERA IS CLOSE TO THE BACKGROUND PAPER - 6 TO 8 INCHES AWAY IS USUALLY GOOD IF YOU ARE USING THE SAME PUPPET. IF YOU MADE A LARGER PUPPET HEAD, THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CHANGING YOUR SET-UP, BUT YOU MIGHT CHECK TO SEE IF YOU BACKGROUND ELEMENTS NEED TO BE SIMPLIFIED FOR THE CLOSER VANTAGE POINT.

123 FRAMES