Making media yourself: Animated films and stop motion

Many children are enthusiastic about cartoons. The great thing is: it doesn’t take much to make your own at home! Smartphone or tablet, construction paper and pens – and the children’s room becomes a movie studio.

Many animated films are based on the stop-motion technique. Similar to flip-books, many individual images, which only differ in detail, are shown in quick succession. This sets the images in motion. The opening and closing credits of “The Sandman” and the stories of “Shaun the Sheep”, for example, are produced using this technique.

Does your child like to draw or do handicrafts – or does he or she prefer to play with Duplo and Lego? Such things can also be used wonderfully for the production of your own first movie. Then you’re ready to go! Let’s go!

Plot of the movie

Every movie needs a good story with a suspenseful arc. Come up with a short plot together with your child. The story should be simple and quick to tell and have a manageable number of characters. Write down the story so that you can keep track of it later when shooting.

Animation apps

You can use a smartphone or tablet with a suitable app for filming. We recommend Stop Motion Studio (Android and iOS; basic version free of charge), InShot (Android and iOS, basic version free of charge) or iStop Motion (iOS; free of charge). The app can be used to take the photos one after the other and automatically create the movie.

Types of animated film

You can create animated films in different ways:

• For the layering trick, draw the figures on paper, cut them out and move them step by step. To ensure that the movement looks fluid later, you should have several pictures of the figures, each of which differs only slightly. You can also use everyday objects such as buttons, paper clips or hair clips in the laying trick. The motifs are placed on a table or the floor and photographed from above. Suitable backgrounds can be created on paper or cardboard.
• Puppets or other figures such as cuddly toys, Lego or Playmobil figures are used for the puppet trick. It is important that the figures remain standing by themselves after being moved so that no hands are visible in the picture. You can also move the figures with a nylon thread, similar to puppet theater.
• The plasticine trick works in a similar way to the puppet trick, except that the figures are made of plasticine or other moldable material. This allows movements and even facial expressions to be altered particularly finely.
• In pixilation, people stand in front of the camera and are also photographed in stop-motion. This creates tricks in which actions appear “impossible”, such as when a person appears to be flying on a broom: For this, every jump is photographed exactly when the feet are in the air. A simple walk is created by taking each small movement as a single image and playing it back one after the other.

You can find more ideas and instructions for different types of animated films in this article from Filmothek NRW.

Filming location

Prepare the filming location well. An animation box , for example, is practical. You can find building instructions at jff.de/kinder. Laying animation is filmed from above, which requires a suitable background – for example, a painted flower meadow. For puppet and clay animation films, filming tends to be done at an angle from above or from the side. Small backdrops made of paper and objects or existing play worlds such as a doll’s house help here. Use a tripod or tablet holder to keep the device stable. Alternatively, you can also use books and other objects to create a stable fixture. It is important that the camera has enough distance so that everything fits into the picture and the figures can be moved easily. Also make sure that the light is even and does not change during filming.

…and action!

A little patience is required when shooting a film, as many photos are needed for a short animated film. The rule of thumb is about eight pictures per second of film. Only change one small thing between the photos. For example, if a Lego figure is waving, move the arm a little further up from picture to picture. You can also make other figures or objects move at the same time.

It works best in a team: one family member takes the photos, another moves the figures. One person keeps an overview: they announce what happens next and make sure that everything is correct. Check the photos regularly directly on the display. And feel free to swap roles from time to time!

Editing and sound

Post-production follows the film shoot. Here you can add titles, texts, sounds, music and effects in the app and bring the movie to life. You can find tips on using royalty-free music here at kindersache.de. You can also delete or move images and adjust the display duration of individual images. If you want the characters to speak, you can record the dialog afterwards with distributed roles.

Roll the movie!

What’s a movie without a premiere? You can also celebrate this with your children – with soda and popcorn in a darkened room. Maybe grandma and grandpa or the neighbor’s kids will be invited. In addition, a publication on a children’s platform such as JUKI on Kindersache is conceivable, but the

And now: have fun trying it out!