Stop-Motion Tips - See the Blog for links to sample videos.
- Stop-motion video is created by combining a series of still photos and playing them as a video. Objects are moved slightly between images creating the motion. You can create these videos with just a digital camera and Movie Maker or iMovie (set the display time for each snapshot as low as possible), but using these apps make it easier. NOTE: Full motion video plays at about 30 frames per second (fps); professional stop-motion at about 20; 15 fps is good but takes a lot of pictures. Students will get frustrated trying to get that many images and may settle for 5 or 6 per second - that's still a lot of pictures!
- You don't need to move something in every frame, try taking each shot 2 or 3 times. Some apps allow you to duplicate a frame so, if you need more shots to smooth out the motion, you can duplicate some frames.
- Recording your narration before you create the movie will help you time your motion. If you're using Lego figures, try making the hands of the character that is speaking rotate back and forth - moving their heads is too difficult to do and keep the mini fig in it's place.
- Use Youtube, there are tons of how to videos - including how to make things "fly" in stop motion.
Stop Motion Applications
Perhaps the best is Adobe Premier Elements but many of our schools will not invest in this product. Below are some free or low cost alternatives for PC and iOS.
You can make stop motion using just a digital camera and MovieMaker or iMovie. Set your picture display time to 0.375 (or as low as you can). The disadvantage here is that you don't have the onion skin to monitor how much you move your figures.
You can make stop motion using just a digital camera and MovieMaker or iMovie. Set your picture display time to 0.375 (or as low as you can). The disadvantage here is that you don't have the onion skin to monitor how much you move your figures.
Jellycam
Jellycam is a free Adobe Air app. (But PLEASE, consider donating a few $ to help keep the developer happy and willing to continue improving the product. If you are not familiar with Adobe Air, these apps download to your computer - PC or iOS and are of a fairly small file size. Jellycam is a full featured app that includes onion skin (allows you to see your current placement overlaying the last shot) and a timer. The timer allows you to use the app to create timelapse video as well as stop-motion.
You can use your built in webcam but this can be awkward. Jellycam recognizes most external (USB) webcams. You can choose a resolution ratio of 4:3 or widescreen. You can set the video play speed (frames per second).
The older version published the videos as an old form of .flv and YouTube cannot play it. I was able to convert it in ZamZar to an mp4.
You can use your built in webcam but this can be awkward. Jellycam recognizes most external (USB) webcams. You can choose a resolution ratio of 4:3 or widescreen. You can set the video play speed (frames per second).
The older version published the videos as an old form of .flv and YouTube cannot play it. I was able to convert it in ZamZar to an mp4.
iCreate to Educate
I haven't tried this application, you can download SAM animation free from their website. There is also a paid version with many more features. iCreate will also sell you cameras and prop kits. Their site does have some free resources including a rubric and a collection of videos created by students. Check out their free activity guides. iCreate just released their iPad app, MyCreate. Priced at 4.99, it appears to be a kid friendly stop motion app.
iStopMotion - MAC/iPhone/iPad app
This is my preferred app for stop-motion on the iPad. ($9.99) The iPad app can be used in conjunction with a free iPhone app which allows you to set up the iPhone as the camera and use the iPad as the controller. I was unable to use this feature in my school because our wireless security will not allow two devices to access each other. You can also trigger the camera without wiggling the iPad by using the volume control on your iPhone earbuds! iStopMotion includes a time lapse setting; the ability to turn onion skin off or on; grid lines that can be turned on to help line up objects; ability to set fps (default is 12); and ability to set playback at half speed. If you want to add dialogue you'll need to upload it to iMovie (or convert and upload to Movie Maker)You can add a soundtrack from your library; save to camera roll, email the video, or upload to YouTube or Dropbox. It is also available for the MAC ($49.99). This version includes tilt shift but I have not tried it.
STOPMOTIONHD -iPad
Unlike the first two apps, this one does not have onion skin, but you can turn on gridlines. You can use your iPhone earbuds to trigger the camera just like iStopMotion. The best feature of this one is that you can add not only music but also narration. I recently used this to create my first time lapse. I set it to take a picture every 30 seconds while I created a wet felted bowl. I learned that 30 seconds is too long an interval for this process but it was an interesting exercise.
What about Android?
Unfortunately, there aren't as many choices for the Android. The highest rated app I've found on this OS is LapseIt. Primarily a time lapse app, if you change it to manual setting it becomes a very effective stop motion app. It lacks onion skin but has some editing capability. The light version is reasonably full featured but limited to low resolution. The pro version only costs $1.99 so it may be worth it to upgrade. I tried to use this app to create a sample video but it kept crashing. I'm sure the issue was not the site but rather my phone - I was using an original Droid I kept after upgrading to an iPhone last year. BTW, old smartphones are useful for teachers because they still work on wireless networks.