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Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but
puppets A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to mov ...
with movable joints (puppet animation) or plasticine figures ('' clay animation'' or claymation) are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in
model animation Model animation is a form of stop motion animation designed to merge with live-action footage to create the illusion of a real-world fantasy sequence. Techniques Many types of models have been created and developed, and the choice mainly depend ...
. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.


Terminology

The term "stop motion", relating to the animation technique, is often spelled with a hyphen as "stop-motion". Both orthographical variants, with and without the hyphen, are correct, but the hyphenated one has a second meaning that is unrelated to animation or cinema: "a device for automatically stopping a machine or engine when something has gone wrong" ('' The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', 1993 edition).


History


1849 to 1895: Before film

Before the advent of
chronophotography Chronophotography is a photographic technique from the Victorian era which captures a number of phases of movements. The best known chronophotography works were mostly intended for the scientific study of locomotion, to discover practical informa ...
in 1878, a small number of picture sequences were photographed with subjects in separate poses. These can now be regarded as a form of stop motion or pixilation, but very few results were meant to be animated. Until celluloid film base was established in 1888 and set the standard for moving image, animation could only be presented via mechanisms such as the zoetrope. In 1849,
Joseph Plateau Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (14 October 1801 – 15 September 1883) was a Belgian physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with repea ...
published a note about improvements for his Fantascope (a.k.a. phénakisticope). A new translucent variation had improved picture quality and could be viewed with both eyes, by several people at the same time. Plateau stated that the illusion could be advanced even further with an idea communicated to him by Charles Wheatstone: a combination of the fantascope and Wheatstone's stereoscope. Plateau thought the construction of a sequential set of stereoscopic image pairs would be the more difficult part of the plan than adapting two copies of his improved fantascope to be fitted with a stereoscope. Wheatstone had suggested using photographs on paper of a solid object, for instance a statuette. Plateau concluded that for this purpose 16 plaster models could be made with 16 regular modifications. He believed such a project would take much time and careful effort, but would be well worth it because of the expected marvelous results. Unfortunately, the plan was never executed, possibly because Plateau was almost completely blind by this time. In 1852,
Jules Duboscq Louis Jules Duboscq (March 5, 1817 – September 24, 1886) was a French instrument maker, inventor, and pioneering photographer. He was known in his time, and is remembered today, for the high quality of his optical instruments. Life and wo ...
patented a "Stéréoscope-fantascope ou Bïoscope" (or abbreviated as stéréofantascope) stroboscopic disc. The only known extant disc contains stereoscopic photograph pairs of different phases of the motion of a machine. Due to the long exposure times necessary to capture an image with the photographic emulsions of the period, the sequence could not be recorded live and must have been assembled from separate photographs of the various positions of the machinery. In 1855, Johann Nepomuk Czermak's published an article about his Stereophoroskop and other experiments aimed at stereoscopic moving images. He mentioned a method of sticking needles in a stroboscopic disc so that it looked like one needle was being pushed in and out of the cardboard when animated. He realized that this method provided basically endless possibilities to make different 3D animations. He then introduced two methods to animate stereoscopic pairs of images, one was basically a stereo viewer using two stroboscopic discs and the other was more or less similar to the later zoetrope. Czermak explained how suitable stereoscopic photographs could be made by recording a series of models, for instance to animate a growing pyramid. On 27 February 1860, Peter Hubert Desvignes received British patent no. 537 for 28 monocular and stereoscopic variations of cylindrical stroboscopic devices (much like the later zoetrope). Desvignes' ''Mimoscope'', received an Honourable Mention "for ingenuity of construction" at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Desvignes "employed models, insects and other objects, instead of pictures, with perfect success." In 1874, Jules Janssen made several practice discs for the recording of the passage of Venus with his photographic rifle. He used a model of the planet and a light source standing in for the sun. While actual recordings of the passage of Venus have not been located, some practice discs survived and the images of one were turned into a short animated film decades after the development of cinematography. In 1887, Étienne-Jules Marey created a large zoetrope with a series of plaster models based on his chronophotographs of birds in flight.Herbert, Stephen. (n.d.
''From Daedaleum to Zoetrope'', Part 2.
Retrieved 2014-05-31.


1895-1928: The silent film era

It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of all silent film are lost. Extant contemporary movie catalogs, reviews and other documentation can provide some details on lost films, but this kind of written documentation is also incomplete and often insufficient to properly date all extant films or even identify them if original titles are missing. Possible stop motion in lost films is even harder to trace. The principles of animation and other special effects were mostly kept a secret, not only to prevent use of such techniques by competitors, but also to keep audiences interested in the mystery of the magic tricks. Stop motion is closely related to the stop trick, in which the camera is temporarily stopped during the recording of a scene to create a change before filming is continued (or for which the cause of the change is edited out of the film). In the resulting film the change will be sudden and a logical cause of the change will be mysteriously absent or replaced with a fake cause that is suggested in the scene. The oldest known example is used for the beheading in Edison Manufacturing Company's 1895 film ''
The Execution of Mary Stuart ''The Execution of Mary Stuart'' is a short film produced in 1895. The film depicts the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. It is the first known film to use special effects, specifically the stop trick. The 18-second-long film was produced by ...
''. The technique of stop motion can be interpreted as repeatedly applying the stop trick. In 1917 clay animation pioneer
Helena Smith-Dayton Helena Smith Dayton (often hyphened as Helena Smith-Dayton) (1883–1960) was an American film maker, painter and sculptor working in New York City who used fledgling stop motion and clay animation techniques in the 1910s and 1920s, one of the ea ...
referred to the principle behind her work as "stop action", a synonym of "stop motion". French trick film pioneer
Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...
claimed to have invented the stop-trick and popularized it by using it in many of his short films. He reportedly used stop-motion animation in 1899 to produce moving letterforms.


Segundo de Chomón

Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón (1871–1929) made many trick films in France for
Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...
. He has often been compared to Georges Méliès as he also made many fantasy films with stop tricks and other illusions (helped by his wife,
Julienne Mathieu Julienne Alexandrine Mathieu ( - ) was one of the earliest French silent film actresses who appeared mostly in French silents between 1905 and 1909. She appeared in the silent film '' Hôtel électrique'' released in 1908, one of the first films ...
). By 1906 Chomón was using stop motion animation. ''Le théâtre de Bob'' (April 1906) features over three minutes of stop motion animation with dolls and objects to represent a fictional automated theatre owned by Bob, played by a live-action child actor. It is the oldest extant film with proper stop motion and a definite release date. Segundo de Chomón's ''Sculpteur moderne'' was released on 31 January 1908 and features heaps of clay molding itself into detailed sculptures that are capable of minor movements. The final sculpture depicts an old woman and walks around before it's picked up, squashed and molded back into a sitting old lady.


