Model Based Animation Examples

King Kong is a pre-Code 1933 American monster/adventure film directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. The screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose was from an idea conceived by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling ape creature called Kong who dies in an attempt to possess a beautiful young woman. King Kong was a clay based model distinguished for its stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien. 

Morph is another popular model based animation. Although there is not speech, a story is still told with comedy too. 

How it works

To create a model based animation, what you need is model, can be any material but most people like to use clay because the models can be moved, to give the effect that it is movie in the animation. First a camera is set up, so that it will not move and then a couple of shots are taken for an establishing shot. Then the model is moved slightly into the frame and another picture is taken. This is continued until you have model the model to where you want it to be. After every little move, you take another picture, and then when it is all put together and played back quickly, it looks like the model is moving on its own.