THE BEST Stop Motion

Director León Fernández’s incredible stop-motion animated short film is what we long for in filmmaking – creativity on every level – from the character design to the unique story, about a tribe that struggles to survive in a barren world, and the unlikely odyssey of its weakest member.

Frenetic Arts’ documentary takes us inside the mind and the craft of stop-motion animation maestro Phil Tippett, whose work has been seen in movies like Star Wars: A New Hope, Robocop, Jurassic Park, and Starship Troopers, along with his epic passion project Mad God.

Animator Raphael Vangelis pays tribute to all the lost time spent watching spinning circles, hourglasses, beachballs, and progress bars on our computer screens, by replicating the idea with stop-motion animation and 3D printing. The behind the scenes video equally enthralling.

Ru Kuwahata & Max Porter’s Oscar-nominated, stop-motion animated short film explores the bond between a son and his father, in which they built the entirety of their relationship through the fastidious and precise packing of suitcases.

Animator omozoc is back with another silly stop-motion video, starting out with a goofy dance sequence, followed by our protagonist’s gadgets getting sliced into oblivion and cooked up when his mom gets mad at him for making such a ruckus.

(PG-13: Lyrics) In between his professional projects, animator Lawrence Becker of Samplertimes created a series of awesome stop-motion animations of Spider-Man turning in some precisely-choreographed dance moves. The behind-the-scenes clips are worth a watch too.

In this silly stop-motion short by omozoc, a writer struggles with a stuck key on his computer’s keyboard and decides the best course of action is to chop it up and turn the thing into a sandwich. Headphone wearers, get ready for some delightful ASMR clicking sounds.

Godzilla is trying to get some serious crushing, crumbling, and chomping done when he’s interrupted by an obnoxious kid on his smartphone. Alamo Drafthouse offers up this hilarious stop-motion, pre-movie reel created by Cressa Maeve Beer and Phoebe Jane Hart.

After learning that he’s been fired from his job, a man snaps and turns his clothes and office items into sushi. Stop-motion master Omozoc took over 3200 photos and ruined actual clothes and gadgets in this silly animated short film.

Stop-motion animator omozoc created this amusing short film, in which he bakes a delicious looking cake. But this pastry isn’t made from flour and sugar. Nope, this recipe consists almost entirely of rocks. It sure looks yummy, but you might chip a tooth eating a slice.

Restoration already takes a lot of care, time and effort. Hand Tool Rescue did that with a Super Soaker from the 90’s and chronicled the whole thing as a stop-motion film, taking over 4000 photos in the process. We love the bit about the last screw.

Giangrande’s inspiring folk track Free to Roam is complemented beautifully by Gianluca Maruotti’s stop-motion music video. The claymation imagery was created using with the scenes playing out against a flattened backdrop. Be sure to watch the behind the scenes video too.

A fish forms from the plastics ingested by a dead turtle. The master of found object stop-motion PES comes back from a long hiatus to raise awareness about how marine – and human – life are affected by plastic waste.

Stop-motion animator Lawrence Becker of SamplerTimes Studios got his hands on a 40-pound block of sharp cheddar cheese. But rather than getting out the crackers right away, he decided to sculpt a model of one half of the duo of Wallace and Gromit before snacking.

A brief look at the silly sense of humor of Juan Pablo Zaramella, whose upcoming 52-episode TV series Así Son Las Cosas (The Way Things Are) takes us inside the secret lives of everyday objects, brought to life through the magic of stop-motion animation.

Christophe Thockler created this minimal, but nonetheless captivating stop-motion video using 8,500 individual photos of rocks collected from around the world. It serves as the perfect visual for Michna’s warm and inviting EDM track.

Buttered Side Down tries his hand at sculpting clay, but like most of his videos, things quickly run off the rails, and his clay creations end up rebelling against their maker, and eventually getting the upper hand.

Nukazooka presents a fantastic LEGO fan film that’s as good as anything we’ve seen on the big screen. It’s a story of two minifigs attempting to escape their playroom at any cost – even if it means facing down a terrifying furry monster.

A man falls asleep while watching Jurassic World, only to find himself face to face with one of the movie’s dinosaurs. Jurassic Park fan Mason Drumm and his friends spent over 90 hours making this tense stop-motion short film.

Director Eva Cvijanović’s award-winning stop-motion short film offers up a charming tale of a hedgehog who loves his home to no end, and a pack of hostile woodland predators who don’t understand the value of a happy and cozy place to call their own.

Filmmaker Pablo Mengin (aka Megalopolis) created this intense and surreal music video for NYC rapper Bashton by painting 2000+ images over the course of 18 months. Each of the video’s individual frames could serve as a framed work of art all on its own.

Animator Guldies Konst’s latest stop-motion animation was made using 2500 individual still images of painstakingly-shaped Plastilina clay. Combined with the clever use of sound effects, each element of his surreal short film takes on a sense of mass, material, and scale.

Director Brett Foxwell spent 10 years working on this incredible stop-motion film in which inanimate objects work together to bring a biomechanical alien world to life. We can only imagine how much work was involved given the smoothness of each creature’s movements.

(PG-13) “From a seed to war, from meat to love, from indifference to apocalypse. An attempt to capture the world in a nutshell.” Fabio Friedli and YK Animation Studio’s amazing and fast-paced stop-motion animation captures ideas big and small, all in under 5 minutes.

Max Mörtl & Robert Löbel’s short film takes us to a strange island when unusual creatures dwell. The stop-motion and 2D animated clip charmed us with its endearing character design, and David Kamp’s clever sound design brought it all together.

It’s Christmas time, and The Predator has found its way to the North Pole, terrorizing every reindeer and elf that stands in its way. But is Santa gonna just sit there and take it? No way. Sit back and enjoy this new stop-motion holiday classic, courtesy of 20th Century Fox.