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One thing is critical in stop-action animation photography. The camera must |
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not move until all of the shots of each action sequence have been taken. |
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This is especially important if some of the objects in the set (such as the |
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background or buildings) do not move. In this case the camera must remain |
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perfectly still or the non-moving objects will appear to jump around when |
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the animation is played. So unless you want to film an earthquake sequence |
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keep your camera as "quiet" as possible! This is not so crucial if all of the |
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| objects in the set are moving since it will be difficult for the viewer to know | |||||
| which movements are intended and which movements are accidental. | |||||
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| At the very least you should mount your camera on a tripod. If you are | |||||
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using a film camera, a cable release for the shutter will help a lot. And a |
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| film camera with automatic film advance would be the best bet. If you are | |||||
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using a digital camera or web cam you can use the image viewing software |
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to toggle back and forth between each successive frame. Or you can simply |
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preview the animation to check for jerkiness in the non-moving objects |
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before sending the animation on for final editing. To do this though you |
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| should keep the digital camera or web cam hooked up to your computer via | |||||
| its data transmission cable. That way you don't have to unscrew the camera | |||||
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from its stand during the shooting of an action sequence in order to transmit |
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| the images to the computer. | |||||
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You can also use registration marks in the set that will allow you to monitor |
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the position of the camera during the shoot in case it is nudged accidentally. |
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If this happens the mark(s) will allow you to reposition the camera close to |
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where it was pointing before it was moved. |
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A piece of black electrical tape fixed to the backdrop of the set will serve as |
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a mark. Or you can use the edge, corner, or other point of some non-moving |
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object in the set for a mark. Simply make sure that the mark(s) is positioned |
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in the corner of the viewfinder (or LCD screen of a digital camera) before you |
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take each shot. |
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| The most accurate way to eliminate unwanted movement in your animation | |||||
| is to edit the image frames in an image or photo editing software that lets | |||||
| you layer the images on top of each other so that the non-moving objects can | |||||
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be registered frame by frame with each other. Then you can crop all of the |
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frames at once so that the frames will all be in register when they are |
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| imported into the GIF animation program. This procedure will eliminate | |||||
| most, if not all, of this problem. | |||||
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