Customer Reviews

Stop Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)

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Stop Motion Animation is also known as "Puppet Animation". You may have seen it before .... movies like Nightmare Before Christmas, Chicken Run, and the classic works by master stop motion animator, Ray Harryhausen. You also may have seen stop motion used in TV commercials, like the Brisk Iced Tea spots (Bruce Lee, James Brown, etc.) or the Chevron talking cars commercials. Stop Motion uses real miniature puppets fabricated from various materials like foam rubber, plastics, metal, or clay (like Gumby or the singing California Raisens). The puppets are about the size of a Barbie-type doll with an internal wire or jointed skeleton. Using a movie camera or video cam, the puppets/figures are placed in front of camera, then the arms, legs, head, etc. are incrementally moved (animated) frame by frame. When the film or video is played back at regular speed, the puppets appear to be moving on their own.

Having been involved with stop motion, doing professional work for about 16 plus years, I can tell you that "how-to" information about this esoteric and arcane animation art/craft is indeed very rare today. This is because "computer animation" techniques are now dominating the animation market and the public does not see the hand crafted works of stop motion animation, as often. Susannah Shaw's book includes difficult to find information about the overall production aspects of Stop Motion/Puppet Animation. At the time of this review, there are no other books that covers the entire stop motion process as well as this book does. Do a search on the internet and you will see that published books specifically about stop motion production, are almost non-existent. If the author cannot cover a particular area in depth, she has provided a very comprehensive appendix of resources, materials, suppliers, and other informational sources where you can find out more about Stop Motion Animation. This book is a great introduction for beginners, students, intermediates and for schools or universities who wish to cover this unique animation craft in their curriculum. Get it now while it is available and you can help keep Stop Motion ALIVE in the new millennium!

You should also add these other books to your animation library: "Creating 3D Animation" by Peter Lord; "The Animators Survival Kit" by Richard Williams; and "Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas" by Thompson & Burton.

This is probably as good a guide to the many craft areas required for stop motion animation as we're likely to get in one volume. More direct and individual than computer 3d animation, stop motion has two main traditions - as a special effects tool for bringing life to the impossible in the hands of masters like Ray Harryhausen and Jim Danforth, and as an art form with it's roots in a European puppet theatre tradition. It is this area of puppet film that stop motion is now most vigorous, as exemplified by contemporary masters like Nick Park and Barry Purves, and this book contains many direct quotes from professionals offering insights into their ways of working. The book covers the basics of writing the story, creating the characters, constructing sets and puppets, lighting, photography, and animation techniques at a level that is practical for a beginner or intermediate, with much to offer the more experienced animator. A fully comprehensive guide would need to be in six fat volumes, as many of the crafts involved (like armature machining, or cinemaphotography) need a book to themselves to fully cover those fields .
This is not a coffee-table book on the history and variety of stop motion, but a guide which will help the would-be animator to actually make an animated film.

I am in the middle of producing my own stop motion film and this book has really helped guide my production.... from creating armatures to set construction to animation... this book has a little of everything for those of us who have chosen this "lost art" of stop motion animation. This is a great book for anyone that is serious about getting their stop motion film made... I am constantly referring back to it because it is loaded with useful information. So I would definetly reccomend this book to anyone interested in making their own stop motion animation.

As a visual person, I learn well when I see things demonstrated visually. That's why I like this book; lots of nice four-color photos of armatures, puppets, techniques for building them in great detail. What other book provides a close-up image of an armature joint? The language is a bit difficult to understand at times, because it is written and published in Britian, but that just confirms its authenticity. England is a world stop-motion mecca as home to Aardman Animations, creators of "Wallace and Gromit." I highly recommend this book to anyone interested specifically in stop-motion puppet animation.

While it is not a substitute for hands on experience it will get you up to speed. This book is a fantastic introduction to anyone interested in this subject. Students of the art will get a basic primer to all facets of the stop-motion process. If it is not provided as college course reading you should pick up a copy for your self studying.

This is a truly wonderful book, Susannah and Focal Press should be applauded for putting out a stop motion book in these CGI saturated times. I couldn't fault it in any way and I would say it should be a must have for any stop motion enthusiast. Susannah definately knows her stuff, I found it easy to follow the tips were great and there is heaps of information to study.

I read this so fast that I couldn't believe it! I usually hate reading but could not put this down. If you want to learn about stop motion animation (and you should) you HAVE to read this book. It is by far the best stop motion book that I have read to date.

there are lots of quotes that are invalueable from leading stop motion animators including nick park, pete lord, barry purves, anthony scott, etc etc etc.

The only complaint I have is that it ended. GET THS BOOK NOW!

this is an excelent choise for those beginning in the world of stop motion animation. got to have it.

I had high expectations for this book. I have studied almost every stop motion book there is and I have to say this is nothing special. There are a few tips in it that I found enlightening but not enough to hold the whole book. Although the author seems knowledgable in the field, she does not put her instructions across clearly. I found it difficult to follow in that she gives a bit of info and then directs you to looks in later chapters, when writing instruction/how-to books it is wise to put things in order so thats the more basic blocks of info are placed at the beginning so you can refer BACK. And perhaps this book may be a tad more useful to readers in the UK, as the author refers mostly to UK companies and retailers for supplies. Over all I feel that there are a few things in this book that are useful and can not be found in other books. Perhaps if you already have a collection (such as myself) it is nice to own to compliment other books, but as a stand alone it falls short of being very helpful.