h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Claymation - A697511
Author: Bob Grocer - U189876

Please review this entry and add it to the Edited Guide. Thank you.

not bad, but what you have described is the technique for stop-go animation which is the basis for all mechanical based animation, not just claymation.

other examples include all of the puppetry work of jerry anderson.

I think that if you change the name of the review to be something like "how to do stop-go animation" then this should be about ready for the edited guide.

I can't spot any other problems but the name.

I agree that this entry could do with more of an explanation of the specifics of 'Claymation' - at the very least a reference to the company that coined the name in the 1980s...

... or you could just change the title to 'Animation, the easy way' or something similar.

Just a few corrections to the corrections if I may, Gerry Anderson's puppetry work never used animation - it was always 'live action'. The only exception is his claymation-inspired 'Dick Spanner', made in the late 1980s. Also, the term 'stop-motion' tends to be used for this form of animation (favoured by Ray Harryhausen - A330896 - amongst others). The term 'go-motion', however, is a slightly different technique.

Jimster

I see you have amended this from Claymation to Animation in line with suggestions.

This bit 'actual filming part of filming' reads a bit strangely. Maybe it could be 'filming part of the animation'.

I'm wondering whether it needs a bit on how to make it interesting, eg doing a story board. Something on how long an animation should be might also be useful.

What do others think?

for completeness, the ray harryhousen reference specifically refers to the skeleton fight scene in jason and the argonaughts, which inspired most of the rest of the industry to join in the fun, including nick park of morph, wallace and gromit, and chicken run fame.

This is a bit sparse if you ask me. There are three numbered lists and that was it.
You're the expert and I'd like to learn something from an entry, and that would include a few tricks and beginner's mistakes eg, what should I do to get the lighting right? How do I get *realistic* movement of a body?


Well, anyway, this is just me

I agree with Bossel. This is really too sparse for the Edited Guide as it stands. There's more detail here: A707410, so maybe some of that could be integrated into this?

Things I'd like to see:

1. A title change: to something like "Animation techniques for beginners" - just calling it "Animation" means it could be about how to draw cartoons, a history of animated film, or a list of the best films with animation in them, say.

2. Advice on equipment: what's the cheapest way to make an animated movie? the quickest? the easiest? the best, in the author's opinion?

3. Advice on props and "actors": what makes a good animation character? (Lego do some things called "Bionicles" which are BRILLIANT for the animation beginner. Suitably anthropomorphic, slightly weird looking, and with nice joints that stay where they're put.)

4. Advice on techniques: how do you *time* things, for instance, so they don't appear to walk too fast or too slow?

5. Any other stuff you can think of - editing tips, storyboarding, lighting, sound effects, voices?

There's a good start here, but it needs more, I think. I hope this helps. Best of luck with it!

H.

You need more than a digital camera. You need a digital video camera. I have a normal digital camera and I can't do any of this.

actually you can do this with a digital camera.

you can save the images as gifs, and then build an animated gif from them, up to about 30 seconds long.

you can also take .bmp style images and use one of the many tools out there to make .avi, .mov or .fli type movies.

with these better and more complex formats, you can make the film as long as you are patient enough to make. (chicken run by nick park was feature length using basically these techniques).

also, when using a digital camera you don't have to take the shot twice (although it is good practice to do so) because as you are repeating the shot twice in the animation you could use the same (better) shot twice instead of two different shots.

try searching google for information about the free linux software "povray" which has tools for exactly this sort of animation.