Evaluation for cut out animation

Cut out animation is a technique for animation, used with cut out pictures from magazines, fabrics, newspapers or even drawings. The process of cut out animation is pretty much simple and easy. By using a camera, taking single shots of your cut outs, and moving them around and taking another shot and so on, putting the shots together then makes it look like they're moving. By using a simple and straight forward software called 'iStopMotion', I achieved this technique. It's also a fun software for people who like creating animation videos.

Terry Gilliam was one of the pioneers for this animation technique. Terry Gilliam was the animator and director of Monty Python which wass extremely popular in the 70's. Monty Python animation consisted of Gilliam’s imaginative mind by using loads of odd pictures, sounds and backgrounds mostly from the Victorian era. Till this day, there are loads of TV shows, films and music videos that still use his technique.

Examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PTDv_szmL0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5r_iOFipfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_kGL3M5Cg

The positive thing about cut out animation is that you can let your imagination run wild and do pretty much anything random and put them together and would still look good. The negative thing about it is that you can't make it appear 2D, with 2D cut out animation; you can see more than one side. As much as the process is easy and simple, it requires a lot of patience, as moving cut outs bit by bit and taking shots in between can be a little irritating.

My cut out animation went well, and I’m happy with it. I tried to throw in random things and make it a little humours. What I would change about my animation is that I'd make it appear smoother together than it is, because now it just looks like several different clips, doesn’t stick to one story line, also, I would change the camera quality to make it look a bit more professional.

Comparing my work to the professional one, I can proudly say that I understand the basic idea of cut out animation and I've stuck to it, although I still need practice sticking to a story line and smoothly putting them together like Terry Gilliam did.