Stop Motion Animation

This workbook turns the course into reps and reusable tools. You will drill the bouncing ball and weight shifts, plan and build a tie-down-ready puppet and set, lock a flicker-free camera and lighting setup, and shoot a short you actually edit and sound-design. Work one section per module, and use the templates to plan shots, track frames, and deliver finished work like a small studio. Animate to a 24 fps timeline and shoot on twos unless a move needs ones.

Feel timing and spacing first-hand, assemble a stable kit, and animate your first bouncing-ball test.

With the camera locked off side-on, animate a small ball bouncing across frame on twos at 24 fps. Make the gaps between frames grow as it falls and shrink as it rises, squash on contact and stretch on the rebound, and lose a little height each bounce. Shoot it three separate times and compare playbacks.

Record your actual kit and the rigidity check for each part so you fly from known facts. Fill in what you have today, even if it is a phone and a clamp.

Build a puppet that holds a pose, skin it for your style, and anchor it so it never drifts between frames.

Twist a wire armature (around 1.6 mm aluminium for limbs, thicker for the spine), reinforce the joints with epoxy putty, and add a simple plasticine or fabric body. Set it into a one-legged, mid-stride pose, walk away for 60 seconds, and check whether it held perfectly still.

Specify the puppet you will build for your first short so the design is decided before you start sculpting. Complete one spec per character.

Set up the tie-down method you chose (bolt up through a foam-board or pegboard floor, magnets in a steel floor, or putty for light puppets). Lock the contact foot, set a one-legged pose, and shoot ten frames repositioning the free leg each time. Review for any jitter in the planted foot.

Build an accessible miniature set, light it flicker-free, and lock the camera in full manual for capture.

Plan a single miniature set and its lighting before you build, so it is rigid, accessible, and consistently lit. Fill one plan per set.

Set up your lights and camera, then shoot 30 identical frames of the static set without moving anything. Play them back at speed and watch for flicker or exposure drift. If you see pulsing, lengthen the exposure time, swap to flicker-free fixtures, or block stray daylight, and reshoot until the 30 frames are rock steady.

Lock every camera control to manual and record the values so nothing is left on auto. Complete one card per setup.

Apply the animation principles, animate a walk and a line of dialogue, then edit, sound-design, and deliver a finished short.

Animate two short tests with a simple character or flour-sack puppet: a weight shift from one foot to the other, and an anticipation-then-jump. Use arcs for the head and limbs, and ease in and out of each move. Shoot on twos and review whether the motion reads as alive rather than mechanical.

Record a short line of dialogue first. Break it down frame by frame on an X-sheet (or Dragonframe's audio and mouth-chart tools), then animate a short lip-sync using swappable mouth shapes or reshaped clay, hitting the strong accented sounds. Add brow and eye movement so the whole face performs.

Because you shoot in silence, plan every sound you will add in post. List the elements your short needs, shot by shot or scene by scene.