Paper War

Here's a really well done stop-motion animation about two 2-d Paper guys, trying to navigate the 3d world to get close  to a flirting girl on the other side of the room. The two rivals fight an imaginative battle to be the first to win her,...  er,.. heart.

Terri Gilliam Demonstrates Cutout Animation

In this short a very young Terri Gilliam demonstrates his stop-motion techniques back in the early days of "Monty Python"

Indiana Jones: Stop Motion

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jeff Gurwood provides us with a shot-by-shot stop motion recreation of the opening scene. In some ways I still think of the original as a "perfect" movie.

ParaNorman

Trailer for an upcoming 3d stop-motion film by the same team that made "Coraline". Remember the baby from "Labyrinth"? That was Tobby Froud. He's all grown-up now and working on this film.

AICP Southwest 2011 Sponsor Reel

What an entertaining way to list sponsors, and what a pleasant short!

Mysterious Mose

Share this Halloween puppet video with the kids! This is a real favorite of mine! Made in the 90's, it feels like an old Fleischer cartoon, back when they were at their 1930's their best. The band in particular is great. Made by Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero.

What Light

A stop motion film by Sarah Wikens, using the sun and mirrors. Very original.

Vincent

After starting out as an animator at Disney, Tim Burton got his first big break directing this stop-motion short. The Narrator is Vincent Price (of course). All the hallmarks of Burton's later work can be seen here. There are echos of it in "Beetle Juice", and of course "Nightmare before Christmas."

Ray Harryhausen

This is a compilation of every (?)  stop motion creature created by the great Ray Harryhausen.

Before computers and Jurassic Park, this is how it was done, one frame at a time by one guy, working mostly in his garage.

The Great Cognito

Long before computers allowed us to morph everything, claymation animator Will Vinton was producing cool shorts like this one with painstaking frame by frame stop motion. Vinton and his studio would later go on to create the California Raisin commercials, and "The Noid" for Domino's Pizza.

He later created several TV specials, and contributed to Michael Jackson's "Captain EO" and "Moonwalker." Now-a-days this sort of short would be done with 3d software. Back in the 70's it was brute force animation with just clay and a camera, and a lot of patience.

Phil Trumbo

Also teaching at VCU, when I was a student, Phil Trumbo directed the animated sequences in the opening of Pee-Wee's playhouse. See his current reel below.

Steve Segal Animation Reel

My favorite teacher at VCU was Steve Segal. This is his current animation reel. He taught animation and animation history. He later went on to work on movies like The Brave Little Toaster, several Pixar films, and even did work for Pee Wee's Playhouse. His early work in the 70s, on early computer generated animation and in stop motion was ground breaking. Along with Phil Trumbo he created the stop motion feature film Futropolis. You probably have not seen it,... but you have seen it's influence in a lot of the music videos of the 80s, and in Futurama. Here is an interview with Steve by Terry Gross on Fresh Air.

Stop Motion Flintstone

Here's and excellent stop-motion short featuring Fred Flinstone bowling his best.

Jonny Quest Stop Motion Masterpiece!

I've been following Roger Evan's progress on this project for about a year. He's finally completed it and it is amazing. You can also see his detailed behind the scenes "making-of" notes and videos on his website www.rogerevans.tv

Jonny Quest Opening Titles from Roger D. Evans on Vimeo.

Speaking of Terri Gilliam...

Here is an educational video by the master himself! It's kind of long, but he demonstrates how he did all his cut-out animation for Monty Python. This is how we did it before Flash was invented kids.