The Multiplane Downshooter - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 106

Fig 7.13 Joanna priestly shooting Candyjam with pieces of candy placed on a glass plate over a drawing. Photo by Joanna Priestly (Priestly
Motion Pictures) © 2011.
approach of these programs have dominated this form of animation for over
a decade in the commercial world, but there are still many “holdouts” who like
to dabble in the “old school” approach to cutouts, like Evan Spiridellis and his
team at JibJab.
Fig 7.14 a shot of animator
Kevin elam at JibJab on their
custom downshooter. Courtesy of
JibJab Media Inc. © 2010.
As you can see, there are many different ways to build or cobble together a
downshooter stand, and many artists put together their own version of this
piece of equipment. Many years ago, when I was working for Art Clokey, the
creator of Gumby, my partner and I took on a job in the evenings. The “clay-
on-glass” technique was required, and I had to put together a stand for this
night-owl production. Figure 7.15 shows the final stand I put together. It is
very rudimentary in construction but solid and still operating 24 years later.