1. Stop Motion Animation by
Megan Poulton

2. History of moving image
Persistence of Vision
Frame rates
Technology
The world of film is based very much on science, on the perception of vision and the brain’s ability to find patterns and to solve problems. Moving images were slowly developed over many years, with many different people –the majority of which were scientists or mathematicians- all trying to perfect the process.
It could be said that the world of film began when the ‘perception of vision’ was discovered. Some say it was first discovered by Roman poet Lucretius who had thought of it in a dream, however a more credible account of discovery would go to Peter Mark Roget in 1824 for his stroboscopic experiments which eventually served as a basis for the theory. The persistence of vision claims that an afterimage stays in the retina of the eye for approximately one twenty fifth of a second, thus our brain is ‘filling in the gaps’. The theory has been criticised and believed to be a myth throughout history. However it is still an accepted term today, particularly with those who work within some aspect of the film industry.
How we rely on the persistence of vision comes very much from the frame rate of the film. For instance, in the early days of film it was determined that a frame rate of less than 16 frames per second caused the mind to see flashing images. This is why modern film runs at an average of 24 frames per second, some in fact go up to 30+ which gives the film a fluid and more realistic feel, particularly in terms of animation.
All footage is caught with a camera, but it depends on the kind of camera as what effect is given. Certain cameras are used for certain scenes, such as outdoors and indoors. There are also many different types of cameras at a producer’s disposal, but of course they all have the same core use: to film. The first recording camera is credited to have been the handiwork of the Auguste and Louis Lumiere –who’s love of cinematography led them to creating the world’s first camera on February 13th This invention has been improved over the years and has in a way birthed the films we see in the cinema today.

3. Variations of Stop Motion
Stereoscopic 3D stop motion
Go motion
Stereoscopic stop motion refers to a technique for creating an illusion of depth by presenting two images –one to the left and one to the right of the eye of the viewer. The viewer has to wear glasses to combine the images, this creates the perception of 3D. Many stop motion shorts have used this technique, the first as early as However, American director, Henry Selick was the first to use this technique in a full length stop motion film. Selick was very clever in the way that he not created a quirky, funny animated piece of genius, but that he also used the improved 3D technology in his film to further the illusion of a solid being or object which stop motion provides.
Another more complicated use for stop motion is ‘go motion’, developed by Phil Tippet and first used in film The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Go motion involved programming a computer to move parts of a model during the exposure of each frame, this, when used with regular hand-manipulation creates a more realistic motion blue effect. A version of go-motion was originally pioneered by Wladyslaw Sterwicz in the silent era and was also used in many of his films.

4. Pioneers Simon von Stampfer Joseph Plateau William Horner
Emile Reynaud
Eadweard Muybridge
And others

5. Simon Von Stampfer Born October 26th 1792 Austrian mathematician
Benedictine Monastery of Kremsmunster
Stroboscopic discs
Simon Von Stampfer was born in Tyrol, Austria, in late October of 1792 (however some say it was 1790). From 1801 he attended the local school and had originally intended to study philosophy, but later decided to apply for a teaching position in Salzburg in There he taught a number of courses such as natural history, physics and Greek. By 1819 he had moved again and had taken an interest astronomy. In his spare time he made geodetic measurements and conducted experiments involving the speed of sound at different heights using a barometer. Throughout his career, Stampfer spent the majority of his time in the Benedictine Monastery of Kremsmunster, which had a multitude of astronomical equipment.
By 1832 Stampfer became aware that British physicist Michael Faraday had been conducting experiments that involved using optical illusions. He took it upon himself to do much the same thing and the result was the stroboscopic discs. The stroboscope consisted of two disks, one with varying images on it, the other filled with slits. When the disks were spun, they created the illusion of movement. During this time similar inventions were created by none other than the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the British William Horner.

