Frame-By-Frame Stop Motion: The Guide to Non-Puppet Photographic Animation Techniques

by Tom Gasek

Overview

This third edition of Frame‑by‑Frame Stop Motion is an up‑to‑date review of non‑puppet stop motion techniques. The reader will not only learn how to execute these techniques through descriptive chapters but also experience them with the carefully designed exercises included at the end of this book. There are many other aspects of filmmaking including design, sound, cinematography, lighting, and animation principles that make this a thorough study in non‑puppet stop motion. The animation of people, objects (not designed to be animated), light painting, time‑lapse, and downshooting are popular approaches to animation practice around the globe. This edition includes insights from the author, an experienced stop motion puppet and non‑puppet animator, as well as filmmakers from Japan to Eastern Europe to Argentina and North America. There are many aspects to this edition that should appeal not only to animators but also to photographers, live‑action filmmakers and those interested in expanding their repertoire in the filmmaking arena. Included are examples of filmmaking critiques and a wide variety of applications of photographic animation. Frame‑by‑Frame Stop Motion is the only resource of its kind.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032835396
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	08/04/2025
Edition description:	3rd ed.
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tom Gasek is a Professor Emeritus at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) where he taught in the School of Film and Animation for 19 years. He worked as a professional director and animator for 26 years prior to teaching with animation credits that include Aardman Animations’ The Wrong Trousers and Chicken Run as well as Laika’s Coraline. He operated several small studios of his own including the award‑winning, Sculptoons in San Francisco. Gasek is a Fulbright Specialist and wrote the only book on "non‑puppet stop motion." He just completed his third independent film called 4 @ 60, which includes "non‑puppet" stop motion techniques.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What are the Possibilities?, Chapter 2: Shooting Frame by Frame, Chapter 3: Pixilation, Chapter 4: Time Lapse, Chapter 5: Cinematography, Lighting and Composition, Chapter 6: Objects, People & Places, Chapter 7: The Multi-plane Downshooter, Chapter 8: A Sense of Drama, Chapter 9: Rhythm and Flow, Chapter 10: Post-production Techniques, Chapter 11: Massaging Frames in the Edit, Chapter 12: Exposure to the Market