Rhythm and Flow - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 126

Fig 9.6 a series of images from “Voyage to the Moon,” from 7 Fragments for Georges Melies. Courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery in New York
and the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg.
more interpretive in nature, there does need to be a driving force to carry the
film along. Once again we turn to the clay painter, Joan Gratz:
“I am interested in creating a 'visual onomatopoeia' in which line, color,
movement, and rhythm create the feeling of a particular experience
without illustrating it.”
The Beat Goes On
Often these alternative stop-motion techniques can be employed in the
marketplace in the world of the music video. Part of the reason that this
formula works is because these photographic stop-motion techniques can be
produced on lower budgets and in shorter time periods. Ultimately, it requires
a great idea, a good piece of music, and sweat equity. These techniques,
especially pixilation, can require a lot of hard physical work, as we discovered.
More important, this technique allows audiences to see artists in the magical
world of animation with a certain rhythm of movement that cannot be
recreated in live action. The Peter Gabriel music video Sledgehammer was an
early example of this approach. There are many more examples of this music
and picture relationship that have been produced in the last twenty years.
The one area that makes pixilation more time consuming is if the filmmaker
decides that the human subject has to lip-sync or mouth the words of the
song. This requires more detailed preparation and production and it can be
difficult to get exacting results. The subtleties and in-between movement of
the human mouth are something we recognize instantly, since we watch each
other speak every day. When it is not done exactly the same way, especially
with the photographic image of a human subject, then it does not sit quite
right. This stylization of animated speaking can be humorous but difficult to
pull off, because the mouth shapes are not exacting and it is difficult to get