Whiteboard Stop Frame Animation-Report

Create a stop frame animation using a whiteboard that is a demonstration of skill and techniques,
from the perspective of someone that is trying it for the first time, and using this to assess why the art
form is very rare and therefore asking is it accessible to anyone who would want to do it?

I have set out to explore the art form of stop frame animation, specifically whiteboard
animation. Whilst also answering the question of why the art form is rare and therefore is it
accessible to anyone that would want to do it? To complete the project I wanted to make it as
much like someone trying it for the first time would do, I achieved this through using
equipment that I already had at my disposal (Only adding the software to my equipment list)
although due to the nature of the project there are areas where going into a lot more detail
was necessary such as the planning and research. The results have provided significant and
given an insight into the area specified, I can confidently conclude that the art form is indeed
accessible to anyone, however its rarity is most likely due to a lack of motivation to put in the
time and energy required to make a final piece as well as other limiting factors.
With the increasing popularity of homemade animations, stop motion animations in
particular. I wished to learn more about this growing trend and evolve my art style into this
more modern one. As well as this I wanted to find out why whiteboard animation seems to
one of the least popular of the stop motion animation types with Lego being the most
predominant kind
This report will cover the process from research, through planning and making the artefact to
an evaluation of the project and answering the title question. I will also be referring to the title
throughout the report.
Naturally, after choosing my title (Details of this process on my Weebly blog
sfaepq.weebly.com), research was the next task to complete, I gathered a mix of primary
and secondary sources. Virtually all of my primary research came from the video sharing
platform YouTube, where I watched and analysed the animations, or watched tutorial videos
like someone starting for the first time would do. There were enough of these tutorials to give
a beginner enough information to progress, even when the content was a stick man waving
such as in Shaws video [1], noting that one simple basic principle can then be transferred
into a more complicated story. There was no need for research through questionnaires as I
didn't need to cater for a target audience due to the nature of my title. My other primary
research was in the form of emailing creators directly to ask them questions about their
animations and set up, this included the creator of the Marker Maker, Jonny Lawrence [2]
...However none of them replied so this was a fruitless attempt. One of my secondary
sources did contain an email conversation with a creator that covered most of what I was

1 [1] Shaw, Gene. "How to Do Stop Motion on a White Board: Drawing Techniques." YouTube. Ed. Edward Payson.
[2]

EHowArtsAndCrafts, 24 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 July 2015 Lawrence, Jonny. "Stop Motion | Whiteboard Animation: The Marker
Maker." YouTube. Jonny Lawrence, 21 May 2010. Web. 28 July 2015.
[3]

Thomas, Angela, and Nicole Tufano. "Stop Motion Animation." Unknown, 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 29 July 2015.PP 166

asking so it wasn't a complete tragedy! [3] My secondary research came in the 2form of books
and articles, most found using Google Scholar. I did try to find some in my local library and
they had books on more conventional animation types but not stop frame animation. The
other secondary information gathered was from blogs and forums, this was more based on
setup and software so I feel like the research gave me a firm grounding for proceeding with
the project.
Next came the preparation for making the artefact, I had selected a software to use and to
test it I put in a selection of random images and ran through a few of its functions to get to
grips with it. I then chose an image that would be the centrepiece of the animation, I then
practiced drawing this on paper to make sure that I could draw it. Then I made a basic
storyboard for the animation-making sure that I included all the techniques needed-and
following on from that I took some of the sections of the storyboard and planned them in
greater detail as It was more intricate and I would have gotten lost without it.
Setting up the equipment was a very makeshift setup to fit with the beginner approach, I
used my exercise bench to keep the whiteboard in place and marked on two lines on the top
of the board so that I could always put it in the same place. I also had to fashion a monopod
from two pieces of wood, this was then hammered into the interchangeable slot in the bench,
and the good thing about this is it made it perfectly central to the board. I didn't know how to
set up the lighting to make it the best it could be so I used techniques from Stop Motion
Central [4] and having a key light, being the ceiling light, and a fill light, however the fill light
was a different shade so made the image look odd. In the end I settled for just the key light.
A note to make on the accessibility aspect is that top of the range lighting could cost you
1317 ($2000) as mentioned by Shaw [5]
Then I had to make the animation, this took about 40 hours in total, to produce 94 seconds
of footage. In not having too much practice before hand it allowed the viewer to see the
improvements that I made throughout the project, learning how to best fit the amount of
change between each frame to make it as smooth as possible for the selected 15FPS. The
camera is also much jerkier at the start of the animation and becomes more stable as the
animation continues. The techniques and processes that I adopted from other stop frame
animations were interacting with the piece by using my hand at the start such as Galagidae
[6],
I found this to be one of the most difficult things to do as it was one of the first things that I
did in terms of creating the animation, the camera was jerky as the distance from the camera
to whiteboard was not optimal so I was stretching to press the button and tilting the camera
too. In light of this I would suggest that if there is any piece of equipment worth investing in it
would be a tripod as the stability would make the piece look much more professional and
crisp. As well as this the whiteboard should not be more than 30-40 cm away from the
camera meaning that it is easier to get proportions right and the camera won't have to be
zoomed in at all like mine was so that only the board was in the shot, this gave me problems
later on as when I came back to the animation the next day I would have to reset the zoom
and it was not always consistent so resulted in a section where the rose appears to pop
backwards and forwards. Inspired by the work of Okarality [7] I had a brief section where the
2 [4]"Stop Motion." Free Software. Stop Motion Central, 2013. Web. 30 July 2015.[5]Shaw, Susannah. "Google Books." Google
Books. Focal Press, 2008. Web. 30 July 2015.PP 16-17
[6]

