One of the things that I talk about when it comes to design, or any creative endeavor is attention to craft and production value.

I think one of the things that has put me off on so many stop motion pieces lately is, not a lack of production value or craft, but instead an attempt to make it look to analog. The insistence on shaky cam, or slight camera movement. Fake gate weave and frame jitter injected as an attempt to make the piece feel old school. The thing is it’s not necessary. When I see camera movement or jitter, it just makes me think the person that made the stop motion piece wasn’t paying attention to locking down their camera.

The video below by Lucinda Schreiber is a great example of stop motion done right. The animation is fluid and bright. There is no attempt to hide mistakes with post production effects. No shaky cam. No frame jitter. Just nice clean stop motion animation timed perfectly to the soundtrack. Because of this it feels fresh, unlike so many current stop motion works that feel forced. Like stop motion was used because it is the flavor of the month, instead of the correct technique for the spot.

Directed and Animated by Lucinda Schreiber
Producer: Florence Tourbier
E.P: Oliver Lawrance
Post Production: The Gingerbread Man
Art Department: Kevina-Jo Smith
Music: Sonar Music
Track: by the Bumblebeez