Stop Motion Animation in 2023: An Introductory Guide for Beginners
Understanding Stop Motion Animation
Exploring the Background:
Stop motion animation isn’t new - it’s been around for a long time! Fan-favorites dating back to Wallace and Gromit to more modern takes like Coraline and the Robot Chicken. The visual effect of stop motion is almost like magic - bringing life to inanimate, 3D objects by manipulating them to move around on their own.
Nowadays even business owners, brands, and companies are using stop motion for their advertisements and marketing (like this AMAZING Expedia ad). You can find stop motion animation everywhere now - and it’s easier to start making your own than you think!
The Art of Frame-by-Frame
They key to stop motion animation is understanding that every frame in the animation is a single picture or photo. Just like with 2D animation where artists draw every movement by hand, with stop motion animation 3D objects are moved tiny bits at a time and then strung together into a seamless animation.
Here’s an example of an animation made on the phone with the Life Lapse app that shows the individual photos and the final animation:
Example 1: Avocado Toast
Example 2: Pinecone Transformation
Crafting Engaging Video Content through Animation
Storytelling with Objects:
As with the examples above and our favorite stop motion movies you can see how this animation style is perfect for telling stories. Whether it’s the grand adventure of a group of characters, or the story of a product or a lifestyle. Stop motion animation is the perfect medium to animate with as a beginner because it doesn’t require any other skills (eg. you don’t have to be a talented artist) and you only need minimal, inexpensive equipment and as little as just one piece of animation software (like Life Lapse!).
Here are some other examples of how Life Lapse users have created storytelling moments for their personal projects and businesses:
What is the Life Lapse App and how can I use it for stop motion animation?
Life Lapse Stop Motion Maker is the premier stop motion app, available for both iPhone and Android for FREE. It’s currently rated at 4.8/5 after over 8,000 reviews globally (the highest rating in the app store currently) and it’s trusted by personal users and professional businesses to create all kinds of animation content.
The Life Lapse app is also packed with important features that make animating with stop motion super easy, including (but not limited to!):
A transparent overlay of every frame to help you see exactly where to move each object next.
Gridlines to help align all objects perfectly.
Speed adjustments to make your animations smooth and silky.
Dozens of FREE tutorials and video lessons to teach you how to make beginner or advanced stop motion animations.
The ability to add music and sounds.
Easy downloading, saving, and sharing with friends, family and social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
We do also offer an affordable paid version with advanced controls and editing features to help you when you start moving into professional stop motion animation, or if you just want to make the process even easier.
Empowering Your Marketing with Stop Motion Animation
Marketing in Motion:
So how are businesses using stop motion animation today? Well we showed you an example already on how Expedia and a few others are using stop motion. It all goes back to storytelling.
Stop motion is perfect for setting up and creating magical storytelling videos. See the second product image here to view how Monos Travel uses stop motion to illustrate how their product is used, and how Bath & Body Works uses a super simple approach to communicate the launch date of their fall bakery.
Stop motion animation is so easy to learn and so versatile that literally anyone can get started. Check out a few more examples of brands using stop motion in amazing ways to increase their sales and spread awareness about their products.
Unleash Your Creative Potential:
As mentioned, the possibilities are endless with stop motion. Even with just one set of objects - there are so many ways you can animate and create fun videos. We’ve even shown how you can animate one scene in 12 different ways to highlight the creativity you can unlock once you get started.
If you’re wondering how to get your camera to stay perfectly still without buying a tripod, check out our homemade DIY phone tripod hacks - you probably have everything you need at home already!
If you’re stuck on where to start you can always check out our stop motion animation tutorials. If you want something really beginner here is a list of animation ideas you can try for your very first stop motion video. Just start by opening the Life Lapse Stop Motion app and hit “Create new project” or the “+” sign at the bottom to start trying these out!
Moving left to right. Try animating an object from the left side of the screen to the right. Simply take a photo of the object at the starting position, then move it slightly to the right and take another photo. You’ll be able to see an overlay of your last photo frame each time so you know how far to move it. The smaller the movements the smoother the animation. Repeat this process until you’ve taken a photo of the object at the far right side of the screen!
Spinning objects. Take any household object that can stand on its own and center facing directly at the camera. Take a photo then slightly rotate the object left or right - make sure you don’t bump it too far from it’s spot, you’re only rotating it, not moving it left and right! Use the transparent overlay to help make sure you’re keeping it in place and repeat the process of small rotations and photos until you want up with the object facing the front again. Pro Tip: if you start smaller rotations and then get larger you can make it look like the object is rotating faster and faster!
Zoom in and zoom out. This is similar to the left and right animation, only this time you’re starting with the object far away. Each photo you take will have the object a little bit closer until it’s finally right up near the camera.
Magical toys. If you have a toy or figurine that can move it’s arms and/or legs try having it start in the center of the screen facing the camera. Every photo move an arm or a leg slightly to give it the effect it’s dancing or waving. Make sure to animate and take photos of the limbs back to the starting position so it looks like a full wave.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your First Animation
Getting Started Guide:
Here’s a handy video to help you learn how to make your very first stop motion video with Life Lapse. We’ve also provided some handy tips below if you’re not ready to watch the video just yet!
Preparing Your Set:
As a beginner it’s good to remember that you don’t need a studio to film stop motion! A table or the floor at home is perfectly fine, just be sure to have enough space for the movements you want to make to your objects. The best thing to do is film somewhere that you have consistent lighting so that the lighting and colors in every photo you take remains the same over time.
Capturing and Editing:
Using the transparent overlay in the Life Lapse app will make capturing your animation SUPER easy. Simply take your first photo, then check the screen each time you move your objects and before you take the next photo. You’ll see and overlay of the previous frame to help you decide if you’ve moved your object too much, too little, or just right. This feature will also help you realign your objects in case you accidentally bump your phone out of place.
Here are some tips for capturing movements:
Keep each movement small to help create a smoother animation. Make movements larger if you want them to appear to move faster or “teleport”.
Make sure your camera is set up on a tripod or use any other household object to create your own tripod. This will ensure your animation isn’t choppy.
Be sure to lock exposure, white balance, and focus before you start animating and taking photos. These are three options available in the Life Lapse app that will help maintain the consistency of your set and should be turned on right away.
When it comes to editing it’s entirely up to you! Add filters, music, adjust speed or resize your video as needed. Here are some that we like to use in most videos to help polish every animation:
Increase speed. We almost ALWAYS do this because it turns even beginner animations into professional quality ones by making every movement look super smooth.
Adjust brightness and contrast. This will help in case your lighting isn’t perfect and will apply to your whole video, not just individual photos or frames.
Get Started with Stop Motion Animation and Life Lapse for FREE!
We hope this helps get YOU excited about trying stop motion animation. We are ALWAYS available in case you have any questions on how to use the app, or even if you just want some animation advice. Reach us anytime at support@lifelapseapp.com and find us on Instagram or TikTok under @lifelapse_app.
We have tons of tutorials on our website and in our app, but you can also check out our YouTube where we add new tutorials and exciting updates.
And finally, let’s get started!
1. Life Lapse Stop Motion
Available on: iOS and Android
