A Comeback for Stop Motion
Interdisciplinary Experimenting at the Stop Motion Lab
By Arne Hain - Stop Motion, also known as puppet animation, is an old animation technique in which still objects are brought to life by stringing together individual images.
Stop motion has been perceived to be kind of outdated and for commercial purposes it is hardly used nowadays in the film industry.
But in recent years there has been a kind of revival. With movies like The Fantastic Mr. Fox, or Isle of Dogs, it seems that the technology is gaining popularity again. Netflix is also commissioning more and more stop-motion productions.
What is it that makes Stop Motion so special?
It's a technique that makes you feel the people behind the work very strongly. The process is very direct and intuitive, there is little that separates the artist and the result in the form of animation.
You can feel that. Computer animation looks real, but puppet animation feels real.
That's doesn't mean that it's the best of all animation techniques, every technique has something to offer.
Highlights of FMX: Live on Monday, July 20 on fmx.de
A Phantasmagorical Journey with Phil Tippett
Arne Hain in an interview with his mentor and stop-motion legend Phil Tippett - your opportunity to ask Phil your questions.
The Stop Motion Lab - An open space for experimentation
With the Stop Motion Lab we want to revive the technique of puppet animation at Animationsinstitut.
There has always been room for a stop-motion project at the institute, but it required a lot of your own initiative.
With the Stop Motion Lab, we are setting up a workshop room that offers everything you need to get hands-on with stop motion. We want to make it made as easy as possible for students to explore the medium. This room will be open for students of all fields of study.
Stop Motion offers a great starting point for students in the fields of set design, camera and scenic film direction, and we want to encourage interdisciplinary projects.
Until the situation with Covid-19 has improved so that we can use the premises together, the Stop Motion Lab will take place online via Zoom. Every second Thursday we invite filmmakers to talk to us and learn more about the Stop Motion medium together.