"Whiteboard Workout: Stop Motion Animation." YouTube. Galagidae, 31 May 2012. Web. 28 July. 2015
"Stop Motion Animation - "if Only..."" YouTube. Okarality, 16 June 2010. Web. 28 July 2015.

[7]

piece was affected by a real world inanimate object, in the form of the curtain that comes
down at the end of the piece and when it leaves the credits are revealed. This was
particularly difficult as the piece of material created a shadow on the board, but it is not too
noticeable due to the length of time that it is on screen.
3
When making the animation, I made sure that next to me I had the storyboard that I created,
my tablet with the rose image that I was using [8] and also my plan of exactly what I wanted to
happen and when.
Using the software- Stop Motion Pro Eclipse was the most difficult aspect of making the
animation, many features were user friendly and intuitive, but sometimes it was very hard to
select a single frame and also trying to put the music in the right spot was an unnecessary
hassle. Greater detail of the making process can be found on my blog as I kept a diary of
each day of work on it. (http://sfaepq.weebly.com/)
Throughout the project I have learnt many new softwares and skills that I didnt know before
hand, as well as this I have also developed a deeper knowledge of other competencies that I
had a background in. As mentioned previously I learnt the most from the animation software,
but sites such as Weebly and Citation Machine were also completely new to me and I feel
that I utilised them as best I could. The drawing aspect of the animation was an art form that
I am comfortable with however I was amazed at how different the perspective is when
focusing on the journey from start to finish as opposed to just picturing the end result. This is
where my plan came in very helpful.
In light of completing my animation and posting it on YouTube for all to see. I believe that I
can now answer the question of my title Assess why the art form is very rare and therefore ask is
it accessible to anyone who would want to do it? Both points raised in the question link together
quite well. I think it is safe to say that it is rare due to the sheer amount of time required to
complete a piece, it took me 40+ hours to make just over 90 seconds of footage. Although
with great interest people would still do it, it is very hard to find this amount of time to put into
something, especially when you dont get the full satisfaction until its completely done, and if
we say that someone is spending two hours a week on their project and it turns out the same
length as mine, thats half a year! Even if someone does have the time to take on this kind of
task it isnt guaranteed that they will have the energy to see it through to the end. My guess
would be that many people do try the art form but not many see it through to completion, or
choose other alternative animation types such as the popular Lego stop motion type [9]. This
is faster to do as you dont have to create the visuals yourself as much, you can just focus
on the story, and it also looks better in a lower FPS (This means less time taking photos and
changing the scene). So the problem is not as much a dislike of whiteboard animation as an
art form but that the attraction of other styles outweighs the incentive to do whiteboard
animation. One solution to this could already be here, in the form of software that makes
computer images look like a whiteboard animation, saving a lot of time but still ending with
an authentic, personalised animation. For example [10]
There is no doubt at all as to the accessibility of the art form, with many forums, tutorial
videos, some professionally made videos and even a few books that contain general stop
3 [8] "Tribal Rose." Archive, Deviant Art. Archive, 19 May 2007. Web. 28 July 2015.[9] "Home | Brickfilms.com." Brickfilmscom.
Brickfilmscom, 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.
[10]
"Tutorial - How to Make Doodle Videos Using Whiteboard Animation Software." YouTube. LoudVideosChannel, 30 June
2013. Web. 29 July 2015.

