General Principles of Movie-Making

There's more to making an animated movie than just setting a camera up and arbitrarily aiming it down at a table where we move some stuff around frame by frame. We are making movies! We are engaging in one of the greatest forms of expression ever invented! That means we need to understand both aesthetic and technical facets of our endeavor. That's what this section is about.

Aesthetic Concerns

A Quick Guide for Beginners: Movie Aesthetics

Technical Concerns

What Kind of Camera Should I Get?

Flicker

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Animating is just one part of the movie-making process. Most people doing stop-motion animation these days are responsible for all aspects of their production, either by themselves or with a small group of collaborators. Our goal in making movies is, presumably, to engage our audiences. We can do that more effectively by recognizing that there's more to making an animated movie than just setting a camera up and arbitrarily aiming it down at a table upon which we move some stuff around frame by frame. We are making movies! We are engaging in one of the greatest forms of expression ever invented! That means we need to understand both aesthetic and technical facets of our endeavor. That's what this section is about.

Aesthetic Concerns

A Quick Guide for Beginners: Movie Aesthetics

The "Grammar" of Movies

Composition

Editing

Technical Concerns

A Quick Guide for Beginners: Technical Aspects of Movie-Making

Resolution

Frame Rates

Frames Per Second (Temporary Article)

Media: Where Images Are Recorded

Flicker

Workflows

Aspect Ratios

Latitude

Sensitivity

Exposure

Focus

Production Concerns

A Quick Guide for Beginners: Producing Movies

The Solo Movie Maker

Team Movie Making