Pixilation

Pixilation was first used by the godfather of stop-motion animation Georges Melies, this was used in his short piece 'Le Diable Noir' (1905) although his technique of pausing a recording then continuing again was originally an accident whilst filming a passing bus on the street, Melies continuously explored the possibilities of this technique. However no one exployed the possibilities of Pixilation like British/Canadian film maker Malcolm McLaren did in his career during the 1950s the stop-motion technique once again uses the persistence of vision to make it look as though the subjects in the film are defying the laws of physics (i.e. floating/flying/skating/sliding etc.)

This is done by taking a photograph frame by frame moving the subjects (or props) as carefully as possible or as drastic as possible depending on the desired effect the film maker wants to utilize. When using an Apple Macintosh there is a programme called iStopMovie when taking pictures frame by frame an onion skin appears this shows where the subject appeared in the last image moving it as much or as little as you want while seeing exactly where the subject appeared in the last photo. By using the onion skin you can see the composition of your last photo frame, this gives you the availability to create your animation with pain staking accuracy.

Using human subjects (or puppets) instead of using illustration was one of Malcolm McLaren's most valuable gifts to stop-motion animation, creating a world of oppurtunities for film makers such as Jan Švankmajer and short feature animator Adam Pesapane commonly known as PES.

 

The subjects tend to be real life rendered subjects that move only slightly frame by frame using a tripod and video camera with the necessary software the pictures are taken and then played back again in a sequence to make it seem as though subjects are moving in a surreal way.

Model Based

Model based animation is where models are produced using plasticine clay, this form of animation first became popular in the 1920s mainly because of its three-dimensional qualities and versatility. 

 

Art Clokey and Gumby 

Art Clokey was a pioneer of clay animation in 1955 he released his experimental film 'Glumbasia' influenced by his professor.  Clokey went on to produce 'The Gumby Show' which was originally aired in 1955 and continued to air up until 1989.  Gumby had returned in many incarnations through the years a Gumby revival had been successful in the 1980s where the character was even parodied by Eddie Murphy in his early stand up days in the early 1980s. The show was originally produced through clokey productions its continuous distributer is DreamWorks Classics. 

Aardman Animations

Aardman Animations was first established by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in 1972 they united through their mutual interest for working with clay animation. Morph was one of the first animations made famous by Aardman and the much creator of the character morph Tony Hart.

By 1989 Nick Park's involvement fluctuated the company's efforts and the establisment of Park's characters 'Wallace and Gromit' first came to attention in 1989 with 'A Grand Day Out' which was shown in theatres around the UK. The character Wallace is a simple man with a love for tea and particularly wensleydale cheese along with his companion Gromit an intelligent but silent dog. The
feature was nominated or an academy award but lost to another one of Park's animations 'Creature Comforts'.  Wallace and Gromit are seen as positive british figures in international culture, often sporting quentisentially british attitudes and a love for britain itself. These short/feature length animations returned with three short feature sequels 'The Wrong Trousers' 'A Close Shave' 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' and one feature length film 'Curse of The Were-Rabbit'.
The studio have came a long way and have introduced new animation techniques as 3D-animation and CGI animation to their later productions.