Stop-Motion

Stop-motion was invented by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton in 1897 when they made the stop-motion The Humpty Dumpty Circus. Stop-motion is an animation technique where you take photos of an object and move it very slowly to create the illusion of movement when all the photos have been speeded up.

What you need to make a stop-motion is an object you want to look like is moving, a camera and a computer to edit the photos to speed up. This video will teach you the basics on stop-motion and this video will teach you how to make your own stop-motion! Two of the most known examples of stop-motion is Wallace and Gromit and Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of stop-motion?

Advantages:

• You are able to animate inanimate objects
• You can make the animation as long as you want

Disadvantages:

• It can take a very long time to make
• It can be difficult to keep the same lighting and the same exact position the camera is in
  
  

The Flipbook

The first flipbook was invented in 1868 by John Barnes Linnett. The Flipbook is an animation technique that uses a book with a sequence of pictures that create the illusion of movement when the pages of the book are turned quickly. 

This video shows you what a flipbook is and how to use it. This video shows you how to create your own. Some of the most well known flipbooks are the old Disney flipbooks! One of them is the old Mickey Mouse flipbooks and another is of the old Donald Duck flipbooks. 

There are advantages and disadvantages of using the flipbook. 

Advantages:

• You can make your flipbook animation as long as you want as long as you have enough pages.

Disadvantages:

• It can be quite time consuming when making your flipbook.

The Zoetrope

The Zoetrope that you see today was created in the 1860s by William Ensign Lincoln while he was at university.  

The Zoetrope is a cylinder with stationary pictures on the inside along the bottom, just above them are slits to see the pictures. Then you must spin the Zoetrope fast enough, then look through the slits for the animation to work. This is how the Zoetrope worked, and this is how you can create your own.

The most common example of the Zoetrope is of the horse galloping like seen above. Another example of the Zoetrope is of two people running like seen below. 

The advantages and disadvantages of the Zoetrope. 

Advantages: 

• There are some simple versions that can be made.
• It can hold a lot of images compared to the thaumatrope. 

Disadvantages: 

• It can take a lot of resources to make and it can be difficult to make due to the moving parts.
• It requires some artistic ability for the animation to work well. 

The Thaumatrope

The Thaumatrope was invented in London 1824 by John Ayrton Paris. The thaumatrope is a paper disk with pictures on each side of it and is attached to two pieces of string as seen in the picture below.

In order for the thaumatrope to work you need to twirl the strings in between your fingers really quickly. This video shows how to use the Thaumatrope. This video shows you how to create your own simple Thaumatrope.
There are two most known examples of the Thaumatrope. One example is the where the disk has a picture of a bird on one side of the disk, and on the other a cage. Another example has a bare tree on one side and on the other it has the leaves.

There are some advantages and disadvantages of using the Thaumatrope.

Advantages:

• The Thaumatrope is very cheap to make
• The Thaumatrope is very simple to make and isn’t very complicated 

Disadvantages:

• In order for the Thaumatrope allusion to work properly, it’ll require some artistic skill
• The Thaumatrope is a little too simple. It’s impossible for there to be more than two pictures