How to shoot stop motion at home?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In the past few years, videos using frame-by-frame animation have gained particular popularity on the Web. Initially, it was advertising and inserts for clips and various films, then bloggers picked up the idea. This animation looks rather peculiar, but spectacular. In addition, the creation of such videos is now available to almost everyone who has a minimal set of equipment (at least a phone with a camera and a tripod). In this article, you will learn how to shoot stop motion at home. In addition, consider what you need to know and be able to do this.

What is stop motion?

This is a technology for creating a video, the basis of which is frame-by-frame photography. To create a one-minute video, you will need to take about 120 shots. Therefore, before shooting a stop motion, be patient. What to do? First you need to shoot the scene, then make a slight change to it (turning the head or hand of the doll) and shoot it again. It is in this way that the effect of movement is achieved. Then all these pictures are mounted on a computer or in a special program on the phone.

Pros of stop motion

Forshooting you do not need an expensive camcorder. It is enough to be the owner of a minimum set of amateur photographers and good imagination. Almost all special effects you can create at home.

Required tools

Firstly, before, for example, how to shoot a stop-motion "Monster High", you will need to purchase a camera that can be configured in manual mode. So you can adapt to almost any shooting conditions and in the future do without lengthy processing in Photoshop.

Secondly, you will need a tripod. It will be very difficult to do without a tripod: otherwise, you will have to look for a static surface to avoid the shaking effect and shoot from one angle.

Third, you should think about lighting. The best option of all possible is a constant light source. You can buy both professional studio lighting and get by with table lamps of sufficient power. You can also shoot in daylight. It is advisable not to use flash, as it will definitely give too harsh shadows.

Fourthly, you will need a computer, since the animation is created on it. Therefore, before shooting a stop-motion with puppets, you will need to learn how to work in one of the editing programs.

How many shots to shoot

After you have written the script and decided on the production, you need to calculateestimated time of each movement. A typical video consists of twenty-four frames per second. But for stop-motion, 12 frames will be enough. It is at this frequency that the movements of dolls and objects will not seem too jerky and sharp. For stop-motion it is better to take pictures with a margin. For example, if you made a calculation for 300 shots, it would be better to take 350 or even 400 photos.

Starting the process

Before filming your puppet stop motion, secure the scene carefully. It is to her that you have to touch a lot during filming, because of which she can move. Then mount the camera on a tripod and take several shots from different angles. Choose the most successful one. It is better to use a remote control to control the shutter release. If it is not there, you can turn on the manual mode with a set shutter delay, for example, two seconds.

Installation and post-processing

You need to use those programs that allow you to process a large number of images at the same time. Photoshop and Lightroom do this very well. If you do not need photo processing, you need to import the pictures into the editing program. If you are a beginner, it is better to use a simple program like Corel VideoStudio. If you are no longer a fan, Vegas or Premier Pro will do. Moreover, in Photoshop, at the stage of processing photos or already in the editing program, you will eventually learn how to create various special effects.

How to shoot stop-motion with voice acting?

And finally. If you already know how to shoot stop motion, you might also want to voice it. To do this, you will need a microphone, a sound card and a computer with the program installed on it. You need to record the voice already under the edited video. For recording, a deaf room is suitable, in which the reflection of sound waves will be minimal.

After recording the voice, you can start sound design. You can find the necessary sounds (the noise of the city or the singing of forest birds, the conversations of the crowd in a cafe, the noise of transport, and so on) in any noise library. To correctly insert noises into the project, it is necessary to make time codes (the beginning and end of a certain sound). After you have inserted voice and noises into your recording, you can apply a compressor to the audio track so that there are no sounds that are too loud. After that, the audio track is exported to the editing program. Ready! Now you know how to shoot stop motion.