8. Stop Motion Animation Formats

- Claymation (Wallace and Gromit)

Clay animation has been around for as long as the early 1900’s. Clay animation is a type of stop motion animation, an extremely time consuming process where lots of patience is required. The clay is moved, then shot, and the process is repeated, one frame at a time. At a professional standard, like the filming of Wallace and Gromit, they have 24 frames per second. A single frame is a picture, so 24 pictures per second which means it takes an absurd amount of time to film the process. They can get roughly 5 actions done every day. Target audience for claymation is mainly for younger children, ages 4 - 11 would be the more predominant age range. This is because it is a cartoon themed animation, so naturally it appeals to the younger audience.

- Paper Cut Outs (South Park)

Paper Cutout animation is where cutout shapes arranged on a flat surface, and manually moved and repositioned to create animation. Cutouts can be colored paper, white paper with drawings on it, even photographs, and can be completely flat or can sometimes be 3D objects. Many often use cutout animation to make photographs of people and animals to make it seem as if they're talking or moving, an example of this is South Park, they use paper cut outs, along with some computer animation to create their show. When it comes to frames per second, it depends on the level of creation, but at professional standard the fps would be roughly 24. This offers the best visual quality without taking excessive amounts of time to do. The target audience of this method would be mainly children again. This is because of the simplicity of the technique and the way the end product looks.

- Sand (Twinings Advert)

 Sand animation can be in two different forms, one being where the animation is drawn into the sand, and the other where the sand is used to make things and then become animated. So for the first one, you would start with a plain of sand, and start drawing bit by bit, each time taking another picture every time there is a change. In the second form you would create the object, take pictures, then move the object slightly, the same as the other animation techniques. This is one of the most challenging forms of animation and is the rarest out of them all. An example of this is a music video for the song, Eatliz - Lose This Child. This is the second form and took very very long to create. The target audience for this type of animation is adults. This is because it is not a cartoon, therefor not as childish. Also it is much more detailed than the other forms.

- Lego (Death Star Canteen)

Lego animation is making an animated clip using lego pieces. The lego pieces are moved in the same way clay would be in stop motion animation and a shot is taken after each movement. This form of animation is one of the easiest types, however still incredibly challenging to do at a professional level. An example of this is the Death Star Canteen, this is a Star Wars themed animation, made up entirely of lego and sound effects. It is particularly effective because you can see each movement, so it looks extremely smooth and well done. The target audience for this is of a more wide range than other forms of animation, this is because of the memories lots of people can relate with their childhood, so naturally it appeals to those who are older.

- People and Objects (Kindle Adverts)
This form of animation is one of the easiest out of these. A person, and or objects are put in positions and then taken pictures, the same as the other forms, but instead of moving the person, they would move the objects around it to give the illusion of the person moving. To make the person look like he is walking or running, he would lye on his side, and move his legs very slowly, and shot by shot the maker would move the background behind him. Generally, the background is the sun, or trees. By moving these, it makes it look like the person is walking, and has a very nice effect. With this form of animation  there is very little limitation in what you can do, for instance, you could make it look as though someone is flying, or swimming in the ocean. An example is the Amazon Kindle advert, they have several different scenarios, not really linked to the the Kindle itself, but it does reflect a good form of animation. The target audience of this stop animation would probably be those of an older generation because it isn't as childish, as its not cartoon. More themes can be applied that appeal to older people, and the fact that it uses real people is more likely to appeal to older people.



In my animation I am going to be using the form Whiteboard animation. This is suitable for the charity Save the Children because I feel that it suits the target audience more. As whiteboard animation is targeted at adults more because of its lack of cartoon nature and its flexibility. We also think that because it is a much more simple way of animating it will look clean and professional.