Edwin S. Porter and Wallace McCutcheon Sr.

American film pioneer Edwin S. Porter filmed a single-shot "lightning sculpting" film with a baker molding faces from a patch of dough in ''Fun in a Bakery Shop'' (1902), considered as foreshadowing of clay animation. In 1905, Porter showed animated letters and very simple cutout animation of two hands in the intertitles in ''How Jones lost his roll''. Porter experimented with a small bit of crude stop-motion animation in his trick film '' Dream of a Rarebit Fiend'' (1906). ''The "Teddy" Bears'' (2 March 1907), made in collaboration with
Wallace McCutcheon Sr. Wallace McCutcheon Sr. (New York City, 1858 or 1862 – Brooklyn, New York, October 3, 1918) was a pioneer cinematographer and director in the early American motion picture industry, working with the American Mutoscope & Biograph, Edison and Ame ...
, mainly shows people in bear costumes, but the short film also features a short stop-motion segment with small teddy bears. On 15 February 1908, Porter released the trick film ''A Sculptor's Welsh Rabbit Dream'' that featured clay molding itself into three complete busts. No copy of the film has yet been located. It was soon followed by the similar extant film ''The Sculptor's Nightmare'' (6 May 1908) by Wallace McCutcheon Sr.


J. Stuart Blackton

J. Stuart Blackton James Stuart Blackton (January 5, 1875 – August 13, 1941) was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to ...
's '' The Haunted Hotel'' (23 February 1907) featured a combination of live-action with practical special effects and stop motion animation of several objects, a puppet and a model of the haunted hotel. It was the first stop motion film to receive wide scale appreciation. Especially a large close-up view of a table being set by itself baffled viewers; there were no visible wires or other noticeable well-known tricks. This inspired other filmmakers, including French animator
Émile Cohl Émile Eugène Jean Louis Cohl (; né Courtet; 4 January 1857 – 20 January 1938) was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherents, Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "Th ...
and Segundo de Chomón. De Chomón would release the similar ''
The House of Ghosts ''La Maison ensorcelée'' (literally "The Ensorcelled House" from French, en, The House of Ghosts, also known as The Witch House) is a 1906 French short film directed by Segundo de Chomón. The film features stop-motion animation and is conside ...
'' and ''
El hotel eléctrico EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...
'' in 1908, with the latter also containing some very early pixilation. '' The Humpty Dumpty Circus'' (1908, considered lost) by Blackton and his British-American Vitagraph partner Albert E. Smith showed an animated performance of the figures from a popular wooden toy set. Smith would later claim that this was "the first stop-motion picture in America". The inspiration would have come from seeing how puffs of smoke behaved in the interrupted recordings for a stop trick film they were making. Smith would have suggested to get a patent for the technique, but Blackton thought it wasn't that important. Smith's recollections are not considered to be very reliable.


Émile Cohl

Blackton's ''The Haunted Hotel'' made a big impression in Paris, where it was released as ''L'hôtel hanté: fantasmagorie épouvantable''. When Gaumont bought a copy to further distribute the film, it was carefully studied by some of their filmmakers to find out how it was made. Reportedly it was newcomer
Émile Cohl Émile Eugène Jean Louis Cohl (; né Courtet; 4 January 1857 – 20 January 1938) was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherents, Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "Th ...
who unraveled the mystery. Not long after, Cohl released his first film, ''Japon de fantaisie'' (June 1907), featuring his own imaginative use of the stop-motion technique. It was followed by the revolutionary hand-drawn '' Fantasmagorie'' (17 August 1908) and many more animated films by Cohl. Other notable stop-motion films by Cohl include ''Les allumettes animées (Animated Matches)'' (1908), and ''Mobilier fidèle'' (1910, in collaboration with
Romeo Bosetti Romeo Bosetti (18 January 1879 – 27 October 1948) was an Italian-born French actor and screenwriter. Bosetti was born in Romolus Joseph Bosetti Chiari, Italy and died in 1948 in Suresnes, France France (), officially the Fre ...
). ''Mobilier fidèle'' is often confused with Bosetti's object animation tour de force ''Le garde-meubles automatique (The Automatic Moving Company)'' (1912). Both films feature furniture moving by itself.


Arthur Melbourne-Cooper

Of the more than 300 short films produced between 1896 and 1915 by British film pioneer
Arthur Melbourne-Cooper Arthur Melbourne Cooper (15 April 1874 – 28 November 1961) was a British photographer and early filmmaker best known for his pioneering work in stop-motion animation. He produced over three hundred films between 1896 and 1915, of which an estima ...
, an estimated 36 contained forms of animation. Based on later reports by Melbourne-Cooper and by his daughter Audrey Wadowska, some believe that Cooper's ''Matches: an Appeal'' was produced in 1899 and therefore the very first stop-motion animation. The extant black-and-white film shows a matchstick figure writing an appeal to donate a
Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
for which
Bryant and May Bryant & May was a British company created in the mid-19th century specifically to make matches. Their original Bryant & May Factory was located in Bow, London. They later opened other match factories in the United Kingdom and Australia, such ...
would supply soldiers with sufficient matches. No archival records are known that could proof that the film was indeed created in 1899 during the beginning of the Second Boer War. Others place it at 1914, during the beginning of World War I. Cooper created more ''Animated Matches'' scenes in the same setting. These are believed to also have been produced in 1899, while a release date of 1908 has also been given. The 1908 ''Animated Matches'' film by Émile Cohl may have caused more confusion about the release dates of Cooper's matchstick animations. It also raises the question whether Cohl may have been inspired by Melbourne-Cooper or vice versa. Melbourne-Cooper's lost films ''Dolly's Toys'' (1901) and ''The Enchanted Toymaker'' (1904) may have included stop-motion animation. ''Dreams of Toyland'' (1908) features a scene with many animated toys that lasts approximately three and a half minutes.


Alexander Shiryaev

As a means to plan his performances, ballet dancer and choreographer
Alexander Shiryaev Alexander Viktorovich Shiryaev ( rus, Александр Викторович Ширяев; — 25 April 1941) was a Russian ballet dancer, ballet master and choreographer, founder of character dance in Russian ballet who served at the Mariinsky ...
started making approximately 20- to 25-centimeter-tall puppets out of papier-mâché on poseable wire frames. He then sketched all the sequential movements on paper. When he arranged these vertically on a long strip, it was possible to give a presentation of the complete dance with a home cinema projector. Later on, he bought a movie camera and between 1906 and 1909 he made many short films, including puppet animations. As a dancer and choreographer, Shiryaev had a special talent to create motion in his animated films. According to animator Peter Lord his work was decades ahead of its time. Part of Shiryaev's animation work is featured in Viktor Bocharov's documentary "Alexander Shiryaev: A Belated Premiere" (2003).