6. Joseph Plateau Born October 14th 1801 Belgian physicist
Ill through trauma
Blinded during an experiment
Phenakistoscope
Plateau was a Belgian physicist born in Brussels in mid October. He was able to read at the age of six which made him a very bright young boy for those times and was particularly interested in physics at school. At the age of fourteen, Plateau’s parent both died –the trauma of such an event caused him to become ill.
During hid youth Plateau attended local primary school and later studied at the University of Liege. In 1827, at the age of twenty six, he became a teacher of mathematics, two years on and he submitted his doctoral thesis to Adolphe Quetelet –his mentor- to review. The thesis was only 27 pages long, yet contained all the vital information as well as results from his own personal experiments. In 1832, he invented the Phenakistoscope, which was very much like the Stroboscopic discs in the way it used the persistence of vision to create a moving image by means of illusions. Both devices were invented around the same time. However, which one came fist is unclear.
By 1835 he was appointed professor of Experimental Physics at Ghent University.
In awe with the persistence of vision and light, Plateau conducted a number of experiments. One of which involved staring directly at the sun for around twenty five seconds, thus leading to him losing his vision later in life despite this he still remained a professor for most of his adult life.

7. William Horner Born sometime in 1786 British mathematician
Established a school
Horner’s Method
Zoetrope
Born in Bristol in 1786, William Horner was a mathematician best known for Horner’s Method. Horner was educated in Kingswood School and at the tender age of sixteen became an assistant master and, in 1806, by the age of twenty was appointed headmaster. He remained in that position for three years before leaving to open his own school in Bath, Grosvenor Place. He kept the school until his death in September 1837.
As said before he was most famous for his development of the self-titled Horner’s Method which was essentially an early form of Algebra. His other invention was the Zoetrope, which he based on Joseph Plataeu’s Phenakistoscope. The Zoetrope was a device that created the illusion of a moving image from rapid succession of static movement. The device consist of a cylinder with vertical slits in the sides, on the inner side of which is a sequence of images. It works by looking through the slits of the camera which then create the illusion of movement. The word ‘Zoetrope’ actually comes from the Greek word ‘zoe’ which means life and ‘tropos’ which mean to turn. When combined the two create the term ‘the wheel of life’ which I find to be quite poetic in a way as people involved in film often become so impassioned with their work that it becomes their whole world.

8. Emile Reynaud Born December 8th 1844 French science teacher
Created animated cartoons
Praxinoscope
French science teacher, Emile Reynaud was born in Montreil, December At thirteen Reynaud became a mechanic’s apprentice, but later swapped jobs to work as a photographer, again he changed the course of his career and became a physics instructor, this combination of technical work and film are perhaps what lead him to invent the Praxinoscope.
As the successor to the Zoetrope, the Praxinoscope replaced the inner circle of images with mirrors and the inside of the outer cylinder with images, thus when spun created the illusion of the moving image. This perfected version of the Zoetrope was introduced to the public in 1876, and the images were then projected onto a theatre screen, making him in a way one of the forerunners in cinematography. Reynaud animated films and cartoons were viewed by the public from 1892 to the turn of the century. Unfortunately though by 1900, Reynaud’s design had sparked more inventions and motion pictures and therefore his own invention had soon become obsolete.
Little is known about his life after this point, other than that he felt dejected and was now penniless and tossed a great deal of his work and equipment into the Seine. He died January 8th 1918 at the age of 73.

9. Eadweard Muybridge Born April 9th 1830 English photographer
Changed his name
Spent much of his time in America
Zoopraxiscope
Edward James Muggeridge was born in Kingston upon Thames in early April of He immigrated to America at the age of twenty five, where he worked for most of his life as a photographer. He first changed his surname from Muggeridge to Muybridge sometime in the 1860’s and again about ten years later from Edward to Eadweard to match the spelling of King Edward’s name on a plinth of the Kingston coronation stone. He also used the pseudonym Helios on many of his photographs. It was also the name of his studio and his son’s middle name.
Muybridge spent much of his life in America and when in 1872, Leland Stanford –a business man and race horse owner- began studying horses and debated whether all four hooves are off the ground during a trot, Muybridge was hired to prove the theory scientifically by capturing on film.
The photographer used a series a set of large cameras that had glass plates placed in a line, each triggered by a thread as the horse passed. The images were then copied in the form of silhouettes onto a disc and viewed in his invention; the Zoopraxiscope. The device projected images from glass disks in rapid motion, however the slightly jerky effect gave it very much a stop-motion appearance. The Zoopraxiscope was seen as one of the most notable advances towards motion picture and cinematography.
The Zoopraxiscope may have been a primary inspiration for those such as Thomas Edison.

