Stop-Motion Films
By: Ana Simon
Who invented the stop-motion film technique?
Stuart J. Blackton was the first person ever to use the stop-motion technique. When he first began it was because Thomas Eddison, who had just unveiled the vitascope. Eager for good publicity from the news paper Blackton was working for, showed Blackton the vitascope and where he made films. Blackton was so impressed that he and a friend agreed to buy a vitascope and produce Eddison's movies as well as make their own and show them to audiences, and thus the American Vitagraph Company is born.
How are stop-motion films created?
Stop-motion films are usually made by sculpting figures out of clay. When the artist uses the clay method they sculpt what they need and when the need to make something move they move in in small small bits and take a picture each time, when all of the frames are put together this makes it seem as though the figure is moving by itself.
A Few Stop-Motion Directors
Ladislas Starevich
A Russian film maker who has sadly passed away due to old age, he made multiple stop motion films when it was still fairly new to the movie scene. One of the most popular movies he made was "The Tale of the Fox".
Henry Selick
Henry Selick is a modern film artist who has written and directed movies such as "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (he did not write this movie) and "Caroline".
Tim Burton
Tim Burton is a writter and directore of both stop motion and ive action movies, such as "Batman", "The Corpse Bride", and "Alice in Wonderland". He was the one who wrote the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas".
What purpose do stop-motion films serve?
Stop-motion films are usually movies, there are select few, one of these being the British show Wallace & Gromit. This being so they serve the same purpose as the popular live-action film technique, which is to entertain the audience.
The Corpse Bride
A stop motion directed by Tim Burton incorporates death, creepiness, and love following the guide lines of all of his movies that he wrote and directed.
The Tale of the Fox
A movie directed by Ladislas Starevich, one of his earliest masterpieces.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Though it is commonly believed that Tim Burton directed this film though it is untrue, at the time when this was made Mr. Burton was busy directing Batman, but he did in fact write the movie. It was Mr. Henry Selick who directed the movie.