*Class set do not mark on this sheet or allow it to leave the classroom.
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History of Clay Animation
Clay Animation isn't really a new technique at all. Who doesn't remember Gumby and Pokey? Technically, clay animation began a short time after the invention of a clay-like substance called plasticine. Plasticine was invented in 1897, and one of the first actual films to use clay was in 1902 using clay for lightning sculpting. This was one of the first steps for clay animation, but it took six more years to make a film that used clay animated sculptures. This happened in 1908 when A Sculptor's Welsh Rarebit Nightmare was released in February.
From that time period, many men and women did obscure work with clay animation. It just wasn't a very popular technique then. For almost 70 years, it remained that way. It wasn't until the mid to late '80's that this wonderful technique began to turn into the large-scale phenomenon that it is today. Perhaps one of the best and memorable things that happened in clay animation was Art Pokey's creation of Gumby. He was one of the first superstars to be made out of clay. Even now, people still can't seem to get enough of him. He is a true legend that just keeps reincarnating. He really makes up a large part of clay animation's history.
Now that there is so much technology available, clay animation has really been made much simpler to do and accomplish than it was in it's humble beginnings. You can see more about that on our "So . . ." page. We also recommend that you check out the rest of the pages in the Past, Present, and Future Section. There you'll find a lot more information all about clay animation. :-)
CLAY KINGS: WILL VINTON STUDIOS
When Will Vinton began clay animating, we doubt he knew how he would end up. He first began making independent films at Berkeley in 1966. He is a big part of clay animation's history, considering some of the things he and his studio have accomplished. From Closed Mondays, one of this very first film collaborations that also won him an Oscar in 1974, to the recent The Adventures of Mark Twain, this man has done it all. His studio filmography is amazing. You may know him and his studio best by what might be their most popular creations: those hard-partying California Raisins.
In 1987, Will Vinton made a documentary explaining the process of clay animation. It was titled Claymation, and it became Vinton Studio's registered trademark. He definitely pioneered many of the techniques used by clay animators today and this was the first film ever made explaining the process of clay animation.
According to the man himself, "any school kid can do it and have wonderful results." Well . . . almost. You see, to obtain that raisin-quality status, the animators at the studio may reshape a character up to 1,440 times in only one minute. That's right, math fans. Each second of film consists of 24 different frames of film. Three seconds of animation for most is considered a 'good day.'
Even though Vinton has received numerous international awards ("we stopped counting around 350") and critical acclaim, not until recently have any of his rewards been monetary. It may have taken a long time for his work to pay off (literally) but the world of clay animation is in tremendous debt to him. His work has done unbelievably good things for clay animation. Will Vinton currently continues to live in Portland, Oregon (his design studio is located there) with his wife and their three children.
Current Clay: Wallace and Gromit
Wallace: a crackpot, cheese-nibbling inventor.
Gromit: trusted friend of Wallace (a dog who is a lot smarter than his owner).
Together: Wallace and Gromit, the Oscar-winning (and many other awards) pair, was created by Nick Park.
The dynamic duo of Wallace and Gromit has thrilled many with their exciting adventures. Whether traveling to the moon to load up on cheese or saving the crown jewels from an expert thief penguin, Wallace and Gromit always keep their audience wanting more. As a direct result of their popularity, Wallace and Gromit have become idols to the young &endash; as well as the young at heart.
Nick Park, creator of these two adorable creatures, is world renown for his expertise in clay animation. He began clay animating at a very young age and has worked his way up slowly to his professional status. While working at Aardman Animations, his unique characters have appeared in three short films, "A Grand Day Out " (1992), "The Wrong Trousers" (1993), and "A Close Shave" (1995). Each of his Wallace & Gromit films has won him an Academy Award.
It seems to be that after all of his time spent on these two, Park may take some time off from Wallace & Gromit to work on some other projects. Still, there is still rumor that there may be a new Wallace & Gromit film in the works sometime in the near future. As for now, we can only anticipate and hope this rumor is actually truth.
