MACA – Get in Touch with Industry
In the past few months, I began to try to contact the front-line practitioners of China’s stop-motion animation industry. By chance, I plucked up the courage to contact Lilipu: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/612b6a55000000000100371f?xsec_token=YBbnd1G1CjkMe1RiKP4Nk6X4gQtgtGlUmgw7MgJ7ldMP4=&xsec_source=app_share&xhsshare=CopyLink&appuid=5656cba482718c646d25bd34&apptime=1749017019&share_id=490a4ba791d245aca366758d349f62ca , a well-known stop-motion animation studio in China. I sorted out some of my stop-motion works and sent them to the person in charge. Unexpectedly, I received a reply from her soon.
She carefully read the works I sent and directly pointed out several key points that need to be improved: The lens should be stable and aligned: 1. the lens should not be angled when shooting, otherwise it will interfere with the observation of skeleton movements; 2. Use a stable puppet skeleton: try to choose a metal skeleton connected by screws to prevent instability during the movement; 3. Practice from basic movements: There is no need to rush to try complex movement designs. Instead, basic movements such as “walking, running, and changing the center of gravity” can better reflect the animator’s control; 4. Do the movement first: Perform it yourself before the animation to experience the center of gravity and the force point, which will help to accurately restore it. Practice video I send: https://vimeo.com/1090363096?share=copy
She also kindly sent me a video of a professional animator practicing: http://xhslink.com/a/rsFBMX7sSu7db, and invited me to go to their studio for offline puppet movement tests if I have the opportunity after the holiday. This not only gave me valuable feedback, but also brought me closer to the real distance between me and the industry.
After going deep into the community, I saw the real ecology of the industry. Under her recommendation, I joined a community of stop-motion animation practitioners. There are many animators in the group who are participating in projects or taking freelance cases. They shared a lot of information about the current situation of the domestic stop-motion industry: 1. Currently, there are almost no “full-time stop-motion animation positions” in China, and most positions are project-based/crew-based; 2. The project system means that a team will be temporarily formed for each project, and the positions include internships, art, animators, etc. The work cycle and participation time of each position vary depending on the length of the project; 3. Long-form projects (such as dramas or movies) may take more than a year, with art concentrated in the early stage for half a year, and animators are mostly intensively output in the later stage; 4. Short-form advertising projects may only have a cycle of a few weeks to a month, and the rhythm is very tight.
After understanding how the industry works, I am more determined to establish an independent studio. I realized that although the project system has an unstable rhythm, it also gives creators more time to control themselves, especially when there is a gap between projects, this “free time” can be used by me to complete my own original short film and IP development. In addition, if I can make my studio famous in a small circle while participating in the project, it will undoubtedly be a double growth.
I am looking forward to exploring more possibilities of freeze-frame with like-minded friends on a project basis. Next, I will continue to train basic skills, while not giving up on actively contacting industry predecessors, participating in more animation challenges, and polishing our studio concept in practice.