Władysław Starewicz (Russian period)

Polish-Russian
Władysław Starewicz Ladislas Starevich (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович Старе́вич, pl, Władysław Starewicz; August 8, 1882 – February 26, 1965) was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first pu ...
(1882–1965), started his film career around 1909 in
Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
filming live insects. He wanted to document rutting
stag beetles Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...
, but the creatures wouldn't cooperate or would even die under the bright lamps needed for filming. He solved the problem by using wire for the limbs of dried beetles and then animating them in stop motion. The resulting short film, presumably 1 minute long, was probably titled by the Latin name for the species: '' Жук-олень (Lucanus Cervus)'' (1910, considered lost). After moving to Moscow, Starewicz continued animating dead insects, but now as characters in imaginative stories with much dramatic complexity. He garnered much attention and international acclaim with these short films, including the 10-minute '' Прекрасная Люканида, или Война усачей с рогачами (The Beautiful Leukanida)'' (03-1912), the two-minute ''Веселые сценки из жизни животных (Happy Scenes from Animal Life)'', the 12-minute '' Прекрасная Люканида, или Война усачей с рогачами (The Cameraman's Revenge)'' (10-1912) and the 5-minute '' Стрекоза и муравей (The Grasshopper and the Ant )'' (1913). Reportedly many viewers were impressed with how much could be achieved with trained insects, or at least wondered what tricks could have been used, since few people were familiar with the secrets of stop motion animation. ''Рождество обитателей леса (The Insects' Christmas)'' (1913) featured other animated puppets, including Father Christmas and a frog. Starewicz made several other stop motion films in the next two years, but mainly went on to direct live-action short and feature films before he fled from Russia in 1918.


Willis O'Brien's early films

Willis O' Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history, ...
's first stop motion film was '' The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy'' (1915). Apart from the titular dinosaur and " missing link" ape, it featured several cavemen and an ostrich-like "desert quail", all relatively lifelike models made with clay. This led to a series of short animated comedies with a prehistoric theme for Edison Company, including ''Prehistoric Poultry'' (1916), ''R.F.D. 10,000 B.C.'' (1917), ''The Birth of a Flivver'' (1917) and ''Curious Pets of Our Ancestors'' (1917). O'Brien was then hired by producer Herbert M. Dawley to direct, create effects, co-write and co-star with him for '' The Ghost of Slumber Mountain'' (1918). The collaborative film combined live-action with animated dinosaur models in a 45-minute film, but after the premiere it was cut down to approximately 12 minutes. Dawley did not give O'Brien credits for the visual effects, and instead claimed the animation process as his own invention and even applied for patents. O'Brien's stop motion work was recognized as a technique to create lifelike creatures for adventure films. O' Brien further pioneered the technique with animated dinosaur sequences for the live-action feature ''
The Lost World The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The g ...
'' (1925).


Helena Smith Dayton

New York artist
Helena Smith Dayton Helena Smith Dayton (often hyphened as Helena Smith-Dayton) (1883–1960) was an American film maker, painter and sculptor working in New York City who used fledgling stop motion and clay animation techniques in the 1910s and 1920s, one of the ea ...
, possibly the first female animator, had much success with her "Caricatypes" clay statuettes before she began experimenting with clay animation. Some of her first resulting short films were screened on 25 March 1917. She released an adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''
Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'' approximately half a year later. Although the films and her technique received much attention of the press, it seems she did not continue making films after she returned to New York from managing a YMCA in Paris around 1918. None of her films have yet surfaced, but the extant magazine articles have provided several stills and approximately 20 poorly printed frames from two film strips.


Starewicz in Paris

By 1920 Starewicz had settled in Paris, and started making new stop motion films. ''Dans les Griffes de L'araignée'' (finished 1920, released 1924) featured detailed hand-made insect puppets that could convey facial expressions with moving lips and eyelids.


Other silent stop motion

One of the earliest clay animation films was ''Modelling Extraordinary'', which impressed audiences in 1912. The early Italian feature film '' Cabiria'' (1914) featured some stop motion techniques.


