Career Exploration - Stop Motion Animator

The career I am exploring is a stop motion animator. Stop motion animators need to create scenes for the background and setting of the animation, create whatever is being animated (like puppets or clay), take pictures of the things, and change the orientation of the thing being animated after each picture is taken. For this job most companies require a generic bachelor's degree in film or animation. Previous experience in film production and animation is also often helpful in being hired for these jobs. A normal day for Stop Motion Animators includes planning the animation, preparing the setting and stabilizing the lighting, then taking pictures, editing the pictures together so they flow smoothly, and finally adding additional details like voices or music. Some college majors that are helpful for stop motion animation are Animation and Visual Effects, Stop Motion Animation, and other things related to film and animation. Some top schools for this are California Institute of the Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Ringling College of Art and Design. A close by school that offers a good animation program is the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Here is an example of stop motion animation for the song "Mr. Blue Sky" for Just Dance: