A TOS Review: Stopmotion Explosion: Animate Anything and Make Movies

Even when Josiah was a little guy, he was creating a scene. I’m not talking about one of “those” scenes. I’d find miniature movie sets all over house.

Nothing in the house was safe from being “hired” as an extra, part of the scenery or even a principle character.

We recently got something pretty exciting in the mail to review. The Stopmotion Explosion: Animate ANYTHING and Make MOVIES  book from Stopmotion Explosion   is all about making Stopmotion movies.

You’ve probably seen a few Stopmotion Movie masterpieces online.

This book gives all those tricks, tips and suggestions needed to make one all your own.

We don’t have all the gnarly equipment, but Josiah found his way using a point and shoot camera and Windows Movie Maker.

The book begins with just a bit of movie making background.

What follows is chapter after chapter of anything and everything you might want to know about making a stopmotion movie.

It is a treasure trove for the curious kid.

From creating a storyline to building sets….they even given instructions on how to build their own armature.  There is even a “how-to” on how to make a character float.

There are the more technical chapters about lighting, animating and video editing.  This part of the book that is intended for the technically inclined youngster (or the mama), but anyone can use it.

When Josiah and I sat down and discussed his plans for his movies (we’ll call it preproduction) he didn’t want to create a story per say.

He wanted a Battle.

And what better characters for a Battle than the Star Wars Chess set he got for Christmas?

The set-up was simple. He used a piece of foam core board (leftover from a Civil War History Project) for his backdrop.

He learned quite a bit with this first project.

For one, it is important that the camera stay stationary. His film didn’t have quite the effect he had hoped it would as a result.

On the other hand, he discovered the wonders of photo editing.

He loved the photo effects he found.

I won’t post all the projects he tinkered with. But. I had to share with you the videos he and his buddy, Corey created.

I will also admit to suggesting (very strongly) that they not crop the pictures.

I LOVE the behind the scenes action that is taking place. It is what it looks like. Some kids in the backyard making a movie. Younger brothers and sisters were roped into holding up backdrops and running errands.

You can check out both films below. 

So ultimately this book is AWESOME. It has been one of the most popular of our review items. I am sure that it will continue to be well-used for days to come.

I do need to say that Josiah is dyslexic and that I helped him navigate the book. I am fairly certain that most kids his age won’t have any difficulty whatsoever. Younger kiddos will need more assistant, but guarantee you that you’ll have a hit on your hands! 

You can connect with Stopmotion Explosion via the following social media outlets. Don't forget to click on the banner below. Some of the reviewers got to review the Stopmotion Explosion Kit.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Stopmotion-Explosion-104732269687187

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/stopmoexplosion @stopmoexplosion