How to Do Stop Motion With DV
DV has made stop motion more accessible and less expensive. While in the past, stop motion was done with shooting each stop frame by frame on film, DV has made it easier and less expensive to bring your stop motion visions to life.
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Things You'll Need
- Digital video camera
- Firewire or USB cable
- Tripod
- Video editing software
- Stop motion puppet, clay or other object for animating
Instructions
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Making Your Stop Motion Film
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1
Sketch out an idea for your stop-motion movie. Your idea doesn't have to be elaborate to begin. Simply give yourself an idea of the positions in which your puppet or object will begin and end for your first attempt.
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2
Position your DV camera on your tripod near your computer. It's good to have a bit of space cleared near your computer so you can move your puppet around without capturing your computer in the frame.
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3
Set up your stop-motion puppet so that it is in the camera's frame.
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4
Connect your camera to your computer. Depending on your camera, you will have the option of connecting your camera via firewire or USB cable. Connect the USB or firewire cable to your camera's port and then find the coordinating port on your computer and connect the other end of the cable to this port. Generally, your computer should recognize your camera once you power it on.
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5
Switch your camera to the "camera" setting. "Playback" will make the editing program and camera search for a tape or file within the camera, which you won't be doing.
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6
Open your video editing program and navigate to its "capture video" function, usually found under the "file" menu. Your software will recognize the camera and show you a live stream of your stop-motion puppets.
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7
Click your software's "Capture Image" function. This will capture the first frame of your stop motion project.
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8
Move your puppets into their next position.
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9
Hit the "capture image" button once again. Continue to move your puppet into the sequenced position and hitting the "capture image" button until you have captured all the frames needed for your stop-motion scene.
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10
Drag all of your captured images in the timeline so they can be edited together to form one cohesive movie.
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11
Arrange your stills in chronological order.
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12
Render your movie to its finished format.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Stop-motion movies can be created by using just about any DV editing software. However, there are several programs on the market made specifically for stop-motion editing. If you're using natural lighting from a nearby window to light your scenes, try to ensure that all your stills are shot close together as the lighting can change, thereby making your scenes appear jerky. The trick to creating a stop-motion movie with an easy flow is to ensure that all your images are set at the lowest duration possible. You can do this by changing the advanced settings on your frame duration within your software to around 10 frames per second.
