Significant Stop Motion Animation

 1. Wallace and Gromit

The classic Wallace and Gromit claymation short exemplifies several fundamental principles of stop-motion animation. Meticulous character design brings Wallace and Gromit to life, each exhibiting distinct personalities and expressions. the clay figures are carefully manipulated resulting in smooth and fluid motion. Clay replacement techniques synchronise mouth movements with dialogue, ensuring realism in speech. Detailed set design provides a realistic backdrop, while lighting effects add depth and atmosphere to scenes. Various props (such as kitchen gadgets) can also be identified in the scenes providing visual interest to the audience. Finally, a well-defined storyboard guides the sequence of events, ensuring coherence and flow throughout the animation.

2. My Cat Has Issues

This stop-motion short was the 2018 winner of ACMI’s Screen It competition. Stop-motion principles feature prominently throughout the film, including the simple yet effective use of props such as a curtain, dog bowl, outside mat, dog bone, and drain pipe. The story is narrated through voice narration, timed perfectly with scene progression. Additionally, a variety of camera angles are utilised, including close-ups and eye-level shots, enhancing the visual storytelling experience.

3. Gumby

This stop motion from the 1960’s is an early example of stop motion. The animation doesn’t appear as fluid/smooth as more modern animations but it is a good example demonstrating how the perception of movement is achievement as it can be seen more easily. The animation demonstrates good use of timing of dialogue to mouth movements and clay manipulations and how movements is achieved by small changes in the clay props (horse tail swishing). Different camera angles are also used such as birds eye, eye level and high shot angle and a range of shot sizes. 

References

Kabillion Channel. (2015). Gumby - The Pokey Express. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0H_plncPDs

Table Cape Primary School. (2018). My Cat Has Issues - Screen It 2018 Junior Animation Winner. Table Cape Primary School, Wynyard, TAS. In www.youtube.com. https://youtu.be/odFUfxGEgKM

Wallace and Gromit. (2015). Autochef - Cracking Contraptions - Wallace and Gromit. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2igRcGxlshA