The Multiplane Downshooter - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 91

The Multiplane Downshooter 1

Chapter Outline
A Stand of Your Own..................................................................................... 91
Lighting for the Downshooter ..................................................................... 93
Clay, Sand, and Three-Dimensional Objects .............................................. 97
Cutouts .......................................................................................................... 99
Backgrounds ............................................................................................... 104

A Stand of Your Own
Several elements define the multiplane downshooter. The most distinguishing
factor is that this type of shooting requires an animation stand. Immediately,
you might think that this can be a very expensive proposition. You would be
right if you decided to use a more traditional animation stand like an Oxberry
stand. This is a fairly complex piece of machinery with the capability to make
compound table moves underneath a camera that can crane up and down.
The movement is usually controlled by a computer and requires stepping
motors to move the various parts in small increments. This was the preferred
method of shooting traditional cel or drawn animation.

1 Opening images are the pre-digital studio set-up and the current digital studio set-up of
artist Joan Gratz. Photograph by Joan Gratz, © 2010.