Pixilation

Pixilation is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame. There have been many music videos, films and television shows inspired by pixilation and have used this technique. The earliest example of pixilation was shown in a short, Spanish comedy scene, 'El hotel eléctrico', composed and completed by Segundo de Chomón in 1908.

El Hotel Eléctrico by Segundo de Chomón

Norman McLaren, a Canadian animator, introduced Pixilation in his Oscar-winning film 'Neighbours' (1952), and in the later film, 'A Chairy Tale' (1957). Instead of making a series of drawings, human beings are placed in a series of postures in front of the camera. A stationary camera records a posed human subject, who moves to new positions between frames.

Donald McWilliams, a film reviewer, made this statement on Norman McLaren: 

McLaren had been very intrigued by French trick films from the early 1900s in which everyday objects were animated frame by frame. He did some experienting in his student films, and later he animated a household of furniture in a film for the General Post Office in London. He then wondered about the possibility of animating people frame by frame. This curiosity culminated in the extraordinary parable Neighbours, in which two men behave like cartoon characters in a tale of both funny and ferocious. McLaren called the technique Pixilation.

NEIGHBOURS and A CHAIRY TALE

by Norman McLaren

The interaction of actors and objects in a three-dimensional setting introduces a series of references to reality. This has a influence on the choice of subjects dealt with in films that use this technique. It is no accident, for example, that Norman McLaren made his political work with progress.

Other ways of using Pixillation are through green screens, which is the way Aardman Animation produced a music video clip for Peter Gabriel. This way the green screen can match the soundtrack. Less known artists such as André Leduc who used pixiilation at the National Board of Canada where he explored techniques for fantasy in his three films Tout écartillé , Monsieur Pointu and Chérie, ôte tes raquettes.

So to sum up Pixilation in one short sentence, Pixilation is a stop-motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film.

Cheerio. :o)

- Olivia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixilation - accessed on 15-Sept-2013

http://www.teachanimation.org/pdf/Pixilation1006.pdf - accessed on 17-Sept-2013
http://www3.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/techniques/pixillation.php - accessed on 17-Sept-2013
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/07_pixillation_project.html - accessed on 17-Sept-2013