Pixilation - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 34

Knowing how to use pixilation, especially with human subjects, can really
complement the emotional or visual storytelling aspect of your filmmaking.
Ultimately, several things are unique to pixilation. Since each frame is taken
one at a time with an indeterminate period of time between frames, you
have the ability to completely rearrange or manipulate your subject matter
and frame. This could come in the form of removing or introducing an object
or person from one frame to the next, capturing a movement or position of
an individual, like a mid-air jump for each frame, or just bringing inanimate
objects to life. These are the same principles that the early trick film artists
utilized, and they are just as effective today. These techniques have a unique
quality when done photographically, eliciting a sense of magic.
Who Is the Director?
When animating a pixilated film, at least two important roles need to be
addressed. One is the person behind the camera, the director, and the other
is the person(s) in front of the camera, the actor. At least one of these people
must have a basic understanding of animation. The principles of “easing” in
and out of movement, accelerated action, secondary motion, anticipation,
squash and stretch, and the effects of momentum add a lot of dynamic
and interest to any scene. To review these principles, let us look at a few
illustrations. When any movement begins, it takes a lot of energy to make an
object break inertia. There is an acceleration of movement frame to frame as
the object (person) gains speed. The opposite is true when an object comes to
a stop. The object decelerates. Think of when you drive a car and how it works.
You step on the accelerator, forcing the tires to start rotating and getting up
to cruise speed, where the tires rotate at an even rate, giving the car an even
speed; then you apply the brakes to slow down the rotation of the tires and
the distance you travel before you come to a complete stop. When the tires
Fig 3.3 the basic physics of any
movement requires ease-in
and ease-out movements with
an accelerated increase and
decrease in the amount of
movement for each frame.