Go motion
Encyclopedia
Go motion is a variation of stop motion
animation
, and was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett
.
Star Wars
film The Empire Strikes Back
. After that, go motion was used for many other movies: for the dragon in Dragonslayer
(1981), the dinosaur
s in the prehistoric documentaries Prehistoric Beast
(1984) and Dinosaur!
(1985), the lord demon creature in Howard the Duck
(1986), the winged satan character in The Golden Child
(1986), the Eborsisk dragon in Willow
(1988), the RoboCop franchise
(1987–1993) and Coneheads
(1993). Other minor sequences using go motion appeared in films like the three first Indiana Jones installments (1981–1989), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
(1982) or the first Jurassic Park
film (1993) among a few others. In 1993, with the Jurassic Park release, the Tippet Studio abandoned go motion and fully converted its teams and equipments to CGI (computer-generated imagery
). The last film showing a go motion made sequence was Coneheads
(the Jurassic Park release dates from June 11, 1993 but Coneheads was first released on July 23, 1993).
, because they moved while the shutter of the camera was open.
Go motion was designed to prevent this, by moving the animated model slightly during the exposure of each film frame, producing a realistic motion blur. The main difference is that while the frames in stop motion are made up by images of stills taken between the small movements of the object, the frames in go motion are images of the object taken while it is moving. This frame-by-frame, split-second motion is almost always created with the help of a computer, often through rods connected to a puppet or model which the computer manipulates to reproduce movements programmed in by puppeteers.
on the camera lens, then cleaning and reapplying it after each shot, a time-consuming process but one which creates a blur around the model. This technique was used for the endoskeleton
in The Terminator
.
and again during the lorry chase in A Close Shave
. In both cases the cameras were moved physically during a 1-2 second exposure. The technique was revived for the full-length Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
and is quite different from traditional stop motion
. The model is essentially a rod puppet
. The rods are attached to motors which are linked to a computer that can record the movements as the model is traditionally animated. When enough movements have been made, the model is reset to its original position, the camera rolls and the model is moved across the table. Because the model is moving during shots, motion blur is created.
A variation of go motion was used in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
to partially animate the children on their bicycles.
s in Jurassic Park
, until Steven Spielberg
decided to try out the swiftly developing techniques of computer-generated imagery
instead.
Today, the mechanical method of achieving motion blur using go motion is rarely used, as it is more complicated, slow, and labor intensive than computer generated effects. However, the motion blurring technique still has potential in real stop motion movies where the puppet's motions are supposed to be somewhat realistic. Motion blurring can now be digitally done as a post production process using special effects software such as After Effects, Boris FX
, Combustion, and other similar special effects commercial software.
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, and was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett
Phil Tippett is a movie director and an award-winning visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design and character animation.-Early career:...
.
History
Tippett and Industrial Light & Magic created the go motion technique for the first time for some shots of the tauntaun creatures and AT-AT walkers in the 19801980 in film
- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....
Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
film The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
. After that, go motion was used for many other movies: for the dragon in Dragonslayer
Dragonslayer
Dragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval kingdom, following a young wizard who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon....
(1981), the dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s in the prehistoric documentaries Prehistoric Beast
Prehistoric Beast
Prehistoric Beast is a ten minutes long experimental animated film fully conceived and made by Phil Tippett in 1984. This sequence is considered as being the first film produced by the Tippett Studio, founded by Tippett himself in 1984...
(1984) and Dinosaur!
Dinosaur!
Dinosaur! is an American television documentary about dinosaurs. It was first aired on CBS in the United States on November 5, 1985. Years later, in 1991, another documentary entitled Dinosaur!, not related with that one, was hosted on A&E by CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite.-Content:Directed by...
(1985), the lord demon creature in Howard the Duck
Howard the Duck (film)
Howard the Duck is a 1986 American science fiction comedy film directed by Willard Huyck and produced by George Lucas. It is loosely based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, created by Steve Gerber and quoting scripts by Bill Mantlo, the film focuses on Howard, an alien from a planet...
(1986), the winged satan character in The Golden Child
The Golden Child
The Golden Child is a 1986 American comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a social worker who is confronted by a young Asian woman , who tells him that he is The Chosen One destined to save The Golden Child, the savior of all mankind, from the clutches of the demon Sardo...
(1986), the Eborsisk dragon in Willow
Willow (film)
Willow is a 1988 American fantasy film directed by Ron Howard and produced/co-written by George Lucas. Warwick Davis stars in the film, as well as Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Jean Marsh, and Patricia Hayes...
(1988), the RoboCop franchise
RoboCop (franchise)
The RoboCop franchise, began in 1987 with the film RoboCop. RoboCop 2, followed in 1990 and RoboCop 3 in 1993. There have also been various television series, video game and comic book adaptations. The franchise has made over $109,715,854 USD worldwide.-Future:Sony Pictures was working on a new...
