stop motion

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Stop-Motion Animation: The Menace and the Comic

Image 1 – Orel Puppington from Moral Orel

Mae Tidman LCC 3853 -

Animation Studies Term Paper Fall ‘08

Mae Tidman Stop-Motion 1

It can be very creepy to see tangible objects – some that we see often such as a doll

or a food item – come to “life”. Stop-motion animation often uses this effect to its

advantage, creating an unsettling mood for the scene or film. This relative experience is

difficult to create with two-dimensional animation, so in a way it defines the themes of

many stop-motion and other three-dimensional works. How does the stop-motion

experience compare with that of drawn animation? Why does stop-motion have this

effect? What is going on here? To further investigation of these questions, a small

background on stop-motion animation is needed.

Stop-motion is defined as animated productions created by filming three-

dimensional objects frame by frame. This kind of animation was often used in the

earliest experiments in animation, but it eventually became less known due to the

popularity and efficiency of two-dimensional and more specifically cell animation. It

was overshadowed for decades by drawn animation; however, groups are forming to

keep stop-motion ‘alive’, and some sources say the popularity of computer graphics will

enable stop-motion to move ahead of cell animation (which is becoming obsolete in

many ways) in the near future. In the textbook by Furniss, she discusses that there are

three main subsets for this life-like animation: clay, objects, and pixilation. Each of

these techniques involves filming frame-by-frame, and detailed attention is critical in

making motions as fluid as possible. The person, clay figure, or doll must be positioned

for each frame, in fact the whole scenery is often transformed by stop-motion as well.

All of this meticulous detail adds up to create the eerie life-like motions and actions

taken by inanimate objects.


Pixilation is uncommon compared to the use of clay and objects, but it is still a

frame-by-frame process. It often involves the same techniques as live-action, but

instead the action is filmed one frame at a time just as objects in stop-motion would be

filmed. There are many different ways to use the pixilation technique; however, that

information is not necessary for what this essay covers. The main result this kind of

filming creates is a very stylized effect.

Clay and object animation are very similar techniques and can

be combined. Gumby is often a name associated to clay animation

or “Claymation.” He is the main character in The Gumby Show

series and is made of clay, yet he can still move and interact with

his environment. The word Claymation™ is credited to Will

Vinton; it describes the use of clay or plasticene to create a

stop-motion animation. This way is an advantage to the animators because it is more

flexible to handle the stretch and squash techniques necessary for dimension and

realistic movement. Facial expressions and other details also benefit from the use of this

flexible material. To create a claymation a lot of care must be taken to transform the

character since fingerprints and other mistakes can ruin the magic of life in the film.

Measures (such as wearing gloves and working with special tools) have to be taken

seriously to achieve good results since the puppets made out of soft pliable clay can be

easily distorted. Mike Brent9b said, “[Claymation] is a specialized subset of stop-

motion, and used mostly for simple children’s type shows because any texture or detail

will be mashed when you grab the puppet to move it … In fact, we often caution

Image 2: Gumby & Pokey


Image 3: Wallace & Gromit

beginners (who think claymation is going to be EASY) that it involves some degree of

re-sculpting between frames!”

Claymation is not necessarily done entirely in clay. Armatures (often made of wire)

are skeletons for clay objects, dolls, and other things; these are nearly always found

inside the clay characters and other stop-motion puppets. They aid in holding the

character up, keeping its position in place, and armature joints can be easily adjusted to

create movement without much trouble or cleanup. Another solution to the issues in

frame-by-frame alterations is the use of solid

materials that can be grabbed without leaving

smudges, fingerprints, or bulges. These solid parts

replace areas on the object that do not need to be

pliable, such as the chest and shoes. Examples of

these hybrid type puppets are Gumby, who is clay with a wire armature, and Wallace

and Gromit use clay, armatures, and solid parts. Other materials are used in the

production of stop-motion films, of course, such as textile for clothing and all sorts of

materials for backgrounds and props. Shows sometimes begin in clay and later switch to

foam latex, which is more expensive but also more forgiving thus easier to handle. An

example of this switch is apparent in the series Celebrity Deathmatch. Foam latex has

some disadvantages, however; notably that this material makes squashing and stretching

the clay much more difficult, and it can wrinkle where it bends. Object animation, such

as using puppets, is perhaps slightly simpler than using clay. Since it is used in a similar

way, however, a detailed explanation is nonessential.


