Clay-animation - article about Clay-animation

Clay Animation

Nonetheless, it is good to see that older forms are still in use. In particular, I have always been a fan of stop motion animation. Clay animation is probably my favorite style, but I like anything that is done in stop motion. The show Robot Chicken, the early episodes of South Park, and the experimental Animation that is so frequently shown in festivals all over the world thrill me to no end.

Clay animation, or claymation as it is sometimes known, has a certain whimsical quality that is not easy to duplicate. It can be three-dimensional without looking synthetic, and realistic while obviously made out of clay. Techniques used in puppetry and filmmaking can be combined with an animator's tricks to make something that is more than the sum of its parts. Clay animation objects can morph into each other, eat each other, or slowly dissolve into the background with a plausibility that is hard to match.

One of the great things about clay animation is that anyone can get into it. People make a lot of noise about the ease-of-use of Flash animation, but clay animation is only slightly more difficult. It takes forever – don't be deceived on that point – but the process is pretty simple. All you need is a camera capable of taking one frame at a time and some modeling clay. Today's digital cameras mean that you do not even have to burn film on your first project. You can start off with something simple and build up to more complex projects without worrying about wasting film.

Clay animators all have their own tricks, and the field is definitely not unified. Many Clay animations stick to modeling clay, but others incorporate nuts and bolts, found objects, or even food or animal parts. Some of them can actually be pretty disturbing for kids, so you shouldn't assume that just because something is animated means that your children can watch it. Still, whether you end up liking it or not, you'll probably find it interesting.

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