What We Do For Stop-Motion Animation
CUSTOM-MADE ARMATURE
Korea’s first armature specialist, Wuchan’s state of art armature skeletons comes from his diverse experience of working as a professional in the stop-motion animation industry. They are renowned for their precision movements and custom design to fit various environments of stop-motion animation studios.
THINKING HAND STUDIO determines the design of armature through close communication with the clients. And Wuchan’s delicate craftsmanship and CAD/CAM system assures the completion of an armature custom-made for each project. THINKING HAND STUDIO strives to find and realise the movement most suitable for each character from the armature design stage.
WUCHAN’S SIGNATURE STYLE
Since his student days as a postgraduate Wuchan Kim developed a Lego-like “module” production system for his own stop-motion animation work. This production method was created to meet the needs of Wuchan and his friends’ small-scale studio which frequently faced funding difficulties.
Naturally, this armature production method has evolved over 20 years: now combined with more traditional handcraft methods, it has become the foundation of a very unique construction method for custom-made armature, simply called as “Wuchan’s Signature Style” or “Wuchan’s Signature Module” amongst stop-motion animation professionals. (More updates coming soon.)
MOVEMENT: BACK TO THE BASICS
Stop-motion animation is an art of creating space and time through movement. In this process, the armature is the starting point and fundamental element in creating movement. A good armature should be able to follow the intended flow of movement within the space created by the stop-motion animator and support the hand’s subtle movement in an organic way.
We believe the most important condition for such an armature is “balanced movement.” All the armatures produced by THINKING HAND STUDIO have been made with the design concept of “balanced movement” and will move and come to life in the space created by the stop-motion animator.
Communication: Our Way to Successful Creation
Communication is a decisive factor in the process of stop-motion animation which involves a lot of analogue elements. This holds true even for amateur producers. Our armature production starts with the communication process underlined by the consideration of the studio’s overall production system such as puppet fabrication, rigging and set scale.
In order to deliver the required armature movement to the client in the production process THINKING HAND STUDIO needs to maintain constant communication. We will also suggest and verify the necessary functions through test versions at each stage. We strongly believe that communication is the best way in successfully producing good armatures.
Your in-house Metal work shop
Stop-motion animation, more than other animation genres, demands equipment and tools for self production. Stop-motionists will have had the experience of looking for an appropriate metal work shop to order new equipment, then waiting anxiously for the right product to be delivered. But these tools and equipment often end up standing in the corner of the studio just taking up space or are used for a different purpose. Lack of understanding of the stop-motion animation production process naturally leads to unsatisfactory metal work which can cause unnecessary additional cost and time.
We can help you with these problems: At THINKING HAND STUDIO, drawing on our extensive experience in the stop-motion animation industry, we can provide an in-house work shop service which can design and produce the equipment and tools best suited for your studio environment and tailor made for each project.
RIGGING: MAXIMIZE YOUR CREATIVITY
Since the introduction of digital technology in stop-motion animation, the role of rigging has become increasingly important. Rigging can drastically reduce the time in production schedule, and it is considered to be a resolution for overcoming stop-motion technique’s limitations. Stop-motion animation studios have struggled to find a way to minimize the painstaking and time consuming labour of animators and facilitate the creative imagination of the stop-motionists.
It is now time for the stop-motion animation studios to update their system to a more professional mode. Our engineering team with seasoned veterans can provide a solution which will maximise the client’s creative imagination.
