Rotating Human Subjects - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 167

I like to shoot this exercise at 15 frames per second and playback at
15 frames per second. That is the same as shooting two frames for every
person in the chair if you were shooting at 30 fps but the process goes
a little faster at 15 fps. So the rotation goes this way: Once the person in
the chair is photographed, he or she carefully gets up and moves to the
front of the line that is “frame right.” Everyone moves back one position
on the right side line, and the person at the end of the frame-right line
moves to the back of the frame-left line. The person at the front of the
frame-left line goes to the desk to control the camera via the computer.
The person who was at the desk, shooting the previous frame, sits in the
chair, and so forth.
This is another example how contrasting visual activity and stationary or
focused elements in the overall frame directs the viewer's eye. Imagine what
the frame looks like with people changing every two frames. It is highly
active, so it becomes very important to find a visual and stable focus for the
audience. Since we have people to animate, we acknowledged in Chapter 8
that the eyes are a natural visual focus point. So the element you want to
match up in registration (by using the onionskin tool) from person to person
is the eyes. When each person sits in the chair, the person behind the camera,
working the computer and software, directs the chair person to move so his
or her eyes line up as closely as possible with the preceding person in the
chair. It is best to line up as much of each person's body (head and shoulders)
as possible, but the eyes are the main focus. Everybody has a different body
shape, so the registration varies person to person. If you are using a projector,
then the person in the chair can see himself or herself on the screen and get
the general lineup of his or her own body, if you project the onionskin image
of the live and previous frames. Then, the director or animator behind the
camera can finesse the chair person's position for a closer registration as the
subject looks directly into the camera.
Now comes the fun part. As you change out the chair person and rotate
the group, have your animated subjects think about an action they want
to carry through from person to person. This is especially important for
the person in the chair. This action could include changing expressions,
blinking eyes, waving a hand, or even some lip sync. Chapter 9 has some
information about breaking down sound. You can record someone saying
something at a rate of 15 frames per second, put that on a timeline with
a sound wave, and break down the dialog frame by frame on a log sheet.
Bring that log sheet to this exercise and the person animating or directing
the person in the chair can help adjust the chair person's mouth to mimic
the words being said. Or, just import that recording into Dragon and, as
you start shooting, line up the poses and actions to the sound wave. The
two rows of people behind the chair, who are constantly rotating, can
discuss some kind of action(s) they want to follow through on, which could
include squatting and standing frame to frame or making a wave pattern