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Stop motion animation is a fascinating and creative way to bring inanimate objects to life. It involves capturing a series of frames with slight variations and then playing them in sequence to create the illusion of movement.
Any kind of object can be animated, but puppets with movable joints (puppet animation) or plasticine figures (clay animation or claymation) are most commonly used. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.
Teaching teenagers this art form can be an exciting and enriching experience, allowing them to explore their imagination, develop patience, and enhance their storytelling abilities.
As part of Artihost Art & Culture Residency project Alena from Belarus was staying for 3 months in Panevėžys, Lithuania to develop a project based on a stop motion / cutout animation technique.
During the first workshops, she and the youngsters stared off with talking about different techniques in animation, sharing experience and knowledge in the field of animation. They brainstormed the idea of common work, talked about the favorite places in the city and and attempted to create first animation puppets.
A stop motion video ”What Panevėžys is dreaming about?”/ Apie ką svajoja Panevėžys?” was developed. The time to present the outcomes arrived.
Alena says “The little things that make up the bigger picture. The day of my stop motion video presentation to the public did not end without the small things. The preparation started early. I with other workers were putting all the furniture, snacks for the guests, art supplies, technical equipment together. I finally could put a side the paper puppets and little peaces and put them together to make collages as a thank you gift to the places that let me into their spaces like home. I was in a rush to make it on time, so many peaces that needed my attention. I was really excited when the people started coming in. The presentation started from me sharing the process and the knowledge about animation, then I dove into the experience that I had in my workshops with teenagers trough my time spent together in Artihost residency. I was pleasantly surprised when participants shared their little joys and expressed their interests that they had during my animation workshop. Little stories that were coming out of them made it all worth it. One girl shared about her surprise about how many parts and shots it takes to make the last video, another participant talked that she enjoyed being voice actor and that she could take long takes without loosing her voice and other person expressed how her dream to become illustrator grew even stronger after the workshops. It was a joy to my ears hearing all of this good response. The moment came and we all had the pleasure to see fruits of our labour. Even though the stop motion video was only 6 minutes the public received it with applause. But that wasn’t the end of all the additional little joys. Afterwards we all enjoyed some tea and snacks and in the meantime I prepared for additional workshop”
Project co-financed by Lithuanian council of Culture.