motion advice but it is still relevant. All of this combined is enough information to set up, plan,
create and publish a good quality piece of art. The only real issue that I found with the
accessibility is that although there is a lot of broad information on how to do the whole
process or how to set all of the equipment up. I havent found anything that has talked about
priorities, for example if you can only get X amount of pieces of equipment these are the
ones you want or lists of things that are crucial or non-crucial. So I can address that here,
obviously there are fundamentals such as having a whiteboard and pens, but these dont
particularly matter in terms of size or colour etc. The camera doesnt need to be of a
massively high quality as the lighting will in theory be constant, there will not be masses of
texture or detail that needs to be focused on. The main thing to note about a camera is that if
there is any way to get a remote for the camera it would be a worthy investment. I have
found that the lighting and stability of the piece can make an animation that has very basic
art look professional and also bad lighting and stability that has some amazing artwork but
looks really bad as the lighting keeps changing, there are reflection spots on the whiteboard
and its juddering all over the place. In line with this theme I would suggest that if any
hardware at all is purchased, make it a tripod, there is nothing else that will give you instantly
better results like a tripod would do. The stability is crucial, especially in an art form where
everything is meant to be as flowing and smooth as possible.
Ultimately I feel that the project has gone well, however after watching the animation
probably at least 100 times through making and editing Ive noticed every small detail that is
wrong with it and so probably see it as worse than it actually is if youre seeing it for the first
time! Although some deadlines were missed I think that I adapted to this well, creating a new
plan to get back on track and still get everything done in a reasonable amount of time. The
new planning techniques (Eisenhower grids, Gantt charts), research methods (Google
scholar) and technologies (Prezi, Weebly, Stop Motion Pro Eclipse, Google docs, slides and
sheets.) Have really developed my approach to taking on a new project. Whilst also
managing this with less help from teachers and peers than experienced before in education.
If I could do things again I would make more specific plans as sometimes when they were a
bit vague a few things would slip by. In terms of the animation itself I would invest in a tripod
and better lighting as the setup is as important as what you draw on the board. All in all I
managed what I set out to do, create a whiteboard stop frame animation, and answer my
title question and although the journey is more important than the destination, it is good to
finally be here and be able to look back on what Ive done.

Bibliography:

Day, Steve. "How to Make a Whiteboard Animation." YouTube. Whiteboard Animation, 24 June 2014. Web. 31 July
2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmJGl2shUwE

D, Dennis, Harper J, Cameron Petty, and Stephen R. "Patent US5519826 - Stop Motion Animation System." Google
Books. 21 May 1996. Web. 30 July. 2015.
https://www.google.com/patents/US5519826

"Home | Brickfilms.com." Brickfilmscom. Brickfilmscom, 2015. Web. 29 July 2015.

Jay, "21 Stunning Examples of Creatively Done Stop Motion Animations." SmashingAppscom. 15 June 2009. Web.
30 July 2015.

http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/06/15/21-stunning-examples-of-creatively-done-stop-motion-animations.html

Lawrence, Jonny. "Stop Motion | Whiteboard Animation: The Marker Maker." YouTube. Jonny Lawrence, 21 May
2010. Web. 28 July 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZ0iqUS6sg

Purves, Barry. "Google Books." Stop Motion, Passion, Process and Performance. Focal Press, 2007. Web. 30 July
2015.PP 155-186
https://books.google.co.uk/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=F8v7AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=stop+motion+animation&ots=63zf5_sP0&sig=uRTf9DznOl7pUww-5gDTE5PWlh0#v=onepage&q=stop%20motion%20animation&f=false

Shaw, Gene. "How to Do Stop Motion on a White Board: Drawing Techniques." YouTube. Ed. Edward Payson.
EHowArtsAndCrafts, 24 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 July 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY0oCWP5RQk

Shaw, Susannah. "Google Books." Google Books. Focal Press, 2008. Web. 30 July 2015.PP 16-17
https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=j8wUVGQZYAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=stop+motion+animation&ots=cDZE_xbhrk&sig=N-xeahqUYmusKM7u8qc_7zIDtE#v=onepage&q=stop%20motion%20animation&f=false

"Stop Motion Animation? Here Are Some Different Things You Can Try."Instructables.com. Web. 30 July. 2015.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Stop-motion-animation-Here-are-some-different-thi/

"Stop Motion Animation - "if Only..."" YouTube. Okarality, 16 June 2010. Web. 28 July 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uJ82Hn-g3U

"Stop Motion." Free Software. Stop Motion Central, 2013. Web. 30 July 2015.
http://www.stopmotioncentral.com/

"Stop Motion Ideas for Beginners." Stop Motion Ideas for Beginners. IKitMovie, 2015. Web. 30 July 2015.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u46eaeAfeqw

Sulli. "Whiteboard Animation: How to Zoom and Draw a Motion?" - Video Production Stack Exchange. 17 Feb. 2013.
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http://video.stackexchange.com/questions/7178/whiteboard-animation-how-to-zoom-and-draw-a-motion

Thomas, Angela, and Nicole Tufano. "Stop Motion Animation." Unknown, 4 Jan. 2010. Web. 29 July 2015.PP 161+
http://everydayliteracies.net/files/DIY_Media_ms.pdf#page=167

"Tribal Rose." Archive, Deviant Art. Archive, 19 May 2007. Web. 28 July 2015.
http://archive.deviantart.com/art/Tribal-Rose-55634116

"Tutorial - How to Make Doodle Videos Using Whiteboard Animation Software." YouTube. LoudVideosChannel, 30
June 2013. Web. 29 July 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-imlcga48LU

"Video Scribing - Whiteboard Animation Company - Ydraw." YouTube. Ydraw, 9 Sept. 2011. Web. 29 July. 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZDTB8gmGvY

"Whiteboard

Workout: Stop Motion Animation." YouTube. Galagidae, 31 May 2012. Web. 28 July. 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uOcBIJIQco
.