1930s and 1940s

Starewicz finished the first feature stop motion film '' Le Roman de Renard (The Tale of the Fox)'' in 1930, but problems with its soundtrack delayed its release. In 1937 it was released with a German soundtrack and in 1941 with its French soundtrack. Hungarian-American filmmaker
George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...
developed his own stop motion technique of replacing wooden dolls (or parts of them) with similar figures displaying changed poses and/or expressions. He called it Pal-Doll and used it for his Puppetoons films since 1932. The particular replacement animation method itself also became better known as puppetoon. In Europe he mainly worked on promotional films for companies such as Philips. Later Pal gained much success in Hollywood with a string of Academy Award for Best Animated Short Films, including ''Rhythm in the Ranks'' (1941), ''
Tulips Shall Grow ''Tulips Shall Grow'' is a 1942 American animated short film in the ''Puppetoons'' series, directed by George Pal and starring Rex Ingram and Victor Jory. It was released by Paramount Pictures and originally photographed in 3-strip Technicolor. ...
'' (1942), ''
Jasper and the Haunted House ''Jasper and the Haunted House'' is a 1942 American animated short film in the '' Madcap Model'' series by George Pal. It is an early entry that features the popular yet controversial Paramount Puppetoons characters Jasper and his friend/nemesis Pr ...
'' (1942), the Dr. Seuss penned '' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' (1943) and ''
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street ''And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street'' is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first Children's literature, children's book published under the pen name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who ...
'' (1944), ''Jasper and the Beanstalk'' (1945), '' John Henry and the Inky-Poo'' (1946), ''
Jasper in a Jam ''Jasper in a Jam'' is a 1946 short film in the ''Puppetoons'' series produced and originated by George Pal. It starred the voice of singer Peggy Lee, and was directed by Duke Goldstone and released by Paramount Pictures. It is included in ''The P ...
'' (1946), and ''
Tubby the Tuba Tubby is a nickname and surname and may refer to: People Nickname * Tubby Clayton (1885–1972), Anglican clergyman, founder of the Christian movement Toc H * Michael Lindsay Coulton Crawford (1917–2017), Second World War Royal Navy officer an ...
'' (1947). Many of his puppetoon films were selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Willis O' Brien's expressive and emotionally convincing animation of the big ape in '' King Kong'' (1933) is widely regarded as a milestone in stop-motion animation and a highlight of Hollywood cinema in general. A 1940 promotional film for Autolite, an automotive parts supplier, featured stop-motion animation of its products marching past Autolite factories to the tune of Franz Schubert's ''
Military March Military march may refer to: *March (music), a musical genre *Military step Military step or march is a regular, ordered and synchronized walking of military formations. History The steady, regular marching step was a marked feature of Roman le ...
''. An abbreviated version of this sequence was later used in television ads for Autolite, especially those on the 1950s CBS program ''
Suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...
'', which Autolite sponsored. The first British animated feature was the stop motion instruction film ''
Handling Ships ''Handling Ships'' is a 1945 British stop motion animated film made by Halas and Batchelor. The 70-minute film was created at the request of the British Admiralty, as a training aid for new navigators joining the Royal Navy. Although never forma ...
'' (1945) by Halas and Batchelor for the
British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...
. It was not meant for general cinemas, but did become part of the official selection of the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. The first Belgian animated feature was an adaptation of the Tintin comic ''The Crab with the Golden Claws'' (1947) with animated puppets. The first Czech animated feature was the package film ''
The Czech Year ''The Czech Year'' (Czech title: ''Špalíček''), also called ''A Treasury of Fairy-Tales'', is a 1947 stop-motion-animated puppet feature film from Czechoslovakia. It was the first feature film directed by Jiří Trnka, and it proceeded to w ...
'' (1947) with animated puppets by Jiří Trnka. The film won several awards at the Venice Film Festival and other international festivals. Trnka would make several more award-winning stop motion features including ''
The Emperor's Nightingale ''The Emperor's Nightingale'' ( cs, Císařův slavík) is a 1949 Czechoslovak stop-motion animated film directed by Jiří Trnka and Miloš Makovec. The film is based on the 1843 fairy tale " The Nightingale" by Hans Christian Andersen. Boris K ...
'' (1949), ''
Prince Bayaya ''Prince Bayaya'' (Czech: ''Bajaja'') is a 1950 Czechoslovak animated film directed by Jiří Trnka. Awards 1954 Locarno International Film Festival *Won: Golden Leopard The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film ...
'' (1950), ''
Old Czech Legends ''Old Czech Legends'' ( cz, Staré pověsti české) is a 1953 Czechoslovak stop motion puppet animation film directed by Jiří Trnka. It is based on the 1894 book ''Ancient Bohemian Legends'' by Alois Jirásek. Production After the completion ...
'' (1953) or ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'' (1959). He also directed many short films and experimented with other forms of animation.


1950s

Ray Harryhausen learned under O'Brien on the film '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949). Harryhausen would go on to create many memorable stop motion effects for a string of successful fantasy films over the next three decades. These included ''
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' is a 1953 American science fiction monster film directed by Eugène Lourié, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, and Kenneth Tobey. The screenp ...
'' (1953), '' It Came from Beneath the Sea'' (1955), '' Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963), '' The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'' (1973) and '' Clash of the Titans'' (1981). It wasn't until 1954 before a feature animated film with a technique other than cel animation was produced in the US. The first was the stop motion adaptation of 19th century composer Engelbert Humperdinck's opera ''
Hänsel und Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimms' Fairy Tales, ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little ...
'' as '' Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy''. In 1955
Karel Zeman Karel Zeman (3 November 1910 – 5 April 1989) was a Czech film director, artist, production designer and animator, best known for directing fantasy films combining live-action footage with animation. Because of his creative use of special effec ...
made his first feature film ''
Journey to the Beginning of Time ''Journey to the Beginning of Time'' ( cs, Cesta do pravěku, literally "Journey into prehistory") is a color 1955 Czechoslovak science fiction adventure film directed by Karel Zeman. Produced using a combination of 2-D and 3-D models, it was the ...
'' inspired by
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
, featuring stop motion animation of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Art Clokey started his adventures in clay with a freeform clay short film called ''Gumbasia'' (1955), which shortly thereafter propelled him into the production of his more structured TV series '' Gumby'' (1955–1989), with the iconic titular character. In partnership with the United Lutheran Church in America, he also produced '' Davey and Goliath'' (1960–2004). The theatrical feature '' Gumby: The Movie'' (1992, released in 1995) was a box office bomb. On 22 November 1959, the first episode of '' Unser Sandmänchen (Our Little Sandman)'' was broadcast on DFF (East German television). The 10-minute daily bedtime show for young children features the title character as an animated puppet, and other puppets in different segments. A very similar ''Sandmänchen'' series, possibly conceived earlier, ran on West German television from 1 December 1959 until the
German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1989. The East German show was continued on other German networks when DFF ended in 1991, and is one of the longest running animated series in the world. The theatrical feature ''Das Sandmännchen – Abenteuer im Traumland'' (2010) was fully animated with stop motion puppets.


