Thaumatrope
The thaumatrope was created by either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget, in the early 1800s. One of the earliest uses of the Thaumatrope was in 1824, when it was used to demonstrate persistence of vision at the London College of Physicians. It was popularly used as a toy throughout the 19th century, due to how easy it is to use. The thaumatrope consists of a disk with a picture on each side, which is attached to two pieces of string, equidistant to each other at the circumference. When the strings are twirled between the fingers, if done quick enough, the two pictures visually blend together to create one image, due to the persistence of vision.
The thaumatrope was created by either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget, in the early 1800s. One of the earliest uses of the Thaumatrope was in 1824, when it was used to demonstrate persistence of vision at the London College of Physicians. It was popularly used as a toy throughout the 19th century, due to how easy it is to use. The thaumatrope consists of a disk with a picture on each side, which is attached to two pieces of string, equidistant to each other at the circumference. When the strings are twirled between the fingers, if done quick enough, the two pictures visually blend together to create one image, due to the persistence of vision.
Phenakistoscope
Created by Joseph Plateau in 1829, the Phenakistoscope is a spinning disk with a series of images around the edge, which, when observed through regular openings in the disk, create the illusion of motion when spun.
Zoetrope
The zoetrope was invented by mathematician William George Horner, in 1833/34, giving it the alternative and original name "daedaleum". The device gained popularity in the 1860s and was later renamed by the american inventor William F. Lincoln, who coined the name "Zoetrope". As opposed to the daedaleum's images being punctuated by viewing slits, the zoetrope consists of a drum with slits above where the images sit, so as to increase the ease of production and allow continuous strips of images that are easily replaceable. This contraption works much in the same way as the phenakistoscope, in the fact that you view the images through slits and that there is an element of motion, however, the images are inside a spinable drum, where they line the base. When viewed through the slits, the images appear to move, to create short animations, much like GIFs nowadays.Praxinoscope
Charles-Emile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope in 1877 and this became the zoetrope's successor, as it advanced the technology so far as to include mirrors, to aid viewing. Reynaud removed the viewing slots from his design and introduced a central mirrored section, which would reflect the images, so that the viewer could see them with ease. The rest of the design is much the same as the zoetrope, with the barrel and the manual spinning motion still used.
Kinetoscope
The kinetoscope was conceptualised by Thomas Edison, in 1888, and created by his employee, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, between 1889 and 1892. It consists of a series of motorised spools, which quickly feed the film under a viewing hole, which causes the illusion of motion.
Any examples of my own experimentations with these forms of animation can be found here.
Here are some examples of the ways that stop-frame animation is used in the media now.
Developers
George Pal, a Hungarian animator from the 30s and 40s, is most commonly known for deveolping the Pal-Doll or Puppetoon animation technique. This involves using puppets, or puppet parts, to animate and was first used, by Pal, in a cigarette advert in 1932. Some of Pal's pieces are Tulips Shall Grow (1942), Suess' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943) and Tom Thumb (1958).
Willis O'Brien worked with clay models he created, aiding in the creation of various famous works, such as Along The Moonbeam Trail (1920), Evolution (1923) and even King Kong (1933). He then proceeded to create Mighty Joe Young (1949), another incredibly successful and well loved piece, on which he worked with his mentee and eventual successor, Ray Harryhausen.
Ray Harryhausen, after working with both Pal and O'Brien, went on to further his animation repertiore and even create his own animation style known as "Dynamation", which is acheived by positioning a partially painted sheet of glass between the camera and the screen, so as to obscure the film, in order to avoid exposure. The painted section would then be inverted, to allow the unfilmed section of film to be completed, therefore completing the shot. This was used in order to make it seem as though a model was passing through or interacting with the environment. This technique was used in many of Harryhausen's most popular films, such as The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981).
Phil Tippett used models to animate and create visual effects, specialising in creature design and character animation, using stop motion animation. It is noted that he took inspiration from Harryhausen's Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. He is most well-known for his work on Star Wars IV: A New Hope and Jurrassic Park.
Otmar Gutmann is a multi-talented German animator, director and filmmaker. Gutmann used Plasticine to create his nationally identifiable character, Pingu (1986-1994, 2004-2006). However, he also had a hand in animating for the television series Lucy the Menace of the Street (1980).
Tim Burton and Henry Selick are two of the worlds most popular stop-frame animators. This duo are renowned for the dark atmosphere of their films and the unique stylings of the models used withing the stop motion animation. The appearance of most of their characters consists of elongated limbs and large eyes, which aid in expression of emotions. Some of Burton's animation work includes Beetlejuice (1988), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012). Along with working with Disney and Pixar, Selick also worked on Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and James and the Giant Peach (1996) with Burton. Selick later joined Laika, an Oregon-based stop motion production studio, and directed and produced Coraline (2009), his first feature with the company.
Adam Shaheen, British animator, producer and screenwriter and founder of Cuppa Coffee Studios, has created over 200 adverts and worked with many famous companies, such as MTV, Cartoon Network and Comedy Central. The animation material he favours would be Plasticine and the subject matter he often pursues is considered caricatured parody and often make note of recent and controversial topics, such as politics and recent events. Some of his most popular work includes Glenn Martin DDS, Celebrity Deathmatch and Life's a Zoo.
The Brothers Quay, Stephen and Timothy Quay, are a pair of American animators, most known for their extremely dark and sinister feeling animations. They utilise found objects, such as doll parts, wires and various utensils. They have been known to be influenced by various Polish animators, including Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica. Some of their work includes Nocturna Artificialia (1979), The Calligrapher (1991) and Maska (2010).
Aardman Animations was founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton and specialise in claymation, although they did have success with their trail of computer animation, with the release of Flushed Away (2006). They started off animating for the BBC for a Vision On, during the 70s, and then went on to create one of their most famous characters: Morph. In 1985, Nick Park, an English animator most famous for being the creator of the Wallace and Gromit series, joined the studio. Some of the studio's filmography includes Chicken Run (2000), A Close Shave (1995) and A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008).
TV programmes
Bagpuss:
Bugpuss is a children's animation from 1974, created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. This uses toys as puppets, in stop-frame animation. This programme's original target audience was young children, due to the topics being very simple and child-friendly. Each episode includes moral lessons and words of wisdom, teaching children important mannerisms and rules, such as teamwork and patience.
Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids:
Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids first aired on CITV, in 2000, and was created by Jamie Rix. The introduction is stop-frame animation but the main animation style is 2D animation. This is aimed at older children, probably between 8 and 15, due to it's slightly shocking topics. This programme uses shock tactics to teach consequences, exaggerating and hyperbolising to create a sense of comedy and thrill. Therefore, this may be deemed inappropriate for younger audiences, as they may be disturbed or scared by these portrayals of extremely naughty children, and the consequences of their actions.
Robot Chicken:
Robot Chicken is an animated sketch comedy series, produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. They use specially modified action figures to animate their characters and add plasticine to create special effects.of
Films
A Town Called Panic:
A Town Called Panic is a Belgium-made film about a Cowboy, an Indian and a horse. It focuses on the antics they get up to and is animated, quite basically, using identifiable figures of the individual characters.
Corpse Bride:
This film uses Tim Burton's classically gangly and wide-eyed puppets to create the uniquely creepy characters of Victor and his Corpse Bride. The dark and quirkily creepy style brings this haunting tale of love and loss to life, like no other animator or director could dream of.
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RAC:
XBOX360:
Music Videos
Opiuo – Quack Fat:
Son Lux – Change Is Everything:
Webisodes / web series
Life’s a Zoo:
The Machine:
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