Claymation is art. It is literally pictures of little sculptures that blend into the illusion of movement to tell stories. What could possibly be better than that? If you’re a lover of stop-mo’ and find that it’s under-appreciated, you might relate to this list.
1. You wonder why there isn’t more claymation.
Oh, that’s right. It’s a painstakingly slow and sometimes extremely expensive process.
2. You really want to go onto the sets and touch everything.
Bricks! So many bricks!
3. You’ve watched movies just because they were claymation.
Sorry, Mary and Max. It’s not that you weren’t a good movie, but why else would we have known to watch you?
4. You are always amazed by behind-the-scene footage and pictures.
Look at that real human! How did he even get there into the untouchable world of clay?
5. People think you’re an expert for just knowing the basics.
No one believes you when you mention that Tim Burton actually didn’t direct The Nightmare Before Christmas. Or Coraline…seriously people.
6. You’ve probably put films into mental categories and ranked them.
Which films are better? The Wallace and Grommet style British ones? Anything from Tim Burton? The Old school Christmas movies? Laika studios? An outlier like Fantastic Mr. Fox? Who can choose these things?!
7. If you watch one stop-mo’ it sends you into a spiral.
A lot of these are just the hour-and-half children's film length that just leaves you wanting more. Watching The Boxtrolls leads to The Corpse Bride, which leads to watching Coraline, which leads to James and the Giant Peach, which leads The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Soon you’ll be watching The Boxtrolls again. Satisfaction will never be found.
8. You get a little offended when a film looks like claymation but didn’t earn it through the process.
*Side eyes Monster House*
9. You remember the time and place you found out about claymation.
It was The Nightmare Before Christmas for me. My older sister walked me through the “move a little, take a picture, move a little, take a picture” process and I thought, “What? Why would anyone do this?”
10. You’ve considered making them.
I mean how hard can it be, right? Right?
