What Are the Possibilities? - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 11

Fig 1.12 Dr. John Ott, circa 1950.
around the revealing qualities of time-lapse photography. Called Koyaanisqatsi ,
most of the film was shot in the “four corners” of the western United States and
New York City. The use of time-lapse photography is so effective that clouds can
be seen as rushing currents of water and people traversing streets in New York
look like pulsing blood in the veins of an urban environment.
The perspective of this film is so unlike anything we are used to seeing that
it is easy to understand the message these filmmakers are creating without
a word of dialog or narration. Technically this footage is superior, utilizing
motion-control cameras, varied shutter speeds, natural and artificial light, and
dynamic composition. The sound work of Philip Glass helps place this film
in a category of its own that is unique, beautiful, and powerful. Time-lapse
photography continues to be used in all sorts of commercial and educational
venues. It is an effect that represents the complementary side of high-
speed photography. Instead of slowing down events, it speeds them up and
presents a whole new way of observing any event.
The last alternative stop-motion technique that we cover has many
subcategories of its own. The one element that unifies these various
subcategories is the way they are shot. Materials like sand, beads, candy,
paper, photographs, and an infinite list of objects can be manipulated under
a mounted camera on an animation stand, or downshooter. This is also
referred to as a multiplane animation stand . All these elements can be shot in
a horizontal fashion, but with a downshooter, they are treated like animation
cels or drawings on a traditional animation stand. When shot this way
these objects can be free of the constraints of gravity. The most developed