Stop motion / stop motion is the movement in the frame of inanimate objects from which an animated video is obtained. In contrast to the promo videos, you can do with one camera, but for a high-quality commercial you can work out additional points:

  • Constant lighting. It is important that daylight outside the window does not affect your shooting. If your shooting lasts a whole day, which is often the case, it is better to exclude daylight and put on the lighting.
  • A computer with a program that allows you to view the footage in the right sequence. It helps to see the whole project and identify errors on the spot.
  • Careful location preparation. It is important that the space is suitable for shooting, low ceilings can be an obstacle to installing lighting at a height. If you are using a professional light, then you need 380 volts and a high amperage, you need to make sure that your location provides such a connection or you have to rent a portable generator.
  • Props preparation. For good animation, we need elements that are appropriate in appearance in the frame. There are combinations of colors that look bad in the frame.
  • Planning time. On average, with good preparation, you can remove for 1 hour 5-10 seconds of a finishing roller.
  • Team. In addition to the producer, director, cameraman, lighting, and engineers, an artist director is ideally needed at the site. He is well versed in production questions and oversees the process. Also, be sure to have two or three assistants who will help set the props.

What is stop motion and how to make it

How to make stop motion / stop motion?

Let’s look at the case in which we worked on stop motion / stop motion project for the Ideastore. The store has an easy-to-use online designer, where everyone can assemble their furniture without leaving home. The task of the video is to show that the client can buy a wardrobe for 1 minute. We offered the client a story about a guy who comes home and on the tablet collects a wardrobe in the designer.

After the approval of the details of the script, we were faced with the task of quality training on the project.

  • Location High ceilings, space, width of the wall, all this had to fit the shooting in her large closet and shelving.
  • Choosing an actor. Description had to match the guy who would have life himself could put together a wardrobe at home.
  • Selection of furniture. Almost unanimously chosen white wardrobe + several types of racks. Already on the shooting they decided to leave as the chosen option of the rack – white.

While making a closet with shelves, we booked a suitable studio and conducted the choice of an actor.

Shooting in Kiev stop motion / stop motion

We understood very well what is stop motion / stop motion and how it is painstakingly created. Therefore, according to the plan, the shooting day was 10 hours – for 30 seconds of the video clip. A client with furniture assemblers arrived at the same time with us. The camera crew according to the plan needed 2 hours to prepare. The same time it took the furniture assemblers. At the site were covered with thick curtains. This is the only way to work, because the sun outside the window is constantly changing and achieving a stable light is not possible.

But cutting the filming day from our video blog:

The following team worked at the site:

  • Producer
  • Producer
  • Operator
  • Assistant
  • Illuminator
  • Lighting assistant
  • Actor
  • Make-up artist
  • Administrator

From the client on the site was such a composition:

  • Customer representative
  • Photographer (photo for the site)
  • Furniture assembler – 2 people.

Postproduction video video stop motion / stop motion

The post-production of a video clip includes a series of sequential actions, which systematizes the work and also makes it possible to make adjustments at each stage.

  • Building frames stop motion / stop motion.
  • Animation frames.
  • Rough video editing.
  • Fine assembly.
  • Creating a sound design and intershumov for all actions.
  • Animation of interfaces, texts, pekshota.
  • Selection and purchase of musical composition, installation in the video.
  • Color correction.

In order for the video to be watched in one breath, we condense the frames as much as possible. We also made the sound content not uniform, which allowed us to work better with the attention of the viewer. It was not the first time that our “chip” was the creation of a pecshot without a separate graphic scene. If earlier it looked like a separate (white) background and the brand logo appeared on it, now we have taken the path of full integration into the video.

Conclusion

Detailed study of scenes saved time and allowed to work comfortably and predictably on the project. All elements of the shooting from the props in the frame to the schedule of breaks were worked out carefully, which ultimately led to a good result.