10. Thomas Edison Born February 11th 1847 Famous American inventor
First to apply principles of ‘mass production’
Great influence on the first motion picture camera
Possibly the most famous American inventor, who’s light bulb has lasted over a century, Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio At school he had a tendency to not give the work his full attention as his mind would wander and his teacher had been heard calling him ‘addled’ –an old term to describe someone as filth. Three months later and his mother had decided to home-schooled him. Edison had once said that his mother was the ‘making of him’, as she believed in him so much. A majority of his education also came from reading the R. G. Parker’s School of Natural Philosophy. Edison also developed hearing problems at an early age which was the result of untreated ear infections. Eventually he became deaf.
Edison became a telegrapher after he saved J. U Mackenzie's three year old son from being hit by a train, Mackenzie was so grateful to Edison he trained him as a telegrapher. The job gave his a grasp on electricity which would eventually lead to his successful career. Edison left at the age of 19 and moved to Kentucky he worked as an employee of the Western Union, he requested night shifts which in turn allowed him to read and experiment. Edison was later fired from the job when he accidently spilt sulphuric acid onto the floor which then ran between the floorboards onto his boss’s desk below.
Edison really began his career years later as an inventor based in New Jersey, on his major accomplishments was the Phonograph, a device used for both recording and playing sound recordings. He also invented the first electric light bulb and had a great amount of influence on the motion picture camera. Another of his many, many inventions was the Kinetoscope, though it wasn’t a film projector. It introduced the approach that would become a standard for all film projection prior to video: it created the illusion of motion by a strip of perforated film showing images over a light source with a high speed shutter.
Thus Thomas Edison is probably one the most important inventors of his time.

11. The Lumiere Bros Auguste and Louis Lumiere
Born October 19th 1962 and October 5th 1964
History’s earliest filmmakers
Influenced by Emile Reynaud
Refused to sell their cameras to other filmmakers
The brothers were born in Besancon, France and both attended the largest school in Lyon, La Martinere. As adults they worked for their father, who was a photographer, Auguste was a manager and Louis a physicist. Louis, the younger of the brothers, had made some improvements to the still-process of photography, one being the dry-plate process, which was yet another major step toward the moving image.
Upon their father’s retirement in 1892, the brother’s began working towards creating motion images. They drew inspiration from others, such as Emile Reynaud, whose film perforations helped in the advancement of their motion picture camera. The brothers held their first screening of projected film in 1895, the presentation featured ten short film, each around fifty seconds long. Their first film was recorded the same year with the Cinematographic device created by Leon Bouly, the device could record, develop and project film and was later further advanced by the brothers.
They later declared that ‘film had no future’ and refused to sell their cameras, making many filmmakers angry and upset and thus making their place in film exceedingly brief compared to others. They remained the producers of photographic equipment throughout the 20th century however their brand name ‘Lumiere’ had long since lost its credibility.
Louis died June 6th 1948, aged 83 and, Auguste, died April 10th 1954, aged 91.

12. George Pal Born, Gyorgy Pal Marczinsak, February 1st 1908
Hungarian-born American animator
Immigrated at 32 to work for Paramount Pictures
Famous for his work with sci-fi and fantasy
Gyorgy Pal Marczinsak was a Hungarian born, American animator. Having graduated from Budapest Academy of Arts at the age of 20, from which time Pal made film for Hunnia Films until he turned 23 when he moved to Berlin to found Trickfilm-Studio where he worked on the idea behind the animated series Puppetoons.
In 1940, at the age of 32, he immigrated out of Europe to America to work for Paramount Pictures. Pal gained American citizenship and throughout the 40s managed to get the Puppetoons onto air, after which he began making live-action films such as The Great Rupert. During his time he was awarded an Honorary Oscar for his ‘development of methods and techniques’ and was also nominated for an Academy Award.
Pal is probably best known as the landmark producer of sci-fi and fantasy films in the 1950s. Pal died of a heart attack in California, at the age of 73. He is believed to be the first animator to use puppets rather than drawings.

