Take 2,000! How to produce a Clay Animation

Watching clay animation is so much fun. The exaggerated funny facial expressions and grotesque body movements are hilarious. Clay animation films are not only excellent comedies, but also are works of art.

Clay animation is a form of stop motion animation where each animated character or piece is made of malleable clay. All animation, whether placards, motion pictures, or CGI, are illusions. The eye believes that it sees a constant movement. But in fact, the movement is made up of still pictures connected and played in quick succession. The higher the frame rate, the more convincing the illusion.

In clay animation, each character or object is made of sculptured clay and arranged on a set. Each clay sculpture is meticulously prepared. The animation director takes a photograph of the particular arrangement, which is equivalent to one frame of the film. Depending on the movie script, they then change the arrangement of characters, objects, and the set. Each movement should be slight enough to maintain the illusion of continuous movement. This cycle is repeated until the script is finished. Through thorough visual and sound editing, the animators keep the sound in harmony with the movements. The quick succession of frames fools the eye into seeing constant movement.

Clay animation is very difficult to produce. Consistency in the slight movements and lighting must be maintained. Arrangements must not alter the set by bringing in smudges, dirt, hair, dust or other inconsistencies. One second of the film usually requires twelve arrangements. For a full length clay animation (90 minutes), animators would make thousand of arrangements to finish the animation.

Examples of popular clay animations are Chicken Run by Aardman Animations (Britain) and MTV\'s Celebrity Deathmatch by Eric Fogel. Animators sculpt clay to make all the characters, from the fighting celebrities to the audience.