These objects replace or work with live actors, but not only that, they are treated as

humans. Henry Selick says on his Coraline website that there is a special relationship

between the puppeteer (or creator) and the puppet. He looks at scene, story line, or just

the view from the puppets’ perspectives. The characters live in their world, and Selick

and other animators pretend the figurines do not notice that they are being repositioned,

instead they feel the wind from the motion of the animator’s hand, or see a glimpse out

of their eye. This is how Selick depicted it, while Jan Svankmajer said, "I have to admit

that I work with actors exactly as I work with inanimate objects. I don't select my actors

as to whether they are famous, or "good actors", rather I select actors who fit in the

vision that I have for that particular picture. Then I work with them and I use the camera

to photograph them as inanimate objects. Sometimes I even animate the actors, as I did

in Faust."

Now with an overview of what stop-motion is, why is there comic and menacing

properties found? Several examples will be given in order to show just how these

effects work with stop-motion animation. First, however, considering the elements

found in most stop-motion works will aid the rest of the investigation. Contrasting

elements can create a reality-like situation because the audience can relate. Stop-motion

involves working with the real versus the imaginary. Many short films focus on this

issue: what is real? Because stop-motion is teeter-tottering between these two, it is a

perfect medium to represent it. Sometimes shorts have live-action mixed with puppets

or some other stop-motion. The Comb by the Quay Brothers involves a real woman,

who for the most part is sleeping, and a main character that is almost indescribably


strange and certainly something that is from the imagination. The two do not interact

but there seems to be a connection between them.

Inanimate and animate objects and how they are perceived is also something stop-

motion deals with. Images can be seen of clay breaking apart and then rebuilding itself

in the opening scene of The Gumby Show. This clay, known to be tangible and

incapable of moving on its own, appears to be pulling itself apart and reforming. This in

itself can create comic or menacing elements. The imaginative can be fun, like with

Gumby, or it can be dark like the works of the Quay Brothers. The series Robot

Chicken typically uses dolls and figurines that look very similar to celebrities and other

well-known figures such as Star Wars’ characters. Sometimes they use dolls that look

like the Barbie dolls that were so popular for so long. Many children pick these dolls up

and imagine a story or experience

Two other things to consider are the life-like and the comic. Anime is exaggeratedly

comic, no human can actually make those expressions, have those hairstyles naturally,

nor move like those characters do. Two-dimensional animation is usually what uses

life-like images to make them comic, but there are examples in stop-motion as well. The

series Moral Orel on Adult_Swim has dark but always funny episodes that use foam-

latex dolls as human-based characters. Like two-dimensional, these “people” are now

able to defy physics and cheat death; but since this is in three-dimensions the actions are

a little more convincing, and sometimes funnier in their destruction. The main

character, Orel, experiences comic events and effects while trying to just be a kid. He is

life-like, relatable, yet he can do things that we can not, like raise the dead, use ‘crack’

at the age of twelve, and go on many corruptive yet somehow innocent adventures.


Morel Orel, Robot Chicken, Gumby, and many other stop-motion series are very

light and comic. Most stop-motion short films, however, seem to be dark in nature.

Many deal with concepts such as man versus himself, man versus nature, or man versus

man, but especially the first. They are typically metaphoric in so many ways, and some

more serious stop-motion directors use metaphors seriously and regularly. These

conflicts and the use of metaphors can create a dim mood for the film, often challenging

the viewer to think about what it really means to see these inanimate objects come to

life and why they are coming to life in the first place.