13. Birth of Stop Motion J. Stuart Blackton (1875 – 1941)
The Humpty Dumpty Circus
The first recorded stop motion was created by J. Stuart Blackton. He was English born, but moved to New York when he was ten. In 1894, at the age of nineteen, Blackton and two English immigrants Albert E. Smith and Ronald A. Reader decided they wanted to break into the film and theatre business, with Blackton as the cartoonist. Blackton’s job consisted of lighting sketches, which involve drawing rapidly on an easel in front of an audience. The act was accompanied by talking which was very nearly as fast-paced, however since the act failed to generate enough money, the trio broke up and got regular jobs.
It was then that Blackton became a reporter/artist for the New York Evening World and was sent to interview Thomas Edison in 1896 after the inventor had given a public demonstration of his Vitascope. Blackton was also required to provide drawings to further explain how Edison’s films were made. During the interview, Edison decided to film Blackton lighting drawing and managed to convince Blackton, Smith and Reader to go back into the film industry, whilst also having sold them nine of his own films and a Vitascope.
This time the trio were far more successful, however they soon were eager to get to work on their own films. From this, the American Vitagraph Company was born. Soon, Blackton was not only running the studio but also producing, directing, writing and starring in his films.
The 1897 film The Humpty Dumpty Circus is credited as the first official stop-motion film, in which toy acrobats and animals come to life and even today Blackton is considered the father of American animation.

14. Contemporaries
Henry Selick
Tim Burton

15. Henry Selick Born November 30th 1952 American stop-motion director
Interested in animation from young age
Nominated for a Student Academy Award whilst studying
Worked for Disney
Selick was born in New Jersey but raised in Rumson and from ages 3 to 12 did little else but draw. His passion for animation came at an early age when he saw Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed. His love of animation led him to study both science and art at multiple universities –making him a highly educated man. He eventually enrolled in CalArt, where he studied animation and also where he created two films which were nominated for Student Academy Awards.
After this he landed a job at Walt Disney studios where he first worked with director Tim Burton –a former classmate at CalArt and who he appears to have drawn inspiration from in some of his work. Following his career at Disney, Selick did some freelance work in the 80’s. By the 90’s his work had caught Burton’s eye and the pair teamed up to create the highly successful cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas in It was Selick’s first directional debut and also the first full length stop motion feature to be produced by a major American studio.
Over the past decade and a half, Selick worked on relatively small projects. His most major recent film was Coraline which was released in 2009 and was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe –all of which were for being the Best Animated Feature.
As of 2010, Selick is currently working with Pixar and Disney in a contract allowing him to work exclusively on stop-motion features and has even opened his own studio called Cinderbiter Production which is also a stop motion exclusive. He described the studio as a ‘a company whose priority is to make great, scary films for young ones’. The first film from the studio is still unknown in terms of title but is set to be released in late 2013.

16. Tim Burton Born August 25 1958 America director, writer and artist
Influenced by Edgar Allen Poe and Alfred Hitchcock
My favourite director and creative icon, Tim Burton was born in Burbank, California in Since his preteens, Burton spent most of his time creating films in his back garden, the earliest of which was based on the H.G Wells story The Island of Doctor Agor and was filmed by Burton when he was only 13. Burton attended Burbank High School but was not seen as much of a good student due to his introspective nature. After he graduated, he went on to study character animation at the CalArts.
Upon finishing at CalArts, Burton was offered an apprenticeship at Disney, where he would work as a animator and a storyboard and concept artist on films such as The Black Cauldron. Although Burton’s tastes in film and art clashed greatly with Disney’s, he continued to work with them for some time. Eventually his ability to make fantastic, low-budget films caught the eyes of big executives which ultimately is what landed him the director’s chair on Batman in the late eighties. While the nineties proved to be an extremely successful time for Burton with two more Batman films under his belt as well as his greatest works Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and Sleepy Hollow.
Burton has drawn inspiration from icons such as Edgar Allen Poe, Stephan King and Alfred Hitchcock and has influenced the likes of Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead,300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch) and Shane Acker who he worked with on the computer animated film 9.
Burton’s films Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and the yet to be released Frankenweenie are all small but powerful reminders of just what can be achieved with stop motion animation and why relying on a computer to create life in a character can sometimes worsen the film rather than improve it.
“My films are like strange children”