GETTING STARTED IN CLAY ANIMATION (Basics Page)
This page is going to show you the basics of clay animation. Just scroll down for an overview, or click on one of the topics to go directly to a specific area. Also check out the "TryThis" page for his advice about clay animating and our "In Detail" page, which is full of tips and tricks for when you get the hang of it.
Where To Start
Clay animation, clay animation, where to start? Well, to begin with, you need to find your imagination. Next you must organize. Then begin the fun! Are you ready for the ride of your life? I sure hope so because here we go!
Click here to see a brief clip of an animation movie. This one illustrates what is required for a good clay animation movie.
Preparation
First, you should come up with an idea for a character, props, and a background. With this information, come up with a storyboard for the idea to your movie. Your storyboard should include the basic layout of what you want to happen in your movie. Most importantly, USE YOUR IMAGINATION!! (You know, that thing that comes up with interesting and fun ideas that make everything better than it would have been if you hadn't used it.) After creating your character in your mind, start picking out your weapons (tools) and your colors and organize them as best you can, by putting them in order of use.
This is an example of what a storyboard is and what it looks like.Creating Your Character
Start developing your character with the clay you have, by forming the clay into shapes that look like the character you created in your mind. Start with basic shapes and eventually work your way to the more difficult details, such as: eye colors, teeth and mouth shapes, hair shapes, and finger and toe shapes. Soon your character will start to form and become alive before your eyes. Keep adding and adding and sculpting and sculpting and soon you can begin the process of shooting your movie.
Props and Backround Settings
The props and background part of clay animation is probably the second most improtant thing. It should be colorful and detailed. The props you use should look good with the character and the background should be the setting of your character (where you want your character to be). How you want your character to appear depends completely on its surroundings. For example, if you want your character to stand out a lot, don't make the background full of bright colors and too many scenes. If you don't want to make your character stand out then you need to use overpowering colors and many scenes and images.
ColorWhen dealing with colors you need to use contrast. Don't make the character the same color as the background or the character will never be seen. Also, make the clay stand out by using bright and attractive colors instead of dull and ugly colors.
Sound
Sound is also an important part in clay animation. Although this choice is optional, it is a wonderful advantage to a movie. If you do choose to use sound then it should have something to do with the mood of the movie. For example, let's say you were making a scary clay animation movie, you wouldn't want cheery music as the background sound. Or what if you were making a movie about two friends that haven't seen each other in 5 years and they are now reuniting, you wouldn't want a creepy noise in the background, you would want something that makes the moment touching and sad or happy. In other words don't make the sound, sound awful with your movie.
How To Shoot Your CharacterWhen everything is in complete order and you have everything set up and ready to go, you will need to start shooting your mavie. Make sure your props, your background, and your charcter(s) are all in their proper position. Then you will need to have a stop-frame super 8mm or 16 mmcamera . You can also use a digital camera. A digital camera is probably best, because it takes individul shots and is less expensive than the other cameras. Any format that you use, whether it be a 8mm, 16mm, or a digital camera, make sure it has a program with it that allows you to import it into the computer where you can manipulate your single frame pictures, picture by picture. We have found that the easiest way to do this is by using the digital camera and putting the images into a computer program designed for this.
In Detail: Tips & Tricks
(Details Page)
After you have mastered (successfully) the basics of clay animation it is time to get our hands dirty (no pun intended). This page will cover just a few more tips and tricks that will improve the finished product. Don't worry, it shouldn't be too bad. This page follows the same format as the "Basics" page, but with a little more to it. Some of the page headings are the same as the ones on the "Basics" page, but not to worry. Each of the categories give much more detailed information about specific aspects of each category. For more information about how the videos seen throughout this website were completed, check out the "So . . ." page.
Preparation
Preparing to do a clay animation movie may be one of the hardest parts in the entire process. Once you have your story board drawn out and completed along with your tools, the rest of the process is relatively simple. Yet, the tools that you use in your movie can prove to be very important. Now, the word "tools" doesn't necessarily mean whatever you can buy in a local art store. Tools can be whatever you want them to be. Most clay animators find new things to use with each idea. Don't feel limited as to what can be used in clay animation.
