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Pixilation is stop-motion animation made with live performers: a person holds a pose while it is photographed, changes position between shots, and repeats. Played in sequence, those separate images can make familiar actions look comic, uncanny, or impossible—without requiring a studio setup.
What is pixilation?
In pixilation, people are the animated subject. The performer pauses for each photograph, then moves into a planned next pose. The camera records the pose changes as separate frames rather than filming continuous action. Props and animated objects can join the scene, but the staged movement of a live person is central.
Because the setting remains photographic while the performer’s movement is broken into chosen increments, the result can feel both recognizable and strange. A person can seem to jump forward without crossing the intervening space, slide while seated, or appear to hover in midair.
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How is pixilation different from time-lapse?
| Feature | Pixilation | Time-lapse |
|---|---|---|
| Subject and control | A performer deliberately changes pose between captures. | A scene is recorded at intervals as it changes over time. |
| Capture intent | Build staged, step-by-step human movement. | Compress a longer period into accelerated motion. |
| Typical effect | Discontinuous movement that can appear comic, uncanny, or impossible. | An accelerated view of gradual change in a scene. |
Both use separated captures, but they are not interchangeable. Pixilation is not simply live-action footage played faster: the performer’s poses are arranged and photographed one frame at a time. The Association française du cinéma d’animation (AFCA) describes this distinction in its pixilation overview.
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How to make a simple pixilation animation
Start with one action that can be divided into clear, manageable poses. A fixed camera and uncluttered performance area make it easier to see the motion you are creating.
- Choose the action. Plan a short movement, such as a person advancing across a room in small jumps. For a flying effect, repeatedly capture the performer at the airborne point of a jump; the resulting sequence can make the person appear to hang in the air.
- Set and steady the frame. Aim the camera at the action and keep its position and composition consistent. A tripod is a useful aid. Minimize background movement unless you want it to become part of the animation.
- Capture the first pose. Ask the performer to hold still while you take a photograph or capture a frame using your chosen animation workflow.
- Change one pose at a time. Between captures, have the performer move to the next planned position and hold it. Smaller changes generally produce more continuous movement; large changes make the subject jump more abruptly.
- Review playback and revise. Assemble the captured images into a sequence or use a capture workflow that lets you review them as you work. Playback helps reveal awkward gaps, inconsistent framing, or a pace that does not suit the action.
In outdoor scenes, changing light can shift exposure from one capture to the next. Use steady lighting where possible, or monitor exposure carefully. Trial, playback, and revision are normal parts of shaping the movement.
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Choose a frame rate for the movement
There is no single required frame rate. The number of frames per second affects how many distinct poses are seen in each second and how smooth or choppy the motion feels. It also interacts with the size of each pose change: a higher rate cannot by itself fix movement that has been planned in overly large jumps.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches- The Teach Animation guide suggests 30 frames per second for fast pixilation and 10 or 15 for slower movement; it cautions that 5 or 6 may look too choppy. These are the guide’s recommendations, not universal standards.
- In a 2006 classroom lesson, art teacher Karin Gunn describes a 30-frames-per-second video example in which each captured frame is repeated three times. That produces ten distinct poses for one second of footage in the example; it is one workflow, not a requirement for pixilation.
For a first sequence, choose a pace that suits the action, then judge it in playback. If movement feels too abrupt, try smaller pose changes; if it feels too slow, adjust how the frames are held or repeated in your editing workflow.
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Why Norman McLaren’s Neighbours matters
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) identifies Norman McLaren’s Neighbours as a 1952 animated film that popularized pixillation. Directed and produced by McLaren, it features Jean-Paul Ladouceur and Grant Munro. Its story begins with two neighbors disputing ownership of a flower on their property boundary and escalates into violence. The NFB collection record for Neighbours documents the film and its place in the technique’s history.
The British Film Institute (BFI) describes the film as a major use of pixillation and reads its pacifist message as a warning about resolving disputes through violence. The BFI also notes McLaren’s use of varied camera and performance speeds to create the film’s antic movement, and reports that it received the Academy Award for best documentary short. In its feature on McLaren, the BFI uses the maxim “animation is not the art of drawings-that-move but the art of movements-that-are-drawn” to characterize his approach; the feature does not establish a named original speaker for that wording. Read the BFI feature on Norman McLaren.
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Neighbours is a landmark example, not evidence that McLaren invented pixilation. The NFB says the film popularized the technique; the available accounts establish his close association with it without settling who first used it.
Other pixilation films to explore
The AFCA lists examples spanning several decades. They offer different viewing points, not a single template for how pixilation must look or be made.
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- Il était une chaise (1957)
- Chérie, ôte tes raquettes (1975)
- Gisèle Kérozène (1990)
- Luminaris (2011)
- Electra (2023)
See the AFCA’s pixilation resource for its technique description and film references.
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