17. Coraline 2009 children’s horror, directed by Henry Selick
Novel by Neil Gaiman
450 workers
150 sets
Similarities to Burton’s work
Coraline is a 2009 stop motion children’s horror, directed by Henry Selick and based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman. Produced by Laika and distributed by Focus Features, it was released February 6th and grossed $124,596,398.
The story is about a young girl who has a troublesome relationship with her parents and finds an alternate world where she lives with her ‘ideal’ mother and father, however the dream soon turns into a nightmare when she realises her ‘other parents’ are actually monsters. The film features the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher and Keith David.
At one point during the production of the film there were 450 workers on board -30 to 35 of them being animators and designers from the Digital Design Group, as well as over 250 technicians. One member in particular had the tedious job of knitting miniature clothing for the puppets, some of which were knitted with needles as fine as human hair. The film was staged in a large warehouse, which was divided up into 50 lots, each with around 150 sets -that’s 7, 500 sets in total. As you can see in the picture above, there were also multiple models created for each character and as a whole those characters could easily have had over 208,000 facial expressions.
Something I noticed whilst watching Coraline was the similarities to Burton’s films, which is perhaps why I enjoyed this film so much. Everything from the blue, mysterious tones to the skeletal characters to the vastly imaginative scenery seemed to be inspired by Tim Burton. Either way, the dark yet innocent and colourful world of Coraline is certainly breath-taking. The film is very much something created for nearly every child as at some point every child lacks appreciation for their parents, however this film’s story encourages people to accept others as they are, such as when Coraline realises she prefers her friend Wenby when he talked too much to when her Other Mother sewed his mouth shut.
Although, the film would typically be classed as gothic and cult, the underlying message is obvious and -more importantly- really very admirable.

18. Corpse Bride 2005 film, directed by Tim Burton
Shot with Canon EOS-1D Mark II digital SLRs
Created for Helena Bonham Carter
Jewish folklore
Corpse Bride is a 2005 film directed by Tim Burton. The film was shot with Canon EOS-1D Mark II digital SLRs, rather than the 30mm used for Burton’s previous stop motion film, at an estimate of around 30 fps and was a great success, grossing $117,195,061 worldwide. Roger Ebert from Chicago Sun Times called the film a ‘sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost’.
The story of Corpse Bride was written for Burton’s wife, actress Helena Bonham Carter, who voices Emily –the corpse bride- and who the character was also modelled on. The film is about a young man Victor (voiced by Burton’s long term friend Johnny Depp) who, whilst practicing his wedding vows in a forest one night, placing the wedding ring on a upturned root which is then revealed to be the hand of Emily. Victor is swept off to the colourful, musical Land of the Dead where he learns about Emily’s past. Throughout the film Victor attempts to be reunited with Victoria in the Land of the Living, however he ultimately comes to care for Emily and thus she is able to move on.
The story was based on a Jewish folklore in which a man jokingly places a ring on a finger sticking out of the ground and is unwillingly married to a woman from the underworld. The case was later ruled invalid as the man had no willingly proposed and therefore was not bound to the marriage, however a divorce was then performed as the woman would then be free to marry one of her kind.
Corpse Bride was released September 7th 2005 and was the very first stop motion animation I had seen, yet from the moment I watched it I fell in love with the detail and the realistic look and feel of the models/characters. Even today it still remains my favourite stop motion film and has a level of storytelling and visual beauty that I hope to be able to recreate in my own work in the future.