1960s and 1970s

Japanese puppet animator
Tadahito Mochinaga was a pioneer Japanese stop-motion animator. Having done many stop motion films/shorts in Japan, he is best known as the animator for Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" productions at his MOM Studio in Tokyo throughout the 1960s. He did this work in asso ...
started out as assistant animator in short anime (propaganda) films ''Arichan'' (1941) and '' Momotarō no Umiwashi'' (1943). He fled to
Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
during the war and stayed in China afterwards. Due to the scarcity of paint and film stock shortly after the war, Mochinaga decided to work with puppets and stop motion. His work helped popularize puppet animation in China, before he returned to Japan around 1953 where he continued working as animation director. In the 1960s, Mochinaga supervised the "Animagic" puppet animation for productions by
Arthur Rankin Jr. Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation ...
and
Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Interna ...
' Videocraft International, Ltd. (later called
Rankin/Bass Productions Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...
, Inc.) and Dentsu, starting with the syndicated television series '' The New Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1960-1961). The Christmas TV special '' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' has been telecasted annually since 1964 and has become one of the most beloved holiday specials in the United States. They made three theatrical feature films '' Willy McBean and His Magic Machine'' (1965), '' The Daydreamer'' (1966, stop motion / live-action) and '' Mad Monster Party?'' (1966, released in 1967), and the television special ''Ballad of Smokey the Bear'' (1966) before the collaboration ended. Rankin/Bass worked with other animators for more TV specials, with titles such as ''
The Little Drummer Boy "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 19 ...
'' (1968), '' Santa Claus is Comin' to Town'' (1970) and '' Here Comes Peter Cottontail'' (1971). British television has shown many stop motion series for young children since the 1960s. An early example is ''
Snip and Snap ''Snip and Snap'' was a 1960 British animated series from Halas & Batchelor. It was directed by the Danish paper sculptor Thok Søndergaard (Thoki Yenn) and John Halas John Halas (born János Halász;Brian McFarlane ''The Encyclopedia of Br ...
'' (1960-1961) by
John Halas John Halas (born János Halász;Brian McFarlane ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'', London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p.48 16 April 1912 – 21 January 1995) was a pioneering British animator. Together with Gyula Macskássy (an acquaintance from Sá ...
in collaboration with Danish paper sculptor Thok Søndergaard (Thoki Yenn), featuring dog Snap, cut from a sheet of paper by pair of scissors Snip. Apart from their cutout animation series, British studio Smallfilms (
Peter Firmin Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
and Oliver Postgate) produced several stop motion series with puppets, beginning with ''
Pingwings ''Pingwings'' was an animated black-and-white children's television series, comprising 18 ten-minute episodes, broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV in three series of six programmes each, between 1961 and 1965. It first aired on Southern Telev ...
'' (1961-1965) featuring penguin-like birds knitted by Peter's wife Joan and filmed on their farm (where most of their productions were filmed in an unused barn). It was followed by ''
Pogles' Wood ''Pogles' Wood'' (in its first series it was entitled ''The Pogles'') is an animated British children's television show produced by Smallfilms between 1965 and 1967, first broadcast by the BBC between 1965 and 1968 (but repeated regularly until th ...
'' (1965-1967), '' Clangers'' (1969-1972, 1974, revived in 2015), '' Bagpuss'' (1974) and '' Tottie: The Story of a Doll's House'' (1984). Czech surrealist filmmaker Jan Švankmajer's released his short artistic films since 1964, which usually contain much experimental stop motion. He started to gain much international recognition in the 1980s. Since 1988 he has mostly been directing feature films which feature much more live action than stop motion. These include ''
Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
'', an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', and '' Faust'', a rendition of the legend of the German scholar. Švankmajer's work has been highly influential on other artists, such as Terry Gilliam and the Quay brothers (although the latter claim to have only discovered Švankmajer's films after having developed their own similar style). French animator Serge Danot created '' The Magic Roundabout'' (1965) which played for many years on the BBC. Polish studio
Se-ma-for Se-ma-for was a Polish List of animation studios, animation studio. Founded in Łódź, Poland in 1947, the company has created many animated cartoons and stop motion animations for young and older audiences. The name, meaning literally ''Se-ma-ph ...
produced popular TV series with animated puppets in adaptations of ''
Colargol Colargol is a fictional bear created by French writer Olga Pouchine in the 1950s. Colargol first became famous through a series of children's recordings by Philips Records in the 1960s. It is the story of a little bear who wants to sing and tra ...
'' (''Barnaby the Bear'' in the UK, ''Jeremy'' in Canada) (1967-1974) and '' The Moomins'' (1977-1982). In the 1960s and 1970s, independent clay animator Eliot Noyes Jr. refined the technique of "free-form" clay animation with his Oscar-nominated 1965 film ''Clay (or the Origin of Species)''. Noyes also used stop motion to animate sand lying on glass for his musical animated film ''Sandman'' (1975). Italian director Francesco Misseri created the clay animation TV series '' Mio Mao'' (1970-1976, 2002–2007), '' Il Rosso e il Blu (The Red and the Blue)'' (1976), and a TV series with an animated origami duck ''
Quaq Quao Quaq Quao is an Italian animated television series for children based on the adventures of a duck. The series consisted of 26 episodes of five to six minutes duration. It was filmed using stop-motion with origami figures and was written and di ...
'' (1978-1979). The British artists Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall ( Cosgrove Hall Films) produced two stop-motion animated adaptions of Enid Blyton's ''Noddy'' book series, including the original series of the same name (1975–1982) and ''
Noddy's Toyland Adventures ''Noddy's Toyland Adventures'' is a British children's television programme that was broadcast from September 1992 until April 1994 and December 1994, and again in 2000 on the BBC. It was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films in stop-motion animation. ...
'' (1992–2001), a full-length film '' The Wind in the Willows'' (1983) and later a multi-season TV series, both based on Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book of the same title. They also produced a documentary of their production techniques, ''Making Frog and Toad''. In 1975, filmmaker and clay animation experimenter Will Vinton joined with sculptor Bob Gardiner to create an experimental film called '' Closed Mondays'' which became the first stop-motion film to win an Oscar. Will Vinton followed with several other successful short film experiments including ''
The Great Cognito ''The Great Cognito'' is a 1982 Oscar-nominated claymation short directed by Will Vinton. Plot A monologist talks about war, adopting the faces of World War II-era figures. Accolades *1983: Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short ...
'', ''The Creation'', and ''Rip Van Winkle'' which were each nominated for Academy Awards. In 1977, Vinton made a documentary about this process and his style of animation which he dubbed "claymation"; he titled the documentary ''Claymation''. Soon after this documentary, the term was trademarked by Vinton to differentiate his team's work from others who had been, or were beginning to do, "clay animation". While the word has stuck and is often used to describe clay animation and stop motion, it remains a trademark owned currently by Laika Entertainment, Inc. Twenty clay-animation episodes featuring the clown
Mr. Bill Mr. Bill is a clay figurine star of a parody of children's clay animation shows created by Walter Williams in 1974. "The Mr. Bill Show" got its start on ''Saturday Night Live'' as a series of Super 8 films sent in in response to the show's request ...
were a feature of '' Saturday Night Live'', starting from a first appearance in February 1976. At very much the same time in the UK, Peter Lord and David Sproxton formed Aardman Animations that would produce many commercials, TV series, short films and eventually also feature films. In 1976 they created the character
Morph Morph may refer to: Biology * Morph (zoology), a visual or behavioral difference between organisms of distinct populations in a species * Muller's morphs, a classification scheme for genetic mutations * "-morph", a suffix commonly used in tax ...
who appeared as an animated side-kick to the TV presenter Tony Hart on his BBC TV programme
Take Hart ''Take Hart'' is a British children's television programme about art, presented by Tony Hart. It took over from ''Vision On'', and ran from 1977 until 1983. The programme featured Hart and the animated Plasticine character Morph, and other cha ...
. The five-inch-high presenter was made from a traditional British modelling clay called Plasticine. In 1977 they started on a series of animated films, again using modelling clay, but this time made for a more adult audience. The soundtrack for Down and Out was recorded in a Salvation Army Hostel and Plasticine puppets were animated to dramatise the dialogue. A second film, also for the BBC followed in 1978. A TV series The Amazing Adventures of Morph was aired in 1980. They also produced a notable music video for "
Sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, often metal head, attached to a long handle. The long handle combined with a heavy head allows the sledgehammer to gather momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed t ...
", a song by
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...
. Sand-coated puppet animation was used in the Oscar-winning 1977 film '' The Sand Castle'', produced by Dutch-Canadian animator
Co Hoedeman Jacobus Willem (Co) Hoedeman (born August 1, 1940 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch-Canadian filmmaker known for his mastery of stop motion animation and technical innovation in films that reveal his close observation of human and social interaction. Bio ...
. Hoedeman was one of dozens of animators sheltered by the National Film Board of Canada, a Canadian government film arts agency that had supported animators for decades. A pioneer of refined multiple stop-motion films under the NFB banner was
Norman McLaren William Norman McLaren, LL. D. (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).Rosenthal, Alan. ''The new documentary in action: a caseb ...
, who brought in many other animators to create their own creatively controlled films. Notable among these are the pinscreen animation films of Jacques Drouin, made with the original pinscreen donated by
Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker Alexandre Alexandrovitch Alexeieff (Russian: Александр Александрович Алексеев;Alternative transcriptions include Alexander Alexeieff or Alexander Alexeïeff or Alexandre Alexieff 18 April 1901 – 9 August 1982) was ...
. Czech filmmakers Lubomír Beneš and
Vladimír Jiránek Vladimír Jiránek (June 6, 1938 – November 6, 2012) was a Czech illustrator, film director and cartoonist. Information Jiránek was born in Hradec Králové. In 1962 he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, w ...
debuted their animated puppet characters '' Pat & Mat'', two inventive but clumsy neighbors, in the 7-minute short ''Kuťáci'' in 1976. Since 1979, over 100 episodes have been broadcast irregularly. Since 2014, new episodes were presented in theatrically released package films. The series became very popular in several countries, especially in The Netherlands, the only country where the characters are voiced. One of the main British animation teams, John Hardwick and Bob Bura, were the main animators in many early British TV shows, and are famous for their work on the ''
Trumptonshire Trumptonshire is a fictional county created by Gordon Murray, in which the ''Trumptonshire Trilogy'' of ''Camberwick Green (1966), Trumpton'' (1967), and ''Chigley'' (1969) are located. Trumptonshire is populated by characters portrayed by 8-inch ...
'' trilogy. Disney experimented with several stop-motion techniques by hiring independent animator-director
Mike Jittlov Mike Jittlov (born June 8, 1948) is an American animator and the creator of short films and one feature-length film using forms of special effects animation, including stop-motion animation, rotoscoping, and pixilation. He is best known for the 19 ...
to make the first stop-motion animation of
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
toys ever produced, in a short sequence called ''Mouse Mania'', part of a TV special, ''Mickey's 50'', which commemorated Mickey's 50th anniversary in 1978. Jittlov again produced some impressive multi-technique stop-motion animation a year later for a 1979 Disney special promoting their release of the feature film '' The Black Hole''. Titled ''Major Effects'', Jittlov's work stood out as the best part of the special. Jittlov released his footage the following year to 16mm film collectors as a short film titled '' The Wizard of Speed and Time'', along with four of his other short multi-technique animated films, most of which eventually evolved into his own feature-length film of the same title. Effectively demonstrating almost all animation techniques, as well as how he produced them, the film was released to theaters in 1987 and to video in 1989.


