Lights, Camera, Stop Motion Action! Rachel Morgan Explains How

          As mentioned in my Wednesday post, the winner of the A to Z Video Challenge for 2012 is Rachel Morgan, whom many of you know from her blog Rachel Morgan Writes.    Today Rachel is visiting Tossing It Out to allow you to get to know a little more about her.  Since many years ago I used to dabble in making animated films in the old medium of 8 MM film, one of the several questions I put forth to Rachel had to do the her process of making the video that she entered in our contest.  Here she offers a short how-to guide on making a stop motion video.




What is stop motion? 

A dictionary definition for you: a cinematographic technique whereby the camera is repeatedly stopped and started, for example to give animated figures the impression of movement. So if you wanted a video of your toy car driving itself around, you'd take a photo, move the car slighty, take another photo, move the car a little more, take another photo, move the car a little more, take another... etc. It's beyond tedious! But if you've got patience, the effect is worth it.

Why did I use stop motion in my A to Z Challenge video?

Anyone can take a video these days (most cellphones can do it) so it's not really that exciting anymore. I wanted to do something a little different, so I went for stop motion. I've found the idea fascinating since I watched the Wallace and Gromit short films when I was little. Those films would technically be called clay-mation (from clay animation). The characters are made from plasticine modelling clay, and it must be a truly painstaking job to make all the teeny, tiny changes for each frame so that the characters appear to move smoothly.

I'm not quite that skilled yet! The only thing I had to move in my video was my hand, and the movement in each frame was noticeable because I wanted to achieve that jerky "stop motion" feel (and it would have taken way too long if I'd wanted to make the movement any smoother!).




How can you do it?

You need a tripod, a camera and a computer with video editing software. Well, you don't actually need a tripod, but it makes life a whole lot easier (I know, because I've done this without a tripod before!). Computers with Windows should have Windows Movie Maker on them (or you can download it for free), and Apple computers come with iMovie.

1. Set your camera up on your tripod (mine was pointing down onto a table).
2. Arrange your subject in front of the camera (I had pieces of paper with words written on them, plus my hand).
3. Take your first photo.
4. Move the subject slightly (I moved my hand to reveal a letter or two of a word I was covering).
5. Take another photo.
6. Repeat this until you a) reach the end of whatever sequence you've planned, b) get really bored or c) deplete the life of your camera batteries.
7. Open up Windows Movie Maker (or the Apple version, which I've never used) and insert all your photos (in order, obviously).
8. Adjust the length of time each photo is visible for (I used half a second) so that the photos follow on from one another really quickly.
9. Add music, captions and titles if you feel like it.
10. Save the movie.

It really is very easy!


Rachel Morgan is the author of Guardian, the first novelette in the Creepy Hollow series. She was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school children, she writes fiction for young adults. 



         Thank you, Rachel!  As she says here, creating an animated film is fairly easy to do as long as you have the equipment, time, and plenty of patience.  I encourage you to try it yourself if you are interested in video making.   If you create anything you'd like to share with the rest of us, feel free to send it to me and I'll feature it in this blog.


           Be sure to stop by to visit Rachel at Rachel Morgan Writes and don't forget that she has a new book out.   For more information about her book Guardian (Creepy Hollow #1) please visit:
www.rachel-morgan.com
www.creepyhollowbooks.com


           Have you ever dabbled in stop-motion or other experimental types of film making?  Do you have a favorite film that was made using the stop motion technique?   Have you read Guardian yet?


         Just in case you have not yet seen Rachel's A to Z Video here it is again:

Related articles

• Sony's Wes Anderson-directed ad is 'made of imagination' and stop motion animation (theverge.com)
• Where Everyone Is a Winner: A to Z Video Challenge (tossingitout.blogspot.com)
• 'The Duel': An Impressive LEGO Stop Motion Movie (geekologie.com)
• Simon's First Stop-Motion Video (aliedwards.com)
• How to Do Stop Motion on a Budget (wired.com)
• Stop Motion Video (liftedminds.wordpress.com)
• Stop Motion Apps: More Fun Than I Should Be Allowed to Have (iphonelife.com)
• Jaw-dropping HDR Stop motion video (flipflipmeheidi.com)

Where Everyone Is a Winner: A to Z Video Challenge

          If you haven't heard who was the winner of the A to Z Video Challenge yet, I am proud to announce that the winner by popular vote was Rachel Morgan of Rachel Morgan Writes.   Here is the winning video for anyone who has not seen it yet or would like to see it again:



          Rachel's video is indeed a winner as you can see when you watch it.  As her prize she will be featured on various A to Z co-host blogs, which conveniently coincides with the release of her new book Guardian (Creepy Hollow #1).  You will be hearing from Rachel on Tossing It Out this coming Friday.  I'm looking forward to what surprises she will have in store as I asked her more questions than she could answer in one post.   Which ones will she choose to address?   We'll have to find out on Friday when our Video Challenge winner stops by.


         The winning video was chosen by those of you who were kind enough to vote and you are winners as well.   The votes were well distributed among the entrants making the contest a close race.  I want to put out a big thank you to everyone who voted, who tweeted, who posted videos on their sites, and who supported the Video Challenge in some way.  


         And you can continue to support us by posting these videos on your sites, marking them as favorites on YouTube and leaving comments, emailing them to friends, and sending them out on social media outlets.   These videos are commercials for the A to Z Challenge.   With one last week to push the A to Z event let's do it up big and make a media blitz.  You'll be helping the cause of the Challenge and also helping get the talents of the video makers out in the eyes of the world.   You'll be doing something special that will be greatly appreciated.


         Though Rachel is the winner of the contest, in this post I want to recognize the fabulous efforts of the other participants:


            Ron Easton of  Dads Unlimited was the inspiration for the Video Challenge.  He posted a video recap of his 2011 Challenge Reflections back in December that set off an idea alarm in my head.  When I mentioned my thoughts to him about having a contest for people to send in A to Z promo videos he immediately came up with his entry to start the ball rolling.


            Ada Zdanowicz is someone I'll be talking about more in later posts.   She is the designer of the official A to Z logo.  Since I knew that she was also involved in video making, I contacted Ada about making a second video entry and she jumped right on it with her slick creative presentation.  Ada doesn't have a blog but she can be found at her website CollagePodge.com .   


           Nicole Ayers is someone you have seen often on my blogs.  Nicole is a talented writer to whom I have frequently turned for guest posts.   Not only did she assist me in putting together the Video Challenge and offering suggestions about it, she also submitted 3 videos of her own.  A big Bravo! to Nicole who can be found at The Madlab Post.  


         Also I want to thank these others who submitted their wonderfully creative and entertaining videos:






  Marta Szemik                      Marta Szemik's Blog
 Kathleen Medina                  Living 2012
 Dale Smurthwaite                 Smurfin' the Web
 Tracy Jo Blowers                Brand New Day  
 Reka Sang                           A Chronicle of Dreams
  Jocelyn Rish                        Jocelyn Rish
       I am so appreciative of all of the efforts of these bloggers and talented artists.  I hope that my readers will stop by all of their blogs to say hello and follow if you aren't already.   And don't forget to watch their videos if you haven't already.
          After all, the Blogging from A to Z Challenge is all about us--you and me and everyone one else who will be putting forth the April effort and who has already been putting forth the effort to make the April Challenge a big success.  The Challenge is many things and many people and I extend a thanks to all of you.
                 Have you included any of the A to Z videos in your blog posts?  Have you visited the videos directly on YouTube to "Like" them and add your comment?   Have you tweeted or Facebooked any of these videos?    What are some other ways you can suggest to share the videos?