Stop motion videos are one of the most basic ways to film. The principle is simple, capture images of a moving subject and string them together to make a video. This seems like a very easy thing to do on the surface, but making a truly great stop motion video can be a real challenge, and be very tedious. In order to help you in filming your stop motion videos, I have lined up several tips for you.
When taking a stop motion video, you want to keep your camera steady. If you just shoot your stop motion from your own hand, it is very likely that the film will be noticeably shaky and not as professional looking. In order to combat this issue, getting a tripod is a fantastic idea to keep your phone secure. As mentioned previously, tripods can be found for fairly cheap in most stores, such as Amazon.
A good stop motion video is all about seeing your subject change and move, while nothing else changes. When taking a stop motion, sometimes the exposure and focus can change as you’re filming. This can lead to your video looking less natural and professional. In order to combat this, set your camera’s focus and exposure settings to manual, and set them up yourself. This will help your video be smoother in the end.
Make sure when shooting a stop motion video, you shoot in an area where the light is controllable. If you use something simple like sheer daylight in your video, the angle of light might change as you film. In order to combat this, bring equipment in order to make the lighting be the way you want it. Something like a mirror or a large umbrella can really help whenever shooting a stop motion outside since they can easily manipulate sunlight.
Stop motion videos require a significant amount of captures in order to be somewhat lengthy. Make sure to calculate how long you want your video to be before filming if possible, so you know how many captures you will need. For example, if you plan to play your stop motion back at 30 frames per second, and want it to be 10 seconds, you will need 300 shots in order to achieve this. Knowing how many captures you need beforehand can really help eliminate the hassle of not knowing when you have enough captures.
Have you ever made a stop motion video? Of what?