1980s

In the 1970s and 1980s,
Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
often used stop-motion model animation in such films as the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy: the holochess sequence in ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'', the Tauntauns and AT-AT walkers in '' The Empire Strikes Back'', and the AT-ST walkers in '' Return of the Jedi'' were all filmed using stop-motion animation, with the latter two films utilising go motion: an invention from renowned visual effects veteran Phil Tippett. The many shots including the ghosts in ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
'' and the first two feature films in the ''
RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...
'' series use Tippett's go motion. In the UK, Aardman Animations continued to grow. Channel 4 funded a new series of clay animated films, '' Conversation Pieces'', using recorded soundtracks of real people talking. A further series in 1986, called ''Lip Sync'', premiered the work of
Richard Goleszowski Richard Starzak, previously known as Richard "Golly" Goleszowski, is an English animator, screenwriter, and film director. Life and career Starzak was born in Suffolk in 1959 and grew up in Ipswich, attending Northgate Grammar School. After co ...
(''Ident''),
Barry Purves Barry J.C. Purves (born 28 August 1960) is an English animator, director and screenwriter of puppet animation television and cinema and theatre designer and director, primarily for the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse in Manchester. Purves is a Bri ...
(''Next''), and Nick Park ('' Creature Comforts''), as well as further films by Sproxton and Lord. ''Creature Comforts'' won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1990. In 1980,
Marc Paul Chinoy Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system o ...
directed the 1st feature-length clay animated film, based on the famous '' Pogo'' comic strip. Titled ''I go Pogo''. It was aired a few times on American cable channels but has yet to be commercially released. Primarily clay, some characters required armatures, and walk cycles used pre-sculpted hard bases legs. Stop motion was also used for some shots of the final sequence of the first ''
Terminator Terminator may refer to: Science and technology Genetics * Terminator (genetics), the end of a gene for transcription * Terminator technology, proposed methods for restricting the use of genetically modified plants by causing second generation s ...
'' movie, also for the scenes of the small alien ships in
Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
's ''
Batteries Not Included ''Batteries Not Included'' (stylized as ''*batteries not included'') is a 1987 American science fiction comedy film directed by Matthew Robbins about small extraterrestrial living spaceships that save an apartment block under threat from prope ...
'' in 1987, animated by
David W. Allen David W. Allen (October 22, 1944 – August 16, 1999) was an American film and television stop motion model (puppet) animator. Allen provided special effects on such productions as ''The Howling'', '' Twilight Zone: The Movie'', ''Young Sherloc ...
. Allen's stop-motion work can also be seen in such feature films as ''
The Crater Lake Monster ''The Crater Lake Monster'' is a 1977 B-movie horror film directed by William R. Stromberg for Crown International Pictures, and starring Richard Cardella. The storyline revolves around a giant plesiosaur, akin to the Loch Ness Monster, which ...
'' (1977), '' Q - The Winged Serpent'' (1982), '' The Gate'' (1987) and ''Freaked'' (1993). Allen's King Kong Volkswagen commercial from the 1970s is now legendary among model animation enthusiasts. In 1985, Will Vinton and his team released an ambitious feature film in stop motion called " The Adventures Of Mark Twain" based on the life and works of the famous American author. While the film may have been a little sophisticated for young audiences at the time, it got rave reviews from critics and adults in general. Vinton's team also created the Nomes and the Nome King for Disney's " Return to Oz" feature, for which they received an Academy Award Nomination for Special Visual Effects. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Will Vinton became very well known for his commercial work as well with stop-motion campaigns including The California Raisins and
The Noid The Noid is an advertising character for Domino's Pizza created in the 1980s and revived in 2021. Clad in a red, skin-tight, rabbit-eared body suit with a black N inscribed in a white circle on his chest, the Noid was a physical manifestation of ...
. Jiří Barta released his award-winning fantasy film
The Pied Piper The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...
(1986). From 1986 to 1991,
Churchill Films Churchill Films aka Churchill Media was a producer and distributor of direct-to-video/educational films founded by Robert Churchill (1902-) and Sy Wexler (1916–2005) in 1948 as Churchill Wexler Film Productions. They have produced ''The Mouse and ...
produced ''
The Mouse and the Motorcycle ''The Mouse and the Motorcycle'' is a children's novel written by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Louis Darling and published in 1965. It is the first in a trilogy featuring Ralph S. Mouse, a house mouse who can speak to humans (though typically ...
'', ''
Runaway Ralph ''Runaway Ralph'' is the second in a children's novel trilogy that was written by Beverly Cleary. First published in 1970, it is the last book by Cleary that Louis Darling illustrated before his death. The book features the titular character, Ra ...
'', and ''
Ralph S. Mouse ''Ralph S. Mouse'' is the third in a children's novel trilogy that was written by Beverly Cleary. It features Ralph, a mouse with the ability to speak, but only with certain people, who tend to be loners. It was first published in 1982, illustrat ...
'' for ABC television. The shows featured stop-motion characters combined with live action, based on the books of Beverly Cleary. John Clark Matthews was the animation director, with Justin Kohn, Joel Fletcher, and Gail Van Der Merwe providing character animation. The company also produced other films based on children's books. From 1986 to 2000, over 150 five-minute episodes of '' Pingu'', a Swiss children's comedy, were produced by Trickfilmstudio. Aardman Animations' Nick Park became very successful with his short claymation '' Creature Comforts'' in 1989, which had talking animals voicing vox pop interviews. Park then used the same format to produce a series of commercials between 1990 and 1992. The commercials have been credited as having introduced a more "caring" way of advertising in the UK.
Richard Goleszowski Richard Starzak, previously known as Richard "Golly" Goleszowski, is an English animator, screenwriter, and film director. Life and career Starzak was born in Suffolk in 1959 and grew up in Ipswich, attending Northgate Grammar School. After co ...
later directed two 13-episode ''Creature Comforts'' TV series (2003, 2005–2006) and a Christmas special (2005). Also in 1989, Park introduced his very popular clay characters Wallace and Gromit in ''
A Grand Day Out ''A Grand Day Out with Wallace and Gromit'', later marketed as ''A Grand Day Out'', is a 1989 British stop-motion animated short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature fil ...
''. Three more short films and one feature film and many TV adaptions and spin-offs would follow. Among many other awards, Park won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by- ...
for the feature-length outing '' Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit''. Park also worked on the '' Chicken Run'' movie, which was another film from Aardman Animations.


