How to Make a Stop Motion Film Using a Camera Phone

The idea of placing objects in front of a camera and taking picture after picture while slowly and subtly moving the objects, and then flipping through those same images very rapidly in sequence is the basis for all stop motion animation. The beauty is its simplicity. Anyone can create a stop motion movie with a little patience using the same basic process and a camera phone.

Instructions

1. Plan out your movie and choose the objects that you want to animate. Make sure you choose objects that you can easily move between photos without them toppling over or falling mid-picture. Create a background or a set for your stop motion scene. Make paper walls or use cloth to turn your living room into a studio.

2. Check the lighting. Take practice photos with your camera using different light sources and positions before you begin to best light up the scene and make your movie look its best.

3. Prop up your camera phone and secure it so that it doesn't move. You need a very steady camera angle to create stop motion animation. Use tape or a tripod to steady the phone just as you would any other camera. Make sure that it doesn't move even when you push the button to take each picture.

4. Begin taking pictures once you have your scene set and the objects that you are going to move in their places. Take a picture with the phone, and then go and move the object a fraction of an inch on the direction you want it to "travel."

5. Repeat this step over and over again until you're exhausted or until you've finished your scene.

6. Pull the images off of your camera phone and get them onto a computer. This will give you the freedom to edit your stop motion animation and string the images together in sequence. Most DVD and movie editing programs will allow you to import images and string them together. You can control the amount of time in between the images and add sound and titles to your new stop motion animation movie as well.