MetaFilter posts tagged with stopmotion and art

'I’d have to date an astronaut to get a longer distance relationship.'

shakespeherian — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:56:21 -0800

Artmaking, a love story. How viral I Have Your Heart film brought two creators together from worlds away. [Different Kim Boekbinder video previously]

The Bug Trainer

infinite intimation — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:25:49 -0800

The best stop motion film ever? Or do you prefer The Night[mare] before Christmas?

Wladyslaw Starewicz' childhood passion for entomology led his career: he began producing short documentaries in Moscow around 1909-1910, beginning with a documentary about insects in Lithuania. In his spare time, he experimented with stop-action films using beetles, which he articulated by wiring the legs to the thorax with sealing wax! This, of course, led to his big breakthrough, released by the Van Kanjonkov Studio of Moscow: "The Battle of the Stag Beetles", the first puppet-animated film. [Note: Emile Cohl previously used stop-motion animation to make a public service announcement film, "The Animated Matches," in 1908... Starewicz was the first to do anything more advanced (i.e., using puppets, telling a story) with the technique.] In particular, Starewicz’s 1933 short “The Mascot” plays like a blueprint for the style of Tim Burton productions like The Nightmare Before Christmas, with its large cast of bizarre dolls and puppets brought to life by painstaking stop-motion work. It’s impressive even by today’s standards. Before Wallace and Grommett and Gumby, The film industry of the Soviet Union was producing some of the best examples of stop-motion animation, or 'claymation', in the world. Themes of these cartoons ranged from didactic propaganda to children's entertainment, such as the beloved Cheburashka series. Click here to watch a short documentary about Aleksandr Ptushko, the Walt Disney of the USSR. Click here to watch Nikchemuchka (Useless Doll) a Ukrainian Soviet Macro Stopmotion/claymation. ‪Nikchemuchka (Useless Doll) Ukrainian Soviet Macro Stopmotion Cartoon Entomology and Animation: A Portrait of An Early Master Ladislaw Starewicz 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Most of Starewicz's adaptations are rooted in Eastern European folktale tradition, and his fervent characters and effectual storytelling strongly reflect this heritage. An excellent example of this genre, but with a modern twist, is The Cameraman's Revenge (1912). This is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Beetle whose home life is rather dull. In search of spontaneity and change, each one cheats on the other. Mr. Beetle meets the beautiful Dragonfly, and heartlessly steals her away from her lover Mr. Grasshopper. The Grasshopper, being a cameraman, begins his plot of revenge by filming Mr. Beetle's affair with the Dragonfly. Before this revenge unfolds, however, Mr. Beetle happens to catch his wife at home with another insect, the artist. The irascible hypocrite that he is, Mr. Beetle throws a fit, smashes things in the house and gets rough with Mrs. Beetle. Eventually he forgives her, and takes her to a movie. Unbeknownst to him the projectionist at the theater is Mr. Grasshopper, who runs the footage he shot of Mr. Beetle and Miss Dragonfly having their fling. The cheering, insect audience loves this spontaneous slice of life, but Mrs. Beetle has other thoughts and chases her husband straight through the movie screen and out of the theater. In the end, Mr. and Mrs. Beetle humbly return home content with their old lifestyle.

"The world is veiled in darkness."

Fizz — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:10:17 -0800

Sephiroth the World's Enemy [SLYT] A Final Fantasy stop-motion video. Also: a behind the scenes look at the toys & animation, involved.

Making Future Magic

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:23:14 -0800

iPad light painting - an ethereal stop-motion animation, using long exposures and a locationally-aware iPad [ photo stills | via ]

Paper shadows

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:37:03 -0800

Please enjoy one of collage artist Lewis Klahr's haptic, romantic meditations on materiality and mortality, False Aging, and a look at his process.

Evolution in Stop Motion

wander — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:49:33 -0800

Big Bang, Big Boom, by Blu. A beautiful, extremely impressive stop motion depiction of evolution brought to life on walls, streets, beaches, and everything in between. (Previously, and other films Fantoche, and MUTO.) Be sure to stop by the artist's website, there's a lot of other good work.

Near the Egress

homunculus — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:44:34 -0800

Near the Egress. "Over 800 modern dryplate tintypes were made from b&w film to produce this experimental stop-motion video of a circus. Antonio Martinez created this video to serve as a desired childhood memory of the circus, but through the mind of an adult." [Via]

COMBO - a collaborative animation

Matthias Rascher — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:17:32 -0800

COMBO - a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis. Made at Fame Festival 2009.

Nice photos. Neat shapes and colors. Not sure what I'm looking at.

dobbs — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:33:11 -0800

Interesting photos and film (mpg | avi) on a site that doesn't give context.

Kamler et Parmegiani -- concrete et ephemere

carsonb — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:03:57 -0800

Une Mission Ephemere
Animated by Piotr Kamler, featuring music by Bernard Parmegiani.

Never mind CGI, who needs plasticine?

randomination — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 15:57:15 -0800

Stop motion animation plus Post-it notes equals pixelly goodness. (Flash, via milkandcookies)

Explorations in the Art of Stop-Motion Animation

You Should See the Other Guy — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:23:14 -0800

Stop-motion clips from some of Eastern Europe's greatest masters. From "DarkStrider, Explorations in the Art of Stop-Motion Animation".