Ray Harryhausen is one of the most famous men in stop-motion. He tends to work

with science fiction and fantasy genres where live action and stop-motion work together

to create a scene otherwise incredibly expensive or difficult to create. He is noted on

making very realistic work, saying in one interview that people commented on how well

an ape was trained for a movie when the ape was actually created with stop-motion. In

Clash of the Titans, his Medusa is one of a kind.

Tim Burton and Henry Selick use stop-motion to

tell elaborate stories that seem almost impossible. Whole

worlds were created for the characters in their films to

roam around. It seems they tend to work on dark,

romantic comedies. Skeletons can be seen singing and

drinking at a bar in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. Actually,

in that movie

there is so much considering the aspects of life versus Image 4: The Corpse Bride


death, melancholy versus joy, and light versus dark; but this movie is different than

most in that it emphasizes what the viewer does not typically see in theaters. Life is

depicted in the melancholy, dark scenes with very little saturation, and death is the

joyful area unknown to the live that has bright

colors, singing and dancing as mentioned, and

happiness all around. This movie says a lot

about life in general, too much to cover here,

but note that had Corpse Bride been drawn or

animated with a computer its effect would not

be the same. Tim Burton and Henry Selick create worlds similar to the one we live in

but with so much more adventure and things to see behind every corner: they might as

well be saying, “This world has so much to discover, why not go discover your own

world to see what it has to offer”.

Now that this investigation is closed as far as this paper is concerned, the

questions we have proposed and answered lead us to a better understanding of not only

stop-motion, animation, and puppetry, but also for life – each life. So much can be

made with the imagination, and stop-motion goes into all aspects of this: historical

imagination, everyday exaggerations, and philosophical questions traveling deep into

the doors of the brain. It is healthy to see the inanimate become endowed with life

because it helps the imagination grow. Stop-motion still has a lot to discover with the

help of computer-generated graphics, so it probably is not going anywhere any time

soon. Even if it were to fall out of popularity, characters like King Kong, Godzilla, and

Jack Skellington will always live on.

Image 5: Sally and Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.


Image 6: A clip from Robot Chicken who often has celebrity “appearances”. Here

is Pres. Bush and several gremlins at a Chuckie Cheese.


- - - - - - - Works Cited - - - - - - - Images

1. Orel from the series “Moral Orel" on Adult_Swim. The episodes end with Orel

doing stop-motion animations with his Biblical figurines and then

showing what he filmed. Google Image search: “Moral Orel”.

2. Gumby and Pokey from The Gumby Show. Google Image search.

3. Wallace and Gromit. Google Image Search.

4. A screen shot from Corpse Bride. Google Image Search.

5. Jack Skellington and Sally in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Google Image

Search.

6. A screen shot from an episode on Robot Chicken: Season 3. Google Image

Search.

Books and Websites

1. Furniss, Maureen. Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics. Revised Edition ed.

Eastleigh S050 5YS, UK: John Libbey, 2997. 151-165.

2. Osmond, Andrew. "Peter and the Wolf: Stop-Motion Finds A Dark Side." 05

Oct. 2006. <http://mag.awn.com/?article_no=3031/>.


3. Jackson, Wendy. “The Surrealist Conspirator: An Interview With Jan

Svankmajer.” 01 June 1997. <http://mag.awn.com/?article_no=755>

4. Jessen, Taylor. “My Dinner with The Brothers Quay” 16 June 2006

<http://mag.awn.com/?article_no=2911>

5. "Stop Motion Articles." Stop Motion Works :: Stop Motion Animation

Resource! <http://www.stopmotionworks.com/articles.htm>.

6. "The Clay Animation and Stop Motion How To Page." Clay & Stop Motion

Animation Community, News & More. <http://www.animateclay.com/>.