Creation of A Character
Once a character has been created and developed, that's all there is to it, right? WRONG? Anyone can 'create' a figure, but it's what you do in your movie that turns that figure into a character and brings it to life. Many different techniques may be used to do this. Try adding movement to a character, or making your character talk. Keep scrolling down to see just how to add presence, personality, and pizzazz to your character.
Got Anything To Say?
What exactly should a character say? Well, anything that it feels like. Animating a character to talk can be very long and boring work. There are different methods and approaches to doing this. For starters, you might just try squishing your characters lips into the position that you want it to be in for each frame. The problem with this is having to constantly resculpt the entire head (it may become disfigured) and if you mess up, you'll have to start over completely. The method found to be most useful is explained more indepthly on the "So . . ." page and is the one that is used for the movies on this website. This method involves creating different mouths for different sounds and simply substituting them in each frame. After you know what you want your character to say, try saying that same thing in real life. For instance, when trying to get the clay figure in our movie to say "Clay Animation," we spent some time saying 'c-c-c-c-c-cl-cl-cl-a-cla-clay-cl- ay-cl-ay.' This way we were able to tell what we wanted the figure's mouth to look like when he said 'clay.' This will help to make the figure's mouth look as realistic as possible when talking.
Click here to see a brief clip of our character talking. To see the movie in its entirety, please return to the home page.
Wires Are Your Friends
Wires? What do you mean, wires? Well, once you start moving characters around in movies, wires will tend to become a required tool. If you plan for your character to move at all, or in any way other than sliding across the floor like Gumby, then something is needed to support all of that clay. Voila! The common answer is wires. By inserting them into the actual clay (e.g. lengthwise across the arm) you will be able to position and maneuver the clay much easier. Another way of making use of wires is for holding up the clay (e.g. a foot is in the air). They are easier to edit out than a finger or some large object. For many of the shots in the movies on this website, the wires were taped to the surface we were shooting on and edited out in post-production. If a character is supposed to walk, get someone else to walk slowly across the room in front of you. Note the body position and the motion. Then, try it using the clay. An objective in clay animation (and in most types of animation) is to make the movements and overall appearance look clean, realistic, and fluid as possible. As you progress in skill, there will be less jerky movements in the clay animation film.
The Look On His Face Says It AllAll right. The character is talking like a real human. Hard part's over. NOPE! Sorry about that.
Talking doesn't mean anything if there is no expression on the face. This includes everything from where the character's eyes are looking to the position of the eyebrows. You can make the eyes move in different directions or make his ears wiggle. This is essential to make the pictures look more realistic.
Sound: Not Just Noise Anymore
On the "Basics" page, sound was discussed as brief background music. This is only one aspect of sound in a clay animation movie. For instance, since the character is doing so much talking (hopefully), that's nothing more than his lips moving. There has to be a source for the voice of the character. What if your character pops open a can of soda? A sound effect would definitely fit in here, and it would add so much more to a movie. How about a dancing ballerina as a character? In this case, you may want to choreograph your character to the movie. This method is more the opposite of using special effects, because the process of using the sound is backwards. Voices are pretty easy. Record a voice into a microphone speaking the script and you're done. Work on the right voice for your character. Experiment using other people to talk, or changing the tone of your voice. Sound effects tend to be a lot of fun. Many computers and movie-editing programs already have sound effects within the program, but sound effects can easily be created on your own. Try using common household items to use sound effects.
Shooting The Movie
Camera Production can be made very simple. One of the most important things in using a camera is becoming familiar with it, especially if you are using a digital camera. Many cameras have different settings for different distances from your figures, lighting, etc. Becoming familiar with these can improve your films with just a switch of a button. Another important aspect is camera angles. Many beginning animators make the mistake of shooting the entire movie from only one angle. Move around taking shots of the same frame from different positions. Integrate these shots into your final movie. Treat the camera as if you were in an actual movie. Use wide-angled shots and different techniques. Try some shots that are seen on television or in the movies.
One Last Word