How to Make a Homemade Stop Motion Video

Supplies:
Scissors

Fishing line (the length depends on the complexity of your film)

Camera (I used my iPhone camera but any camera will do)

Colored straws

A silver sharpie

Large thick poster boards (at least two of them)

Scotch tape

Duct tape

Two to three (minimum) helpers

A flashlight or any bright light

Star Wars toys (any other toys can work too if a Star Wars stop motion film isn’t what you are going to do)

Editing software (I used Filmora)

Computer

Step 1: Figure Out What You Are Filming

The first step in any film is to decide what you're filming and how to pull it off. I decided to do a Star Wars battle between a TIE Fighter and the Millennium Falcon. I bought the models (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX3PEIT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) off of Amazon and had them shipped to my house within 2-3 days. I then went to Target to get the remaining materials that I didn’t have at home.

Step 2: Building Your Set and Models

Since this is a Star Wars stop motion battle I decided to go with a black background and put silver dots on the poster boards until I was satisfied with it. The number of stars you put in the background is just personal preference so put however many you like. Once that is done duct tape the two or more posters together so it is one big poster. Then I built the TIE Fighter and the Millennium Falcon (the instructions are included).

Step 3: Setting Up Your Filming Area

Once you have finished constructing the background and the ships you can start setting up your filming area. I decided to use my kitchen table because there is a light on top of it but you can really film anywhere. Then get a good amount of fishing line and tie them to your ships so it looks like they are floating. To get a good balance try to put 3-4 strings on each ship. Next, you want to get your colored straws and cut them into 1 ½-2 inch sections to use as the lasers the ships shoot. Then to make the lasers move, push a line of string through the straw until it pokes out the other end and tie the ends together so you can pull it. Make sure you do this twice for the two colored lasers.

Step 4: Taking the Pictures (intro Scenes)

Now the fun part, taking the pictures. Have a partner or somebody in your home on top of the poster to steadily hold the ships in place while you are taking the pictures. I used the burst feature on the iPhone to take the pictures and had a water bottle to use as a place to take the pictures. You will also need a bright light such as a flashlight to illuminate the board and not have the photos dark. Once you have that, you are ready for your opening photos, which will be of the ships coming into view and meeting each other. Make sure to get good pictures because it will really help the finished product in the end.

Step 5: Taking the Pictures (fight Scenes)

The fight scenes were admittedly harder to do. You will need to tape a piece of string on the back of the poster board and have it come to the front to make a horizontal line so the laser can move. Have somebody else pull the string while you are taking the pictures to make it seem like the ship is shooting a laser towards the other ship. Eventually, you will want one ship to prevail and make the other one explode or crash. I used a cutout explosion clip art and fire clip art to show the ship exploding and the fire left over.

Step 6: Editing

This can be easy or hard depending on how you do it. I took the pictures on my phone so I just connected my charger cable to my computer to move all the photos over. If you took the photos on an actual camera just insert the SD card into your computer or have a USB SD converter into your computer. I used the free version of Filmora as an editing software, it is easy to use but the downside is that there will be a watermark on the finished video. Once you have all your photos on your computer and the editing software open, organize the photos into chronological order into a folder and move the said pictures into the software by dragging them into it. Then once you have all your photos on the timeline set them to .01 or .02 seconds to have it as fluid as possible. Now all you need to do is export your video and you are finished.