1990s

In 1992, Trey Parker and Matt Stone made '' The Spirit of Christmas (short film)'', a short cutout animated student film made with construction paper. In 1995 they made a second short with the same titled, commissioned as a Christmas greeting by Fox Broadcasting Company executive
Brian Graden Brian Graden (born March 23, 1963) is an American television executive and founder and CEO of Emmy-winning Brian Graden Media, founded in 2013. Its series include ''Create Together'' (Emmy winner), ''Escape the Night, HitRECord on TV'' (Emmy winne ...
. The concepts and characters were further developed into the TV hit series ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'' (since 1997). Except for the pilot, all animation has been created on computers in the same style. '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, was one of the more widely released stop-motion features and become the highest grossing stop-motion animated movie of its time, grossing over $50 million domestic. Henry Selick also went on to direct '' James and the Giant Peach'' and '' Coraline'', and Tim Burton went on to direct '' Corpse Bride'' and '' Frankenweenie''. The stop-motion feature '' The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb'' was released in 1993. In November 1998, the first episode of Bob the Builder released on BBC. Bob the Builder was a popular British stop-motion television series created by Keith Chapman & produced and owned by HIT Entertainment. In 1999, Will Vinton launched the first US prime-time stop-motion television series called '' The PJs'', co-created by actor-comedian
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
. The Emmy-winning sitcom aired on Fox for two seasons, then moved to the WB for an additional season. Vinton launched another series, '' Gary & Mike'', for UPN in 2001. In 1999, Tsuneo Gōda directed 30-second sketches of the character
Domo Domo may refer to: * Domo (company), American software company which specializes in business intelligence software * Domo (NHK), the mascot of Japan's NHK television station ** '' Domo TV'', a television series featuring NHK's character * Domo (c ...
. The shorts, animated by stop-motion studio Dwarf, are currently still produced in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and have received universal critical acclaim from fans and critics. Gōda also directed the stop-motion movie series ''Komaneko'' in 2004.


21st century

The BBC commissioned thirteen episodes of stop frame animated ''
Summerton Mill ''Summerton Mill'' is a British children's television series created by Pete Bryden and Ed Cookson. It was first shown on the CBeebies channel in 2005 as a segment of the BBC's Tikkabilla. It has subsequently been repeated both within Tikkabill ...
'' in 2004 as inserts into their flagship pre-school program, ''
Tikkabilla ''Tikkabilla'' is a UK children's television programme, shown on CBeebies. The programme aims to educate pre-school children in an entertaining manner. The title "Tikkabilla" comes from the Hindi word meaning " Hopscotch", a popular children's g ...
''. Created and produced by Pete Bryden and Ed Cookson, the series was then given its own slot on BBC1 and BBC2 and has been broadcast extensively around the world. Other notable stop-motion feature films released since 2000 include '' Fantastic Mr. Fox'' (2009) '' $9.99'' (2009), '' Anomalisa'' (2015), and '' Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio'' (2022). In 2003, the pilot film for the series ''
Curucuru and Friends ''Curucuru and Friends'' (; also known as ''Tales of Greenery'' or ''The Family of Greenwood'' ()) is a 2006 stop motion series animated by Ffango Entertoyment (Now Comma Studios), primarily aimed for preschoolers. It is officially Ffango's first ...
'', produced by Korean studio Ffango Entertoyment is greenlighted into a children's animated series in 2004 after an approval with the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency. It was aired in KBS1 on November 24, 2006, and won the 13th Korean Animation Awards in 2007 for Best Animation. Ffango Entertoyment also worked with
Frontier Works is a Japanese company specializing in the creation and distribution of media related to anime, such as producing OVAs, radio dramas, drama CDs, anime soundtracks, or other related products. The company was established in August 1990. Projects i ...
in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to produce the 2010 film remake of '' Cheburashka''. Since 2005, ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writers, ...
'' has mostly utilized stop-motion animation, using custom made action figures and other toys as principal characters. Since 2009, Laika, the stop-motion successor to
Will Vinton Studios William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his work ...
, has released five feature films, which have collectively grossed over $400 million. As of 2019, stop motion is thriving even in a filmmaking world dominated by CGI despite the efforts needed by the animators.


