Step 1: Choosing Your Medium

Before you get out your camera, the first stage of the stop motion process is deciding what you're working with. Choose what materials you will be working with, whether it be clay or legos or another medium of your choosing. If you can move it and you can pose it, you can use it.

Step 2: Creating Your Characters

Now that you've chosen what materials you'll use, start crafting your characters! One important thing to note is to make each character sturdy and stable. If a character falls over amidst the filming process, it can cause some serious problems. A common trick to keep characters and props from falling is to add weight to the feet or the bottom of the object. Remember, the more stable a character's balance, the less hassle you'll have down the line.

Step 3: Construct Your Set

Once you have your characters, you'll need to design the scenery that they will be moving around in. You can think of it like a film set, little rooms set up for each scene. One way you can do this is to decorate and design the inside of a cardboard box, creating a miniature room for your animation to take place in. Just remember to leave one side of your set open for the camera to see in. Just like in film, you need that missing 4th wall to serve as the camera viewpoint and the angle for viewers to look in on your animation.

Step 4: Take Your Pictures

This is perhaps the most tedious part of the process. For each moving object or character in the video, you must move them bit by tiny bit and take photos between each movement. Each photo will be a single frame. The smoothest videos require dozens of frames per second, so patience is a necessity.

Step 5: Edit the Final Product

Finally, once you have captured each and every frame, you must use a video editing software to assemble them into a slideshow. I prefer to use Adobe Premiere, but most video editing software can work. Set the duration of each frame to a fraction of a second. Depending on the number of pictures taken for each movement, this number may vary. Adjust as needed until you get a smooth video and then export your final product. Once that's complete, you can sit back and admire your handiwork. Enjoy!