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

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.

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.