7. Boyd, Colin. "Unbelievably Good Trailer for 3d Stop-Motion 'Coraline'"

Weblog post. Get The Big Picture. 20 Nov. 2008.

<http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2008/11/20/unbelievably-good-

trailer-for-3-d-stop-motion-coraline.html>.

8. Animation World Network, the Hub of Animation on the Internet. AWN, Inc.

<http://awn.com/>.

a. "AWNtv :: Stop-Motion." AWNtv. Animation World Network

Television. <http://www.awntv.com/categories/stop-motion/latest>.

i. Watched a dozen or so short films from this site.

9. Scott, Anthony, ed. Stop Motion Animation. <http://stopmotionanimation.com>.

a. From this website used: “Handbook”, “Links”, and “Message Board”.

b. Brent, Mike. “Claymation or Stop-Motion: What's the Difference?”

<http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/handbook/4.htm>.

10. "iStopMotion 2 in Education - Examples." Boinx Software - iStopMotion 2.

Boinx Software. <http://boinx.com/istopmotion/edu/examples/>.


11. "Puppetry Definitions." The Puppetry Home Page. Sagecraft Productions.

<http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/definitions/index.html>.

12. "The News, Business, Technology & Art of Animation." Animation Magazine.

Animation Magazine Inc. <http://www.animationmagazine.net/>.

Short-films and Movies

1. Corpse Bride. Dir. Mike Johnson and Tim Burton. Perf. Johnny Depp, Helena

Bonham Carter, Emily Watson. Film. Theater Viewing. 2005.

2. Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Dir. Henry Selick. Perf. Danny

Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara. DVD. 1993.

3. Senreich, Matthew, Seth Green, and Mike Fasolo. "Robot Chicken." Robot

Chicken: Seasons 1-2. Adult_Swim. 2005-2006. Viewed most episodes

on TV.

4. Robot Chicken: Season 3. Created by Seth Green, Matthew Senreich and Mike

Fasolo. DVD. 2008. Viewed each episode.

5. Wallace & Gromit: The First Three Adventures (1990-1995). Dir. Nick Park.

DVD. DVD Released 1996. Includes: “The Wrong Trousers “ (1993),

“A Close Shave” (1995), and “A Grand Day Out” (1989).

6. Moral Orel, Vol. 1, The Unholy Edition. Writ. Dino Stamatopoulos. DVD. 2007.

Viewed each episode.

7. Clash of the Titans. Dir. Desmond Davis. Prod. Ray Harryhausen. Perf.

Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin. DVD. 1981.


8. Aliens, Dragons, Monsters and Me. Dir. Richard Jones. Documentary about Ray

Harryhausen. Ray Bradbury, Kerwin Mathews. 1986. Viewed on

<http://www.YouTube.com/>

9. Rapunzel. Dir. Ray Harryhausen. Viewed on YouTube.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr0nspwxexc>.

10. Hansel and Gretal. Dir. Ray Harryhausen. Viewed on YouTube.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtsOYHvvYQ0&NR=1>.

11. The Comb. Dir. Stephen and Timothy Quay. 1990. Viewed on YouTube.

12. Street of Crocodiles. Dir. Stephen and Timothy Quay. 1986. Viewed on

YouTube.

13. Gumbasia. Dir. Art Cloke. Pilot for Gumby series. Viewed on YouTube:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgqK_WW7E2Y>.

14. Clokey, Art, dir. "Scrooge Loose." The Gumby Show. 1957. YouTube.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y5p2hi-yw0&nr=1>.

15. James and the Giant Peach. Dir. Henry Selick. DVD. 1996.

16. Coraline. To be released Feb. 2009. Trailers on <http://www.coraline.com>

using codes found on previously listed source. Keywords: “Buttoneyes”,

“Stopmotion”, “Moustachio”, “Armpithair”, “Puppetlove”, and

“Sweaterxxs”.

stop motion

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