Stop motion: the technology behind an unexplored universe

Eduard Puertas, co-founder of the animation production company Cytoplasms and director of Kineticarmatures (brand that produces articulated skeletons, rigs, motion control and other professional tools), reveals some of the highlights of the world of stop motion.

The reality is that you could say that my arrival in the world of stop motion It was not planned. Originally, I trained in product design and worked on it for five years: making chairs, perfumes and all kinds of everyday objects. However, at the same time as I was studying my degree, I began to develop a some intrigue to discover how it worked. I did several experiments, I really liked the results and I ended up signing up for a master.

There I met my current partner, Irene Iborra, with whom I made a short film together with other colleagues that worked very well. Little by little we developed more and more projects until we decided to start our own company, Cytoplasms, with which we have been working since 2008. Since that year we have been doing shorts, advertisements, series and now we have a feature film project underway, Olivia and the invisible earthquake, which we hope will come out in the coming years. We are still in the financing phase. We have a couple of grants left to achieve our objectives, but everything indicates that we will achieve get the project forward in international co-production mode and it will be a project super long because of the nature of stop motion.

At the moment, There is very little information available about stop motion. Either you are lucky enough to go to work with someone who knows, or the learning process is a very steep curve. For this reason, a few years ago I decided to launch a YouTube channel to share the knowledge we have been accumulating. The objective of this platform is to disseminate this art that, although it is a minority, we would like to contribute to making it stronger and stronger. And there are many very interesting technological issues when approaching a stop motion project.

See this post on Instagram

A shared post from Cytoplasmas Stop Motion (@citoplasmas_stopmotion)

The three pillars of stop motion

Actually, nowadays, stop motion does not require super expensive technology. The fundamental part is to have a digital camera with video output. Mirrorless cameras are slowly being introduced into the sector, but, in my experience, SLRs are still more reliable.

The next essential component in a computer with Dragonframe software, and capture assistance software super reliable, very intuitive and with many options that is used even in professional Hollywood productions. Basically, it allows you, beyond capturing images, to be able to go checking the ones you have taken before to be able to see in real time if what you are doing is correct or not. You could animate blindly, but with today's quality standards you wouldn't get what people are used to seeing in the world of animation.

The third pillar of stop motion is lightning. There is no selection of specialized equipment in the matter: the cinema standards, usually with LED, and then these solutions are adapted based on the needs of the project. For example, as the sets are smaller, we try to use lights that emit little heat, since the rooms are small and even the characters could deteriorate.

The complexity of the shots

It must be taken into account that what is possibly the greatest challenge of stop motion, leaving aside the artistic level, is the complexity involved in the cinematographic techniques in conjunction with filming times.

In the world of stop motion, any camera movement, how could it be a change of focus, it's much more complicated than in the movies, because you're doing it frame by frame; Furthermore, the increments are so minimal that this simple technique can generate significant challenges. This is added to the problem of the operation of this type of animation, since it still takes us a week to make a 15 second shot. In that time, many things can happen. Even the space temperature variations they can make it physically move items, which makes this change of focus even more complicated. However, despite everything, these camera movements are super attractive. You can't do without them! It would be very interesting if, going forward, the industry could create a system to be able to plan camera movements in 3D and be able to transfer the process to the software so that everything works.

On the other hand, we must take into account the important craft work which usually involves a production of this type. There are not many solutions at the material level. sliders or cranes that allow you to make camera movements at a reasonable price. Either you manufacture them, or the cost of a specialized crane can skyrocket.

Post-production and UHD

Finally, the post-production phase depends largely on the production budget. At an independent level, the process involves capturing with Dragonframe, a first edition through After Effects, a final montage with Adobe Premiere and, if possible, a final image retouch with DaVinci Resolve of Blackmagic Design. From the sound level, we usually hire professionals in the field so that they can work on this entire area: from dubbing, to music, through all the sound effects necessary to bring the pieces to life.

The good news within this entire post-production process is that We are not limited when it comes to working in high resolutions or in standards demanded by the industry. Currently, we capture with our SLRs in 6K: A much higher resolution than what the industry demands, which is usually between the HD and 4K.

This, like so many other lessons from the world of stop motion on all levels, has been taught to us. taught by experience. The first short we created, we recorded it in MiniDV PAL…something that is already surpassed today! Always, as in everything related to the world of audiovisual production, It is necessary to go a little further than necessary so that it lasts longer over time.

Eduard Puertas

Co-founder of the animation production company Cytoplasms and director of Kineticarmatures.

Other articles on Adobe, Blackmagic, Cytoplasms, Dragonframe, Kineticarmatures