Step 1. Storyboarding

Before you start taking any photos, you should plan your story, for this we use a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual aid, which helps you plan out how your animation will look before you start shooting it, helping you decide what artwork you’ll need to create to tell your story.

1. Using this Storyboard here, you can either download the image and print it out or draw one yourself using a pencil and a ruler.
2. You first want to draw a picture of all the scenes in your story in the boxes on the storyboard. This will give you a visual idea of what your film might look like when you start to make it.
3. Now you want to write a description of what is happening in each scene. This will help you better describe exactly what will be happening in each scene.
4. Finally, you may want to add a comment about any sound effects or music you want to use in the scene.

Step 2: Creating your characters, backgrounds and props.

1. Once you have your storyboard(s) you can start creating your characters. Depending on which style of animation you choose you may want to be more elaborate. If you choose Cut. Out Animation, for example, you can create separate arms and legs for the characters so you can move each piece individually. Remember, the more elaborate your characters are the harder they will be to animate.
2. For your background, you can use whatever you would like, something as simple as a coloured piece of paper or a drawing you have done. Remember to not make it too elaborate as this could distract from your characters. It is also important to not use a background that is the same colour as your characters as this will make them disappear into the background.
3. Lastly, you can make your props. Again, make sure that don’t overshadow your main characters. The characters are the most important part of your animation.

Step 4: Lighting

In a classroom or home setting, it can be quite difficult to control the lighting, but if you were to close the curtains and turn on the lights in the room this would be more consistent, which is the most important factor

When you are creating your animations it is tempting for you to lean over your work so you can see it properly while working, If you do, this will block the light from the animation. It is better to make sure you are happy with the set up of the characters and background before you take the still shot so you’re able to stand back and keep the lighting at a consistent level.

Step 5a: Shooting

With your capture device on the Cloud Stop Motion website, head into a new project.

Tip: Remember if you’re using a phone to rotate the screen horizontally!

Step 5b

On the settings tab frame rate should be set to 12, this means that for every 1 second of film you need to take 12 individual frames.

Making each movement small will ensure the end result looks smooth and the more frames that create your film the better and longer it will last!

Tip: Don’t worry if you accidentally take a picture of your hand, it happens to everyone!

Step 5c

Press the camera button and fix your camera still in a position and take a photo, the image will appear at the bottom on the timeline.

Congratulations, you’ve taken the first picture of your film!

Step 5d: Onion Skinning

Now, when you move your character you’ll a ghost on the screen! Don’t worry, your device isn’t haunted, this is called onion skinning. This is where the previous shot you took appears like a ‘ghostly’ figure underneath the live camera feed. This means that you’ll know exactly where their character or characters were in the previous shot and move them accordingly. This is very helpful as it means you don’t have to worry if you move a character and forget where they had been, and you can check exactly how much you’re moving the character each time too.

The thing for you to keep in mind when animating is how far they move the character each time. Bigger movements between stills make the film look choppy, whereas smaller movement will give it a more fluid look.

Step 6: Post-Production

Editing

When it comes to editing work the most important thing is that the first take is not the be-all and end-all. If you dislike any of the stills and want to try it again then go for it.

Sound

Adding sound to animation is not a necessity, but it can give your work even more awesome. There are three main categories of sound in animation:

Music – This is the most obvious of sound choices you can make. Adding music to your film can give it more atmosphere and its great for getting across different emotions. A well-placed song or a score that matches with the action of your scene can give your film a big boost.

Atmosphere – This is sound that plays in the background to add atmosphere to your work but doesn’t distract from the main action of the animation. For examples if your animation was beside the seaside you might put sounds of waves under the animation, or if you were in a forest you could add bird sounds to a forest scene. FreeSound is a useful website for free sounds, you will however have to create an account to download them – so get permission from an adult before doing so.

Voice Over – if you want to give your characters voices or narrate your your animation, then you would use a voice over. This could be spoken by yourself or someone else you know recording words for the characters in the animation. Your first step is to write a script so you know what to record, then you can use the built in record feature (red microphone) to record it.

As this is stop motion you would need to make it clear which character is talking, a little bit of movement from the character who is speaking would work in this situation. For example making their head bob, or their arms wave – we move quite a lot when we’re talking.