In the book Experimental Animation, an illustrated anthol- ogy by Robert Russett and Cecile Starr (1976, Litton Educational Publishing, p. 126), McClaren wrote of his techniques:
Figure 2.19 Click on the Hide button and all the frames you highlighted will have a diagonal line applied to them indicating that they will be ignored in playback. Note that the frames are ignored (i.e., hidden and not deleted). If you should change your mind, you can quickly go back and “unhide” any frames you want to.
Figure 2.18 You now see every frame that you photographed as a thumbnail image. Use the left mouse button and click on the first frame you want to hide. Hold down the shift key and select the last frame you want to hide. The entire row will light up. Click on the actions arrow to open that control panel.
It became apparent that the single frame approach was best only for certain types of shot. To meet all our requirements, we decided to use a whole gamut of shooting speeds, from one frame every five minutes to one frame every 1/16 of a second, depending on the nature of the shot, so we would select the most desirable shooting speed. Within one shot we might often vary the shooting speed if different parts of the action demanded it. The tempo of the actor’s move- ment was also considered a variable factor, ranging from very slight changes of static positions, through
Figure 2.20 Choose the frames you want to hide, and then close the edit window to view your finished sequence, or you can select the Preview option to see a thumbnail playback of your edited sequence before exiting the editor.
Figure 2.21 The edited sequence showing Lucy vanishing into the wall. Although the pinned clothing looks odd as a single frame, it creates a convincing illusion when the sequence runs at speed. Improvements could be made by using the toggle function and perhaps repositioning the pinned clothing to better align with the height of the last frame of Lucy.
Figure 2.22 Wires inserted within the subject can be a great invisible aid in posing tough subjects such as clothing. I used the support technique of inserting aluminum wire within shoelaces for the rock video Point of No Return by Nu Shooz.
Many rock videos have built upon McClaren’s ideas to create novel movement in performances, such as the Eurythmic’s video Missionary Man. The performer performs to a slow playback of the music and then is speeded up to normal speed to generate bizarre movement. You can experiment with tempo control by using the Time Lapse tool in Stop Motion Pro and shooting at 1 frame a second. Have the performer perform 12 times slower (for a 12-frames-per-second rate). In other words, if the intent is to have the performer stretch out his arm in 1 second, it would normally take 12 frames or 1 second. If you shoot at 1 frame per second with the Time Lapse tool, the performer would slow down his movement and stretch out his arm in 12 seconds. If a performer performs
this movement slowly yet in the middle of the performance makes a sudden movement, it will create a startling effect when speeded up. The possibilities are endless and the results are loads of fun.
Summary
1. George Méliès (a stage magician) was one of the first to discover that you could create effects and ani- mation by manipulating subjects in between exposures. Méliès’s landmark film A Trip to the Moon is a testament to this pioneering genius.
2. F.W. Murnau’s film Nosferatu, made in 1922, made use of early stop motion in the ocean voyage sequence. The film was nearly lost because of reckless copyright infringement.
3. Pixillation is defined as the animation of live subjects as opposed to pixelation, which is a visual artifact involving digital pixels.
4. Norman McClaren of the National Film Board of Canada made use of pixillation in his Academy Award–winning film Neighbours in 1952.
5. For outdoor shoots, it would be best to use a power supply for the camera and the computer rather than to depend on a battery during a long animation shoot.
6. Mount your camera on a sturdy tripod that will prevent unwanted movement of the camera. very slow movement, up to normal speed. The tempo
of the actor’s behavior and the tempo of the camera’s shooting were therefore adjusted to any desired ratio, depending on the final desired effect, and the speed at which it would be easiest for the actor to achieve his point. For instance, if the actors moved half as slow as normal (twelve frames per second), the final screen speed would appear normal but, in the process of shoot- ing, a tempo-control factor of two had entered in and the actor, by performing at speeds between half-normal and normal, had available a range of final screen speeds ranging from normal to twice normal. The concept of a tempo-control factor proved to be a useful one.
Figure 2.23 My pixillated performer was Lucy Xi Xing, who was born in China and immigrated to the United States where she attending Michigan State Uni- versity and then moved on to work in Los Angeles as a graphic designer. Lucy was one of my stellar students at UCLA Extension and kindly allowed me to animate her for this book. She is currently pursuing a career in visual effects.
7. When setting up a video camera for Stop Motion Pro animation, it is important to disable all automatic functions such as auto exposure and auto focus to prevent fluctuations in the animation sequence. 8. It is important to set the sensitivity of the camera for the light source used to image the subject. If
outside, you should choose the sun icon or technically the color temperature of 5500 degrees Kelvin. If shooting with tungsten lighting or 3200 degrees Kelvin, you should choose the lightbulb icon. For more on color temperature, refer to Chapter 5 of Filming the Fantastic from Focal Press.
9. Because pixillation is demanding on your actors, make sure they have a place to rest and plenty of water and refreshments.
10. When shooting flying people animations, you will need to synchronize the jump of the actor and the button push of the Stop Motion Pro operator so that the image is captured at the height of the jump. 11. You can shoot multiple frames during a single button push to “oversample” if you wish to use editing
to find the best frame.
12. Having the performers move in one-footstep increments is a good start for a simple pixillation exercise. As you learn more about animation you will be able to refine the movements of your actors for even more professional results.