How is Stop Motion Photography Different From Stills Photography?

If you’ve been on any social media site recently, you’ve probably run into a stop motion animation, or gif. Stop motion animation for advertising has become increasingly popular over the last couple years, and is especially sought after right now in 2021. You may be asking what the difference is between a stop motion animation, and a still photograph, and whether you should use stop motions for your advertising, or stills.

What is a Stop Motion Animation?

A stop motion animation is simply a string of still photographs edited together in succession, that when played one after the other, shows small incremental movements in a video or gif. Stop Motions are not created via film.

Instead, stop motions utilize the photographer’s tool of a simple camera and its ability to take multiple frames of a scene. This means, you don’t need any complicated filmmaking gear to create stop motions. The best thing is to utilize a high quality camera in the same way you would with stills photography. 

What is Stills Photography?

Stills photography is a single frame or still image of a scene, setting, thing, place, etc. Still photographs can be used in all sorts of advertising from digital advertising to print to packaging. Still photographs are exactly what you’re used to seeing in the photography and advertising worlds. The beauty of stills photography is the ability to concoct and freeze visual stories in singular frames.

Should I Use Stop Motion or Still Photographs for Advertising?

The short answer is, both! The long answer is that each will benefit you in different ways…

Stop Motion Animations

What are the Benefits of Stop Motion Animations?

Stop motions enable consumers to view your products for longer because of its video form. The longer the stop motion, the longer you have eyes on your product. This is really important for brand recognition and conversion. The longer consumers see your product in their feed, the more likely they are to recognize your brand, and ultimately upon seeing it multiple times, trust your brand and purchase from you. Stop motion animations enable you to maximize your advertising space, and keep consumer attention for longer. 

What is the Advertising potential of Stop Motions?

Additionally, stop motion animations can be used across social media platforms (where video has higher engagement), websites, and some digital advertising like electronic billboards and video ads. Stop motions, however, can be more expensive than still photographs because of the use of multiple frames for one animation. The number of frames necessary for a stop motion animation varies, but can be 20 frames, 150 frames, or more depending on the length needed. A good rule of thumb is to think of every 10 frames as 1 second of video. That means a 150 frame stop motion would be 15 seconds long.

How Much Does a Stop Motion Animation Cost?

The time to photograph 150 carefully curated still photographs with incremental movements is far greater than a single still image, and the post production required to create the animation is equally time consuming and difficult. When thinking about hiring a photographer to create stop motion animations, think about adjusting your budget to accommodate the increase in time, expertise, and effort required to produce a stop motion animation. 

Still Photographs

What are the Benefits of Stills Photography?

High quality stills, though they don’t have movement via video, can be incredibly impactful for your brand. Still images that ensure your brand story and personality shine through, similarly create brand recognition, and often energizes consumers because they relate to that story being presented through still photographs. Additionally, because it’s a still image, you can spend more time ensuring each and every element of the photograph is thoughtfully curated and placed in your scene to create the story you want to tell. 

What is the Advertising potential for Still Images?:

Another advantage to stills photography is its versatility. Still photographs can be used in so many ways. With high quality still photography, a smaller number of photographs can be utilized across multiple streams such as: web, social media, print advertising, email marketing, PR publication marketing, sms marketing, etc. The benefit to stills is the ability to use them anywhere and everywhere, without the concern for video file size or compatibility wherever they’re being utilized. This is a huge advantage to still photographs. 

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Still Photograph?

Still photographs can sometimes, but not always, be less expensive than a stop motion animation. That is, if it’s a single still image compared to a single stop motion animation. This isn’t universal, however. High quality still photographs with huge production value can easily come out to a higher cost than a stop motion, depending on the project. When thinking about hiring a photographer to create high quality still images, think about the production required to bring your vision to life. The more complicated the vision, the more expensive to produce. 

Hopefully this helps you decide whether to hire a photographer for still images, stop motion animations, or both! Both stop motions and still images are very effective, and a combined use of both mediums can enable really impactful marketing campaigns that create brand recognition and convert consumers.