THE BEST Stop Motion

Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs is loaded with wonderfully-inventive stop-motion animation. Among the many scenes is one where a pair of hands artfully create a meal of sushi. Now, go inside that scene, created by Andy Biddle and Tony Farquhar-Smith over the course of 32 days.

A knit toy dinosaur sees the love of its life in danger, and will do whatever it takes to save his one and only, regardless of the consequences. Andrew Goldsmith and Bradley Slabe’s stop-motion short is an emotional ride as good as anything from Pixar. Behind the scenes here.

If you haven’t watched the pilot of The Shivering Truth, take a few moments to pop it open in another tab. Then come back and watch this equally engrossing behind the scenes reel that reminds us just how much work goes into producing original stop-motion animation.

Adult Swim and Vernon Chatman’s new stop-motion series is described as an “omnibus of painfully riotous emotional parables dripping from the deepest caverns of your unconscious.” And from what we saw in the first episode, they nailed the description. Premieres 12/9/18.

Animator Lizzy Hobbs’ stop-motion short film pays tribute to the late Amy Johnson, a woman whose day job was working as a typist for a law firm, but whose real claim to fame was a record-breaking 9,500 mile solo flight from England to Australia in 1930.

Animator Chris Thomas spent the last 10 years painstakingly creating what he calls “The World’s First Stop-Frame Animated Western.” While we’re not sure of that claim, what we are sure of is that it’s a one of the most insane things we’ve watched in a long time.

The stop-motion music video for Said the Whale’s pop track features a meticulously planned and edited sequence of 2250 still photos which were sequenced to create the illusion of motion within the frame. It took a team of 6 over 80 hours to put together the clip.

Have you ever had the urge to touch a fire, just to see how it would feel? How about slapping the heck out of a noisy commuter? Film student Anna Mantzaris gives life to those and more sociopathic urges in this darkly comic animated short. Bill Burr would love this.

A comic book superhero springs to life from the flat pages of his book when he sees a damsel in distress (and popping out of dis dress) in this lighthearted, wonderfully-animated stop-motion short film by director Victor Haegelin.

Adrienne Dowling’s animated stop-motion short is a delight, telling the story of a grumpy iceberg inhabitant who catches an unrelenting merman in her net. We couldn’t help but think of The Shape of Water when we watched this. Behind the scenes video here.

Stop-motion animator counter656 presents an unlikely battle between two heroes we never thought would cross paths. Watch as Marvel’s size-shifting Ant-Man takes on TMNT’s purple-bandannaed Donatello in an epic fight that’s just asking for a sequel.

BrickBros Productions is back with another great LEGO stop-motion clip. This time, it’s not their food they’re playing with, but power tools and LEGO lumber. We don’t recommend running your bricks through a table saw.

Ryan Higa knows he can’t dance very well, but that doesn’t stop him from trying. In this clever and complex video, he contorted himself into positions for 4000 still images to produce the illusion of true dance talent via stop-motion. BTS video here.

We’ve learned about the animators and puppet makers behind Wes Anderson’s wonderful Isle of Dogs, now find out how the film’s artists and designers created the numerous and amazing miniature environments, as well as effects like waves, fire, smoke, and fog.

“They’re like little actors who only ever get to play one role…” Ainslie Henderson’s stop-motion short is an exploration of what makes an artist’s mind tick, as he explains his inspiration, and crafts rudimentary, yet highly-expressive characters using found objects.

We are completely entranced by the creativity and imagination of Romain Segaud and the clever story about two sad snails that is poignantly revealed by a vast variety of delicate forest creatures, told in stop motion animation. Vraiment très, très charmant.

If you haven’t seen Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs yet, it’s definitely well worth a watch. In this behind-the-scenes clip, go inside UK-based Arch Model Studio, home to the talented men and women who handcrafted the film’s intricate puppets for over 800 on-screen characters.

Director Kangmin Kim’s stop-motion short film features some truly unique puppets, but despite its playful character design, this is no lighthearted family fare, as Kim attempts to recount a disturbing childhood rite of passage as a dark and surreal animation.

Go behind the scenes with the talented artists behind Wes Anderson’s stop-motion film, Isle of Dogs and see how the puppet makers, set builders, animators, and voice actors come together to bring the characters and story to life from otherwise inanimate objects. More here.

“I’m scared of the monster who’s climbed up the stairs… I’m scared by gelatinous goop in eclairs!” Pete Levin’s fantastic stop-motion short was inspired by the art of Greg “Craola” Simkins, as a boy warns his younger brother about the dangers that lurk in their home.

A brief scene from Wes Anderson’s upcoming stop-motion animated film Isle of Dogs, in which two warring packs of dogs meet up and argue over a bag of trash. Seriously, nobody can do it like Anderson does.

Award-winning animator PES says he had a few Nikon lenses sent to him to “test out,” so he decided to put them to the test in the best way he knew how. This super-short video will have to tide us over until his next big stop-motion masterpiece.

Frank Howarth isn’t just an expert at making things, he’s also proven his filmmaking chops. In this video, he created an elaborate and playful stop-motion short film of his kitchen demolition project – from removing the plates and dishes, to stripping the place bare.

Vanguard Pictures follows up its thrilling stop-motion video Nitro Warriors METAL with with another fun action sequence, as toy race cars find themselves in a face-off against Optimus Prime, who seems to be the bad guy in this storyline. Or are the cars the bad guys?

Counter656’s latest toy figure animation features a brief, but satisfying battle to the death between Arnold’s T-800 and an army of gun-toting plastic foes, not the least of which is Danny Trejo as Machete. We so need to have that action figure now.

It takes a lot of time to carve a pumpkin and make it look good, so we can only imagine how much time the guys behind Oh My Gourd spent working on this animated short, which required carving of hundreds of designs in order to pull off its stop-motion effect. Pumpkin pie, anyone?