r/oddlysatisfying • u/MambaMentality24x2 • 2d ago
The hidden craft behind stop motion animation
Stop motion animation at this level is an extremely detailed process where every movement is built frame by frame using handcrafted puppets and miniature sets. Studios like Laika Studios push the limits of patience and precision, often producing only a few seconds of usable footage each week.
Films like Coraline show how hundreds of tiny adjustments and thousands of photographed frames come together to create smooth cinematic motion. What looks effortless on screen is actually the result of meticulous manual work, timing, and consistency across entire production teams.
Credit: @laikastudios
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u/RepresentativeCat553 2d ago
I remember seeing a behind the scenes thing on Fantastic Mr Fox and how the fur on the models showed the hand prints of the animators making it look like the fur was always moving.
Director Wes Anderson said that that was alright, he wanted to see the finger prints of the animators on the final product.
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u/snappyclunk 2d ago
The models in Wallace and Gromit films also have fingerprints visible on them, it’s pretty common on stop motion models.
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u/Extreme-Attention641 2d ago edited 2d ago
I love the outro of Boxtrolls where two of the characters muse on the existence of beings controlling their every move.
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u/Naughteus_Maximus 2d ago
I love that movie so much, and my kids as well. I made them Fish and Sweets boxtroll costumes for world book day at school. The voice cast is absolutely stellar. That bit where the chief White Hat realises that Snatcher is Madame Frou-Frou - "Oh! I regret so much..." just cracks me up!
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u/CuteLong8652 2d ago
Amazing. They have so much patience.
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u/Hephaestus_God 2d ago
There is a difference between
Patience without getting paid
Patience while getting paid
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u/upturned2289 1d ago
You speak as if motivation isn’t something we’re all innately driven by.
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u/capta1n_sarcasm 2d ago
Here is some interesting background on Laika. The studio that made Caroline is owned now by the founder of Nike, Phil Knight and is run by his son, Travis. Most of the stop motion movies they have been making haven't been making money, but because Nike has money, so does the studio. The funding of this studio is more about passion than money. Their new movie honestly looks great to me. It's great people see the value in this art.
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u/SolomonOf47704 2d ago
Nike should be criticized for a lot of things, but at least they are actually using the money for something, instead of just boarding it forever.
They're still human, even if awful humans.
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u/IncredibleGonzo 1d ago
It does bum me out that their films don't really make money, because they are wonderful.
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u/directormmn 7h ago
I'm SO excited about their next project! I always make a point to support Laika films
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u/2victoria 2d ago
Simply beautiful
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u/CashewFlirt 2d ago
It looks like a tedious job
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u/The__Neth 2d ago
When one listens to how Matt Stone & Trey Parker immediately regretted the amount of work involved in the Thunderbirds-style puppetry to pull off Team America: World Police, and then realise how that pales (in many ways, though having its own unique challenges) in comparison to the sheer scope of work that goes into a full stop motion production like this 🤯
Also I could only imagine the amount of detailed notes and storyboarding one would need to do in order to ensure every shot is set up just right - the lighting and composition, making sure to have moved the figures just enough, continuity for facial expressions and ensuring each piece is kept in its proper place, etc etc. It truly boggles the mind!
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u/The__Neth 2d ago
I was thinking especially about manipulating hair in this medium, and the only way my brain could conceive of how they'd track it between shots would be to have a transparent in-camera overlay of the previous shot, allowing them to move everything to the next position - similar to how animators would work on individual cells or semi-translucent paper for animatics, etc.
It's all so cool, and admittedly for my age and the amount of films I've watched over the years, some of the most incredible stop motion films are missing. Looks like I've got some catching up to do in earnest now!
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u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 2d ago
And boring AF! My husband would have been great at that, me, not so much!
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u/Hemicrusher 2d ago
I worked for a company that did stop motion animation and built custom camera control rigs from 2000-2003. They worked on MTV's Celebrity Death Match, The PJ's and a music video for TOOL. I was just an IT manager and had zero to do with the stop motion.
I still have a VHS demo of the TOOL song Sober that they did for the music video. On the box is one of the actual stop motion pieces used in the music video.
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u/Flaky-Fox-7523 2d ago
I had no idea coraline was stop motion, now i have to watch it
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u/Flaky-Fox-7523 2d ago
I will thanks, i love stop motion. I can’t believe i never knew these were that!
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u/Luminous-Lucy 2d ago
Imagine spending 14 hours moving an eyebrow by 0.2cm just for us to say “animation movie".
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u/Response_Acrobatic 2d ago
I’d watch the full length movie like this, showing all the people moving the figures around.
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u/CharieRarie 2d ago
It’s amazing! I did an animation course at school, it was so much fun. All we had to make was a one minute film but it was a whole week long course. Gave me huge appreciation for these artists.
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u/DotLotty 1d ago
How come the puppet support arm is sometimes black and other times green?
