Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance

Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance

by Barry C Purves
Released October 2012
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136140617

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Book description

Be inspired by award-winning animator Barry Purves' honest insight into the creative process of making stop motion animations, using his own classic films to illustrate every step along the way. With Barry's enthusiasm for puppets in all their many guises and in-depth interviews from some of the world's other leading practitioners, there is advice, inspiration and entertainment galore in Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance.

And there's more! Many of the artists and craftsmen interviewed have contributed their own specially drawn illustrations - showing their inspirations, heroes and passion for their craft. These beautiful images help make the book a truly personal journey into the heart of the animation industry with broad appeal for anyone with a love of animation.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Full Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Barry J.C. Purves
  7. Principal credits
  8. Stills
  9. Foreword
  10. Introduction
  11. Section 1: Passion
    1. 1 Smoke and Mirrors
      1. The animation trick
      2. Pepper's ghost
    2. 2 Evolving into Stop Motion
      1. Messing with time
      2. Physicality
      3. Texture
    3. 3 Puppets
      1. Response to stop motion
      2. The puppet family
      3. The puppet and puppeteer
    4. 4 Recurring Images
      1. Birds
      2. Swan Lake
      3. Puppets elsewhere
    5. 5 Getting Personal
      1. Early animation
      2. Attempts at acting
  12. Section 2: Process
    1. 6 Ideas and Storytelling
      1. Starting somewhere
      2. A different perspective
      3. Narrative structure and artifice
    2. 7 Shaping Ideas
      1. Next
      2. Screen Play
      3. Rigoletto
      4. Achilles
      5. Gilbert and Sullivan
    3. 8 Different Techniques
      1. Replacement puppets
      2. Pixilation
      3. Cross-over techniques
      4. Cut-outs
      5. Sand
      6. Claymation
      7. Personal approaches
    4. 9 Preparation
      1. Storyboards, animatics, previz
      2. Sets and design
      3. Using the camera
      4. Water
      5. Props
      6. Gilbert and Sullivan — The Very Models
      7. Colour
      8. Costume
      9. Visual concepts
  13. Section 3: Performance
    1. 10 Getting Moving
      1. Being an animator
      2. Film grammar
      3. Acting
      4. Scale
      5. Walking
      6. Body language
      7. Pushing the puppet's laws
      8. Hands-on
    2. 11 On the Set
      1. Securing a puppet
      2. Letting a gesture read
      3. Shape of movements
      4. Physical quirks
      5. Hard things to animate
      6. On the studio floor
    3. 12 Using the Body
      1. Silent comedy and mime
      2. Falls
      3. Jerky movements
      4. The illusion of movement
      5. Dance
      6. The role of puppets
    4. 13 Production
      1. Designing puppets to act
      2. Voices
      3. Eye acting
      4. Shakespeare
      5. Puppets for Screen Play
      6. Puppets for Rigoletto
      7. Staging
      8. Rushes
      9. Editing
      10. Music
      11. Series
      12. Feature films
      13. Framing
    5. 14 Directing
      1. Directors
      2. Directing Gilbert and Sullivan
      3. Favourite films
    6. 15 Widening the Scope
      1. Animation in a bubble
      2. Festivals
      3. Theatre work
      4. Effect on people's lives
      5. Extreme puppets
      6. Transference
    7. 16 Finale
      1. Career
  14. Index

Product information

  • Title: Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance
  • Author(s): Barry C Purves
  • Release date: October 2012
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136140617