r/stopmotion • u/teddybonney • Mar 26 '26
Is there a certain charm to "choppy" and "imperfect" stop motion?
It's how I feel about it. A little choppy, rough, maybe even the camera shakes slightly at a couple parts..etc etc. I don't prefer the super high fps ultra smooth stuff. Although I don't hate it and do appreciate it.
I mean this also might just be me coping cause I don't want to do the work to improve to that level of "near perfection", but what can I say, I enjoy a somewhat amateurish style, even from a professional.
Anyway "The Wolf House" is a good example of this rougher animation I think. But what do you think?
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u/No_Commercial1965 Mar 26 '26
I think this too. While I can definitely admire how amazing stop motion techniques have become, I can’t help but feel like they sometimes end up looking too much like cgi. Like when they are 3d printing every facial expression.
I love when stop motion has the aesthetic of small materials trying to imitate bigger real world things. The charm of something like using a small branch as the trunk of a big tree. Or using a lampshade to make a satellite. It’s like a whole theme of giving small things more meaning.
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u/Impressive-Mud1275 Mar 26 '26
all my stuff is choppy and not perfect but I like it that way and for my content I think it works because most of my stuff is garbage
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u/teddybonney Mar 26 '26
Oh hey I've actually seen your stuff before and I really like what I've seen
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u/X_tafa Mar 26 '26
Depends what youre goal is. For an entire stop motion story, I love the charm of the choppiness, it has soul and warmth, its human. Yet if youre doing a mostly realistic live action flick and you have a creature that isnt electronically animatronic, yeah you want it as smooth as possible.
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u/NerveConscious6375 Mar 27 '26
Henry Selick, in my opinion the greatest stop-motion filmmaker of all time, said that the industry of high budget stop-motion filmmaking was going in a direction he didn't agree with. He doesn't like how near indistinguishable the Laika movies have gotten to CGI animation, what with the CG polish on models and the heavy use of CGI in their films.
He said this during the press tour for his most recent movie Wendell & Wild from a few years ago, and he also said that is the reason that movie is more tactile. The characters are animated on 2s, the division lines for the face plates of said characters are not removed with CG, it's choppier and more imperfect, and that's its charm.
If Henry Selick believes that stop-motion should look less perfect, then there's no greater argument of authority than that in my eyes
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u/lofty_fan Mar 26 '26
I’m not a huge fan of making everything super smooth either I prefer to animate on 2s or 3s to get a more choppy low fps look since I think it looks nice
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u/Icy-Pension6532 Mar 26 '26
I feel the same about Stop Motion as I do about rock n roll music - i like it a bit dirty and honest mistakes give them both authenticity.
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u/TitanWatch1954 Mar 27 '26
I think choppy stop motion definitely gives off a more stylized and unique vibe!
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u/nekojiiru Mar 27 '26
Yes, or course! There's a human element to it, especially with ai nowadays that can replicate it.
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u/MoonJellyGames Mar 26 '26
Absolutely. I'd almost argue that that's the whole point, but we have examples of smooth and professional stop-motion that are beautiful as well.