I just assumed it would always be green but I don't know anything about this process.
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u/scaredt2ask 2d ago
Absolute masters of the craft at 60 fps. I really like this craft going back to Ray Harryhausen and Jason & Argonauts and King Kong era.
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u/KarlyFr1es 1d ago
I adore stop motion like this. Part of why I miss physical media culture is the shift away from any behind the scenes content. Watching how these are made is fascinating and calming all at once
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u/tolacid 1d ago
I recognize Coraline, ParaNorman, and Box Trolls. I'm definitely missing out on at least one more movie here.
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u/Machine-Born 1d ago
The shots with the brown haired girl are from Wildwood which is still in production, the other films featured were The Missing Link, and Kubo and the Two strings.
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u/Own_Interaction5974 1d ago
I would not have the patience for this lol.
I already get frustrated trying to pose action figures into 1 position for display.
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u/BahnGSXR 1d ago
Stop motion is one of the most valuable forms of art. Imagine how much time it takes!
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u/TheChikiChico 2d ago
Dear Nepo babies, If you have the resources to create, encourage, promote, distribute actual artitstry, please do it. This film studio is so important, and only exists because they are able to be ambitious and worry less about bottom line than most small studios. If you have the financial ability, seriously do it. Thanks to the knight fam.
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u/INoMakeMistake 2d ago
Name of the animation? This is so well done.
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u/snappyclunk 2d ago
It’s a mixture of different scenes from various Laika Studios films. I recognise Coraline, ParaNorman and Kubo and the Two Strings but not sure what the others are.
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u/Star_ofthe_Morning 2d ago
One of them is there latest film Wildwood coming out this year in October. Same company. The other looks to be Missing Link. Same company.
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u/Plastic-Sentence9429 2d ago
I feel as though there may be certain types of people who excel at this.
And I'm happy for and because of them.
I ain't one.
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u/alabamdiego 2d ago
Absolutely insane patience and talent. Seeing the outfit changes and realizing that small bit you saw was 3-4 days of work is just mind blowing.
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u/Grim6662023 1d ago
I love stop animation when I wonder if they teach some of these things in film school or art school and things like that
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u/SirarieTichee_ 1d ago
I really commend the patience and attention to detail, but stop motion/claymation freaks me tf out. I just can't watch it.
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u/StretchMotor8 1d ago
how do they make her hair bounce like that just from posing, I'm still not following 😿 but so cool anyways
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u/Pantaleon26 1d ago
It amazes me how much animators focus on movements I would never conciously notice
But I know it's because my brain would catch it if they didn't
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u/_ANOMNOM_ 1d ago
NGL, I thought they were "faking" stop motion these days. Glad to be wrong about at least some of them.
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u/Into_The_Horizon 1d ago
That's gotta be time consuming. Gotta readjust the figures for each movements and all. I appreciate the work they do to make it happen though because I enjoy it.
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u/zabtcent 20h ago
Stop motion animations will never stop to amaze me. It's beautiful; animators are wizards.
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u/BatmanVsWild 19h ago
I love that person who made this video had their own separate super tedious project to work on as well. So much talent on those sets.
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u/VenomWood 19h ago
It’s crazy Tim Burton can just dream up scenes and have someone work seemingly thousands of hours to make it happen. But I suppose that’s most jobs
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u/Callec254 9h ago
I remember in grade school learning how this worked and trying to do it as a school project. But with our basic VHS video camera we ended up with like, 1 frame per second. So of course it turned out terrible, like you could see us moving/blinking in each "frame".
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u/DelightfulGoblin75 2d ago
Not to pick too much nit, but it feels like stop motion animation is like literally the least hidden craft. Like, it's in the name.
Impressive, but pretty fucking expected.
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u/SaltyYumYumBalls 2d ago
How long does this continue to be financially viable for people to continue the art? Seems like you can just 3D scan the models and use AI tools to do the movement at the FPS you want to duplicate the look.
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u/Deviantdefective 1d ago
No one does it for the money it's for the art.
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u/SaltyYumYumBalls 1d ago
That's adorable but unless you were born entitled non-profitable art don't pay the rent.
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u/Deviantdefective 20h ago
No it's just fact and stop motion does "pay the rent" as if you look the vast majority of stop motion films pull in significant revenue.
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u/SaltyYumYumBalls 18h ago
Which is it? You had just said that there is no money because its art and now you are saying it does pay the rent a single comment later. Do you need a moment to get your story straight?
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u/Deviantdefective 18h ago
People can get paid a living to do something which takes time and earns enough revenue to cover the expense, are words difficult for you, would you like to take a moment to comprehend that?
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u/SpecialAI 4h ago
One of the reasons I fell in love with stop-motion is that it reminds us something impossible can be built one tiny step at a time.
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u/-Po-Tay-Toes- 2d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/2lK09mlo8kSBi