Precision Planning

Planning with precision is what separates master storytelling from mediocre storytelling. Although storyboards may seem taxing and could be seen as a waste of time, this foundational work sets the stage for success. Color and experimentation are two core aspects of motion animated storytelling used in motion design to create incredible stop-motion animations.

Animated Storytelling by Liz Blazer explains how color palettes are used to create specific moods, emotions, depict motivations, and progress scenes in a certain way. One specific process Blazer explains is creating a color script. This involves firmly deciding what color will be dominant in your animation, then creating storyboards to define how the color will be used and connect to the overall theme.

After you’ve mapped out your color choices, another suggestion to be mindful of is embracing experimentation. Animation can be thought of as a science experiment because of its approach. Just like science, this process involves tons of trial and error, and as a creator, you are encouraged to experiment, make new discoveries, potentially fail, and try all over again.

The curation and analysis of stop motion animations below examines why each of these are so memorable and how the creators use color or embrace experimentation to create something incredibly unique.

Research

Kidsuper: Everything is Fake Until it’s Real

One of my favorite luxury brands created an innovative idea for a fashion show that was born out of limited opportunities because of the pandemic. Kidsuper is known for being expressive, playful, and very whimsical. When Paris Fashion Week pivoted to being held virtually instead of in-person in 2020 because of the pandemic, the brand went back to their roots in Claymation and stop motion by creating their fashion show with Barbie dolls. Kidsuper embraces Blazer’s important tip on designing for movement by ensuring the still Barbie dolls lined up on both sides to create a fashion show audience doesn’t detract from the runway where various models walk down frame by frame to emulate a traditional fashion show.

Tomosteen: Lego Cheese Burger / Stop Motion Cooking & ASMR

This short animation is incredibly impressive. It follows a narrative structure step by step of how to cook a cheeseburger creatively using LEGO pieces. The creator makes this animation so memorable and captivating by enhancing the story with a very intentional color palette. There are varying saturations and values of specific ingredient colors when assembling the burger. For example, in the animation, there’s a scene cutting iceberg lettuces that turns into individual LEGO pieces, and some of them are dark green, others are a light green, and a handful are white. This is very realistic to the true color of lettuce, which has different saturations and color values.

Netflix: Pokémon Concierge | Making Of | Netflix

This stop motion animation series was released in 2023 and brought a fresh take to an iconic global franchise. The ability to immerse fans in a new world with characters and Pokémon (pocket monster creatures) breathed new life into many that everyone knows and loves. In the video embedded below, the creators of the series explain the importance of experimentation and studying movement. They delve into Psyduck, a specific Pokémon that’s known for being dopey. Because its body is very simple, with short legs and arms that barely reach its belly, its range of movements is very limited. When Psyduck walked or ran in the animated series, they wanted it to still look dopey, so they intentionally added extra pointless movements to capture that emotion.

Kenneth Cheong: Pringles’ Commercial | Stop Motion Animation

This one and a half minute long commercial brings a beloved potato chip brand, Pringles, to life in a dynamic, entertaining way. Simple movements with the pringles can rolling and moving on the ground in various ways, combined with upbeat music hooks a viewer and makes them feel energized, happy, and hungry all at the same time. Limiting the color palette to reflect the six flavors of Pringles being advertised created clear recall and made each scene of this animation unique.

Pes: Game Over

This conceptual animation transforms everyday objects into surreal animations. Pes uses common items like candles and muffins to emulate playing the retro video game Millipede. Through trial and error, there’s a natural blend of creativity with a scientific approach to create this clever, detailed miniature world that recreates the “Game Over” sequence in several retro video games millions of people know and love. This stop motion animation exemplifies the importance of embracing chaos to create magical moments in a story.

Create

Pre-Production Summary Template

Storyboards

This week’s focus was pre-production. Specifically, creating two storyboard ideas for a stop motion animation that’s anywhere from thirty seconds to three minutes long. My first idea is: A Day in the Life at the Smiski Café. Smiskis are small figurines usually found hiding in the background of environments, or in the corners of small spaces. There are lots of different smiskis either colored green or blue, and come in various poses in “blind boxes.” This led to the collectible becoming viral and trendy as a room decoration. I chose this as my first linear story idea because I have several different smiskis and a mini café for them, and I knew I could come up with a clear story that has a beginning, middle, and end. The challenge I’m going to run into is moving these props just slightly enough to create fluid stop motion. There are also no aspects of the smiski that can move; each one is fixed in its own pose. I’m leaning towards this idea and still think it could work with maybe some added narration

The second story idea that’s non-linear is a brief stop motion animation about the tabletop deck-building game, Wingspan. This format follows the book-ending structure, where the story ends exactly where I began. In this case, that will be starting with the game fully set up and ending with the game fully set up. The challenge for this idea is going to be to vary each frame enough. I’m not sure if setting up the game is enough of a story to tell with stop motion. I’m really leaning towards the first day, unless someone can convince me otherwise!

Stop Motion Animation Test Video

Creating a stop motion animation was more challenging than I expected. Moving pieces in varying degrees to create fluid movement was tough. I also realized afterward that the camera and tripod aren’t fully level, as the cafe is slightly crooked.

When I capture all the still images for the full thirty-second animation, I’ll ensure the framing is straight on, have some lights to create consistent lighting, and plan to add a title sequence and some dialogue boxes to fully tell this story.

Works Cited

Blazer, Liz. Animated Storytelling: Simple Steps for Creating Animation & Motion Graphics. Peachpit Press, 2020.