Objects, People, and Places - Frame-by-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Traditional Animation Techniques - page 82

“Masochists only need apply. It's not for the fainthearted or weak of spirit.
“In all but the wide (full-figure) shots, make sure there are 'rock-solid'
supports/guides/reference points, wherever possible, just beyond the edge
of the frame, from which you can anchor and thus minimise any unwanted
body movement. With regards to breathing, always capture the frame after
breathing out, not in, as varying levels of stress, fatigue, or physical exertion
can cause irregular intakes of air which can cause a 'boiling' of the chest.”
Adam Fisher, an independent animator from Maine, animated himself cutting
his long beard and hair frame by frame as a metaphor for environmental
devastation and overexploitation of natural resources in his 2010 film Timber .
He needed assistance and support in the cutting of his hair while he placed
himself correctly in front of the camera for registration. This took some careful
planning and more careful execution. It took many, many months to grow
his hair and beard and any mistakes in the cutting process could have been
disastrous in the shooting process. This is his description of the process:
“To shoot Timber , I was seated in front of my computer with Framethief
open and a camera pointed at me. Sarah assisted me. I would tell her when
to take frames and when to cut hair. I moved as needed, frame by frame,
and would get into just the right position. Then I would say something
like… 'okay, trim everything above my finger!'
“We shot the sneeze first, with full beard. This gave us a chance to work
out the timing. Once everything else was cut off, we simply repeated
the animation without the beard. When I assembled all the frames, I just
picked a good spot to switch from no beard to full beard!”
FIG 6.1 a sequence of frames from adam Fishers's 2010 film Timber, © 2010.
Objects and people do need to be treated differently to get the best animated
results. In Oren Lavie's music video Her Morning Elegance , animated by Yuval and
Merav Nathan and in the British directorial group Shynola's “Strawberry Swing” for
the band Coldplay, the human subjects were shot lying down on flat surfaces like
a bed or a floor. Chris Martin of Coldplay was shot standing and lying down and