Animate with light

Step 3 Trial & error

Stop motion animation involves taking a bunch of still frames and making an image sequence that appears to be moving in real time. Try drawing the outlines of an object or a person, you will get the best results by pointing the LED/flashlight in the direction of the camera lens at all times.

To create the illusion of motion try painting a part of the image at a time until you have a complete drawing. Another technique we used extensively was using people as placeholders (in our case the band members), and having them move slightly for each frame/shot to keep the continuity. If you or someone in your team has a talent for keeping track of where they have been drawing in the previous frames, go ahead and draw it freehand.

Make sure you preview your results every so often by flipping through the images you have shot for a sequence, using your cameras display will be the easiest way of doing it but transferring the images over to a computer and making video sequence will give you a more accurate idea of what the end result will be.

Another thing to try is to make regular time-lapse sequences and spice them up with some light painting.