Photograph objects incrementally, shifting them between frames — illusion of fluid motion emerges shot by shot. Standard for puppet and claymation work.
When shooting with stop motion, you rely entirely on patience and precision. You position your object or puppet, photograph one frame, move the figure minimally — millimeters count — and shoot again. Twelve to 24 frames per second add up to fluid motion when you assemble them later. The technique works because our eyes interpret individual frames in rapid succession as continuous movement. On set, this means absolute darkness between shots, because any fluctuation in light becomes visible, and a camera that never wobbles.
The practical side is tough. You need a stable tripod — any millimeter of camera shift will destroy your continuity. Your lighting must be constant; even a dimmer flicker will turn into flickering in the final sequence. Especially with puppet animation, you work with armatures made of aluminum or steel, held in position by magnets, pins, or Blu-Tack. Every shift of the puppet between two frames becomes animation — a hand lifts two centimeters, you take a photo, two centimeters further, next photo. Over hundreds or thousands of frames, a seemingly fluid gesture emerges. Object animation works similarly: paper folds frame by frame, sand trickles grain by grain, Lego bricks assemble themselves.
In the production workflow, one minute of stop motion often takes several shooting days. A fight scene with two puppets can cost weeks. The craft demands nimble hands and an obsession for detail — your set must be absolutely controlled. You will repeat yourself, the same move a hundred times, to achieve naturalness. The advantage: stop motion is difficult to manipulate in post-production because the movement already exists in the frames. Unlike CGI animations, the physical logic is already embedded in the material.
Contemporary projects often mix stop motion with rotoscoping or digital enhancement — you shoot physically, then correct or supplement digitally. However, the classic craft remains unbeatable for a certain tactile, organic quality that computer-controlled animation struggles to imitate. Patience and care are non-negotiable.