Stop motion (stop frame) is a animation/film creation technique used to make an inanimate object, which can be physically manipulated, appear to move on its own. The subject/s are moved or adjusted in small increments between separately photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when played as a continuous sequence.
Clay figures/ figures with movable joints are often used as they are easier to reposition or reshape. Stop motion using clay models is called clay animation or 'clay-mation'. Some well known clay-mation examples of clay-mation are the Wallace and Grommit films, Chicken Run, Pingu, corpse bride, Coraline (which was the first stop motion film to be filmed in full 3D)
Stop motion has also been used in many feature films such as the original Star Wars trilogy, being used in 'Star Wars' (later named Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)in the chess scene, to animate the tauntauns and AT-AT walkers in 'The Empire Strikes Back' and to animate the AT-ST walkers in 'Return of the Jedi'. The technique also features in many of the shots in the Indiana Jones film 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' including the ghosts scenes and for some shots in the closing sequence of the 'Terminator' movie.
Go Motion is a variation of stop motion that involves programming a computer to move the subject slighting between each exposure.
The pixilation animation technique is also a type of stop motion, where "live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film", this is done by taking repeated shots/frames of the posing actors who change position between shots, then during editing the frames in which the actors are changing position are deleted leaving the desired shots. This, as with all stop motion, can appear very smooth or very jumpy depending on how many frames are taken and how much the subject moves between each consecutive frame.
Pixilation animation was used in the music video for The White Stripes song, 'The Hardest Button to Button' directed by Michel Gondry.
Another music video, also for The White Stripes, this time using regular stop motion is the video for 'Fell in Love with a Girl' which uses LEGO building bricks to create a LEGO animation (Brickfilm) and was shot frame-by-frame rebuilding the LEGO between each frame.
Pixilation is a technique that I admire and have been somewhat inspired by after watching this video. It is something I may consider including in my music video if it is an appropriate match for the style of music.
