Claymation

Ever make a Claymation movie?
You should give it a try. This is a very entertaining way to express your thoughts and feelings (or lack of them) in a very expressive way.

Claymation is a process that allows anyone with a digital camera, and some creativity, to create a movie or video clip in just a matter of minutes. It does not require the high-tech gadgetry that other forms of video require, and it is very entertaining at the same time.

The following is an example of a quick claymation movie that was put together in about 10 minutes to help illustrate the conservation of matter using our old friend Pacman.


To create a quick claymation movie, you need a topic (or if you are slightly insane like me, you just start molding a chunk of clay and see what you get).

You then need to determine how often you want the model to change. This will depend on how smooth you want the finished product to move. My motto is the quicker the better, or is it more is something. Either way you need your clay model to move.

Next set up a camera in a position where it can remain until the picture taking (I think that is the correct technical term) is done.

Begin taking pictures of the clay. Change the model slightly (don't swith from Heidi Klum to Brooke Shields or people will notice) and take another picture. Repeat the process.

There are several no extra-cost programs out there that can then be used to put the pictures together into a sequence. The two most popular for this are iMovie and Movie Maker. These programs come with the operating system which makes them very cost efficient. (I would like to call them free but you are forced to buy either the windows or the mac operating system to get them and we know how cheap those are.) You can also use a free product called Photo Story, Which is something Microsoft gives out for free.

Simply place the photos in the order they were taken and drag in some background music and you are finished. You may also choose to record your own narration and incorporate it into your movie.
Have fun and don't blame me if you don't get any sleep tonight.