(1987–1993) and Coneheads
Coneheads (film)
Coneheads is a 1993 film based on the Saturday Night Live sketches about the Coneheads. The film was directed by Steve Barron and produced by Lorne Michaels...
(1993). Other minor sequences using go motion appeared in films like the three first Indiana Jones installments (1981–1989), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
(1982) or the first Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
film (1993) among a few others. In 1993, with the Jurassic Park release, the Tippet Studio abandoned go motion and fully converted its teams and equipments to CGI (computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
). The last film showing a go motion made sequence was Coneheads
Coneheads (film)
Coneheads is a 1993 film based on the Saturday Night Live sketches about the Coneheads. The film was directed by Steve Barron and produced by Lorne Michaels...
(the Jurassic Park release dates from June 11, 1993 but Coneheads was first released on July 23, 1993).
Technical explanation
Stop motion animation can create a disorienting, and distinctive, staccato effect, because the animated object is perfectly sharp in every frame, since each frame of the animation was actually shot when the object was perfectly still. Real moving objects in similar scenes of the same movie will have motion blurMotion blur
Motion blur is the apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image or a sequence of images such as a movie or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single frame, either due to rapid movement or long exposure.- Photography :When a camera...
, because they moved while the shutter of the camera was open.
Go motion was designed to prevent this, by moving the animated model slightly during the exposure of each film frame, producing a realistic motion blur. The main difference is that while the frames in stop motion are made up by images of stills taken between the small movements of the object, the frames in go motion are images of the object taken while it is moving. This frame-by-frame, split-second motion is almost always created with the help of a computer, often through rods connected to a puppet or model which the computer manipulates to reproduce movements programmed in by puppeteers.
Vaseline
This crude but reasonably effective technique involves smearing petroleum jellyPetroleum jelly
Petroleum jelly, petrolatum, white petrolatum or soft paraffin, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons , originally promoted as a topical ointment for its healing properties...
on the camera lens, then cleaning and reapplying it after each shot, a time-consuming process but one which creates a blur around the model. This technique was used for the endoskeleton
Endoskeleton
An endoskeleton is an internal support structure of an animal, composed of mineralized tissue. Endoskeleton develops within the skin or in the deeper body tissues. The vertebrate is basically an endoskeleton made up of two types of tissues . During early embryonic development the endoskeleton is...
in The Terminator
The Terminator
The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, co-written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, and Linda Hamilton. The film was produced by Hemdale Film Corporation and distributed by Orion Pictures, and filmed in Los...
.
Bumping the puppet
Gently bumping or flicking the puppet before taking the frame will produce a slight blur, however care must be taken when doing this that the puppet does not move too much or that one does not bump or move props or set pieces.Moving the table
Moving the table the model is standing on while the film is being exposed creates a slight, realistic blur. This technique was used by Aardman animation for the train chase in The Wrong TrousersThe Wrong Trousers
The Wrong Trousers is a 1993 animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit...
and again during the lorry chase in A Close Shave
A Close Shave
A Close Shave is a 1995 British animated film directed by Nick Park at Aardman Animations in Bristol, featuring his characters Wallace and Gromit. It was his third half-hour short featuring the eccentric inventor Wallace and his quiet but intelligent dog Gromit, following 1989's A Grand Day Out,...
. In both cases the cameras were moved physically during a 1-2 second exposure. The technique was revived for the full-length Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Go motion
The most sophisticated technique was originally developed for the film The Empire Strikes Back and used for some shots of the tauntauns and was later used on films like DragonslayerDragonslayer
Dragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval kingdom, following a young wizard who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon....
and is quite different from traditional stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
. The model is essentially a rod puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
. The rods are attached to motors which are linked to a computer that can record the movements as the model is traditionally animated. When enough movements have been made, the model is reset to its original position, the camera rolls and the model is moved across the table. Because the model is moving during shots, motion blur is created.
A variation of go motion was used in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
to partially animate the children on their bicycles.
Go motion today
Go motion was originally planned to be used extensively for the dinosaurDinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s in Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
, until Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
decided to try out the swiftly developing techniques of computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
instead.
Today, the mechanical method of achieving motion blur using go motion is rarely used, as it is more complicated, slow, and labor intensive than computer generated effects. However, the motion blurring technique still has potential in real stop motion movies where the puppet's motions are supposed to be somewhat realistic. Motion blurring can now be digitally done as a post production process using special effects software such as After Effects, Boris FX
Boris FX
Boris FX is a software development company specializing in integrated graphics and visual effects technology. The company is one of the leading software developers for 2D and 3D compositing, titling, and vector graphics applications used by broadcast media companies, filmmakers, post-production...
, Combustion, and other similar special effects commercial software.
External links
- Explanation Stop Motion Works site with images and brief description of a Go motion mover used for the stop motion dragon puppet in the movie DragonslayerDragonslayerDragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval kingdom, following a young wizard who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon....
(1981) - Phil Tippett on “go motion” and how it is shot