19. The Nightmare Before Christmas
1993, Selick and Burton film
Based on a poem
Over a decade to come to life
227 puppets
400+ heads
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 stop motion fantasy directed by Henry Selick and produced and written by Tim Burton. The film was based on a poem written by Tim Burton back in the early 80s when he was still working as an animator for Disney, his inspiration for which came from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Having previously created a affluent short stop motion feature entitled Vincent , Disney then began to consider the poem as yet another short. Ten years on and Burton and Disney finally made the deal, however the film was set to be released under Touchstone Pictures as Disney thought the film too dark for children.
The story is about Jack Skellington from Halloween Town, who has grown tired of the same routine year after year and one night stumbles upon a portal to Christmas Town where he later takes on the role of Santa Clause. Jack then kidnaps the real Santa and brings him to Halloween Town explaining to him that he wants to take over Christmas this year. While Santa is guarded by the residents of Halloween Town, Jack flies through the skies of Christmas Town in a coffin-like sleigh pulled by a skeletal reindeer. Sally –a rag doll with romantic feelings for Jack- tries to stop him but fails and instead attempts to free Santa. She is then trapped by Oogie Boogie, a gambling bogyman. By this time Jack has realised what he was doing was wrong and goes back to Halloween town where he then frees Sally and Santa. At the end of the film, Jack confesses his love for Sally and the two kiss.
There were 227 puppets created for the film, also the lead character Jack Skellington had around 400 heads, which allowed for every possible emotion whilst Sally had only ten different faces, each made with around 11 expressions in total.
Burton didn’t direct the film due to his work with Batman Returns at the same time and didn’t want to have to take on board the slow process of stop motion as well, however Selick was eager to get on board and Burton later decided to make the film a musical and so collaborated with his friend Danny Elfman. When asked about his work with Burton, Selick said that although Burton was rarely on set, he did ‘have his hands in it’ and that it was Selick’s job to ‘make it look like a Tim Burton film’ –which wasn’t hard as they have similar tastes.
The film took $18 million to make and did well at the box office for such an unusual film and would be the first in a series of quirky stop motions films to be made by Tim Burton.

20. Frankenweenie Upcoming 2012 film Parody 200 puppets used Human hair
Release date
Frankenweenie is an upcoming 2012 stop motion animation. Filmed entirely in black and white it is a remake of Burton 1984 short of the same name and a parody of and a homage to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.
The film is about a young boy name Victor Frankenstein, whose dog Sparky dies. Victor then decides to use science in an attempt to bring Sparky back to life, he succeeds and tries to hide it from his parents but Sparky get out and runs amuck, wrecking havoc on the entire town.
The initial development and plans for a full length stop-motion version of the film date back as far a November 2005, the project has been in the works for a while but did not get off the ground until around January Many of the animators and designer from Corpse Bride have been rehired for the project. Three giant stages were created which were then separated into 30 areas to enable the crew to better deal with the movement of the models and is apparently by far the largest set Burton has used for his stop motion pieces. 200 puppets were used, with 18 different versions of Victor. The puppets hair human hair and around 40 to 45 joints for the human character and over 300 for Sparky.
The film was originally set to be released for November 2011, but was then pushed back to March 9, 2012, however the film was later pushed back again to October 5, 2012 –nearly a whole year after it’s original release date.

21. Why I like stop motion Childlike aspects Beautifully done
Natural 3-D effect
Not computer generated
As I didn’t watch much TV as a child and would rather read books and write, I knew very little about stop motion animation, however when I watched the Corpse Bride when I was about 13, I fell completely in love with it and spent hours watching the bonus features to learn how they built the models and how the costumes were made. Even now I’m in awe at the hard work and effort that goes into stop motion.
One of the many reasons why I love it is because it holds a very childlike aspect as these are puppets that appear to move on their own by magic and despite the pain-staking time it takes to create these kinds of film they are all beautifully done. Stop motion creates a kind of natural 3-D effect, as the puppets look and feel more solid than that of a computer generated image. Which gives the films a sense of life and realism, something I look for when watching a film. Because the models look so solid and real, the characters appear more substantial and relatable.
I also love the way stop motion has such an old-world feel to it, seeing as everything is usually done with computers these days. Stop motions brings something more to the table. Making something appear effortlessly beautiful and flawless when it’s anything but is definitely something to proud of as well as the fact that these artists such as Henry Selick and Tim Burton are just a few of those keeping this classic style alive today.