Whether the characters are made out of clay, foam rubber, cut-out paper, or mixed-media, students in Professor Becky Wible Searles’ stop motion classes work in partners and teams to make their puppets come to life. Shooting collaboratively mirrors industry practice while helping students learn faster by helping each other. After creating several short projects from research and design to model fabrication to final animation, students gain greater appreciation for the production challenges in current feature films such as the recently released Sony / Aardman clay animation, “Pirates!”, and upcoming mixed-media stop motion films, “ParaNorman” produced by Laika and Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie.”

Jennifer Avillar (PNTG) secures her puppet to the stage from underneath while Maureen Monaghan (ANIM) and Colin Wheeler (ANIM) position their puppets for the shot

Jenna Zona (ANIM) assists Stephanie Miranda (ANIM), smoothing out clay for a shot of Stephanie's character eating a shoe

Stephanie Miranda (ANIM) adjusts her clay character as Jenna Zona (ANIM) checks the latest shot captured in Stop Motion Pro