List of stop motion artists


List of stop motion films


Variations of stop motion


Stereoscopic stop motion

Stop motion has very rarely been shot in
stereoscopic Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the depth perception, illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stere ...
3D throughout film history. The first 3D stop-motion short was ''In Tune With Tomorrow'' (also known as ''Motor Rhythm''), made in 1939 by John Norling. The second stereoscopic stop-motion release was ''The Adventures of Sam Space'' in 1955 by Paul Sprunck. The third and latest stop motion short in stereo 3D was ''The Incredible Invasion of the 20,000 Giant Robots from Outer Space'' in 2000 by Elmer Kaan and Alexander Lentjes. This is also the first ever 3D stereoscopic stop motion and CGI short in the history of film. The first all stop-motion 3D feature is '' Coraline'' (2009), based on
Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...
's best-selling novel and directed by Henry Selick. Another recent example is the
Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
video software which comes with the option for Stop Motion videos. This has been released December 8, 2011 as a 3DS system update. Also, the film '' ParaNorman'' is in 3D stop motion.


Go motion

Another more complicated variation on stop motion is go motion, co-developed by Phil Tippett and first used on the films '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''
Dragonslayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classifica ...
'' (1981), and the ''
RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...
'' films. Go motion involved programming a computer to move parts of a model slightly during each exposure of each frame of film, combined with traditional hand manipulation of the model in between frames, to produce a more realistic motion blurring effect. Tippett also used the process extensively in his 1984 short film ''
Prehistoric Beast ''Prehistoric Beast'' is a ten-minute-long experimental animated film conceived, supervised and directed by Phil Tippett in 1984. This sequence is the first film produced by the Tippett Studio, founded by Tippett. Made with the go motion animati ...
'', a 10 minutes long sequence depicting a herbivorous dinosaur ('' Monoclonius''), being chased by a carnivorous one ('' Tyrannosaurus''). With new footage ''Prehistoric Beast'' became '' Dinosaur!'' in 1985, a full-length dinosaurs documentary hosted by Christopher Reeve. Those Phil Tippett's go motion tests acted as motion models for his first photo-realistic use of computers to depict dinosaurs in ''
Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...
'' in 1993. A low-tech, manual version of this blurring technique was originally pioneered by
Władysław Starewicz Ladislas Starevich (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович Старе́вич, pl, Władysław Starewicz; August 8, 1882 – February 26, 1965) was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first pu ...
in the silent era, and was used in his feature film '' The Tale of the Fox'' (1931).


Comparison to computer-generated imagery

Reasons for using stop motion instead of the more advanced
computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images may ...
(CGI) include the low entry price and the appeal of its distinct look. It is now mostly used in children's programming, in commercials and some comic shows such as ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writers, ...
''. Another merit of stop motion is that it accurately displays real-life textures, while CGI texturing is more artificial and not quite as close to realism. This is appreciated by a number of animation directors, such as Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Wes Anderson, and Travis Knight.


Stop motion in other media

Many young people begin their experiments in movie making with stop motion, thanks to the ease of modern stop-motion software and online video publishing. Many new stop-motion shorts use clay animation into a new form. Singer-songwriter
Oren Lavie Oren Lavie (born June 13, 1976) is an Israeli songwriter, author, theatre and video director. His music video for "Her Morning Elegance" earned a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video" and has become a YouTube hit with o ...
's music video for the song
Her Morning Elegance Oren Lavie (born June 13, 1976) is an Israeli songwriter, author, theatre and video director. His music video for "Her Morning Elegance" earned a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video" and has become a YouTube hit with o ...
was posted on YouTube on January 19, 2009. The video, directed by Lavie and Yuval and Merav Nathan, uses stop motion and has achieved great success with over 25.4 million views, also earning a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video". Stop motion has occasionally been used to create the characters for computer games, as an alternative to CGI. The Virgin Interactive Entertainment Mythos game
Magic and Mayhem ''Magic & Mayhem'' (working title: ''Duel: The Mage Wars''), known in Europe as ''Mana'', is a fantasy/mythology-themed real-time strategy game designed by Julian Gollop and developed by Mythos Games. It was published by Virgin Interactive Entert ...
(1998) featured creatures built by stop-motion specialist Alan Friswell, who made the miniature figures from modelling clay and latex rubber, over armatures of wire and ball-and-socket joints. The models were then animated one frame at a time, and incorporated into the CGI elements of the game through digital photography. "
ClayFighter ''ClayFighter'' is a fighting/beat 'em up series of video games. The series is noted for having character sprites rendered from clay-animated figures, and for having humorous parodies of other fighting games such as ''Street Fighter'' and '' ...
" for the Super NES and
The Neverhood ''The Neverhood'' (released in Japan as ''Klaymen Klaymen: The Mystery of Neverhood'' and referred to in the English version's intro as ''The Neverhood Chronicles'') is a 1996 point-and-click adventure video game developed by The Neverhood, Inc. an ...
for the PC are other examples. Scientists at IBM used a scanning tunneling microscope to single out and move individual atoms which were used to make characters in '' A Boy and His Atom''. This was the tiniest scale stop-motion video made at that time.


See also

*
Still motion Still motion is a method of displaying many images one after another as frames, using the technique of "frame-by-frame", similar to the concept of stop motion. The difference between this and stop motion, however, is that still motion is not a m ...
*
Brickfilm A brickfilm is a film made using Lego bricks, or other similar plastic construction toys. They are usually created using stop motion animation, computer-generated imagery (CGI) or traditional animation and sometimes include live action films fe ...
* Time-lapse photography


References

; Sources ;Bibliography * * * * *


External links

* * an example for an early stop-motion film (1908)
"Hänschens Soldaten"
europeanfilmgateway.eu {{DEFAULTSORT:Stop Motion Animation techniques Articles containing video clips Audiovisual introductions in 1897 Special effects