So, in the recent TTV podcasts there have been some interesting discussions about stop motion as a medium.
There’s no denying that it’s overabundant and often low quality, but it is perhaps the most accessible of the mediums to express your bionicle story in video format. Anyone with a camera and a set can do it, and that is perhaps the reason it’s so widespread.
Personally, I really enjoy stop motion. I’m horrible at it, despite having tried on and off for years now, but I still enjoy making it. Even more, I enjoy watching other people’s work, assuming it’s not too bad. But then again, I’ve been around on “biotube” forever and have nostalgia-jaded appreciation for it.
Of course, it’s always great to see some top tier cinematic stop motion too, like this:
(not the first in its series, but still pretty cool stuff. I recommend watching the other episode)
So what are your thoughts on stop motion as a medium for Bionicle film making?
I think stopmotion is relatively available to whoever wants to make Bionicle movies, or anything really, as long as they have objects they can use. It can be painful to watch the really bad stuff, but for the most part I haven’t run across anything terrible. Waste Disposal is nice I agree.
It’s very time consuming to make actual good ones. Often taking 20 min or more to shoot one or two short scenes. Especially if you only have an ipad to take pics
I made some before, and would love to make more, but I just don’t have the time. And the likelihood for it to attain more than 100 views is slim, when taking into account the ocean of stopmotion films on Youtube. I don’t want to put in so much effort into something that would barely be seen.
I’ll definitely agree that most of it is garbage–mainly, because so many kids make them for fun and throw them out on YouTube, and just bogged it down with a bunch of poorly-made videos.
Waste Disposal shouldn’t even be thrown in with the rest of this group–that is a work of art, an actual film that stands above anything else BIONICLE fans have made.
To be honest, Waste Disposal shouldn’t be considered a “BIONICLE” stop motion. It’s essentially its own universe, with its own characters and settings. It’s really just an amazing film that uses BIONICLE pieces to tell the story, but it shouldn’t even be thrown in this topic.
I want to make Bionicle stopmotion, but I never have, because I’m not able to produce it with sufficient quality. If I can’t make it good, I won’t make it at all. Which is a shame, really.
I’ve been planning to do a stopmotion piece for a long time, after having dabbled with “eh” success. I think it is a great form of film, and defiantly the most accessible and easy to learn form of animation. That said, it is also incredibly difficult to do well. But like any art form, it has its place.
