Are You Ready To Create Your First Animation?
With 25 video lessons and 1000s of assets,
Develop the skill set to plan, design and shoot slick
STOP-MOTION ANIMATIONS
Then get them watched and build your following online!
Get The Training TODAY, heres what's on offer:
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​25 Highly informative Video Lessons where I work through each principle and technique with you in detail.
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​​500+ Professional Sound Effects
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​​Visual Effects Assets: Rain, Muzzle Flashes and Sparks
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​​Production Templates: Storyboards, Dope sheets & Timing sheets.
Bring Your Stories To Life
Unlock the secrets to master the art of animation, even if you've never animated before!
Dive into the world of stop motion animation with my comprehensive training course, designed for creators of all levels. Whether you want to animate your own films, create stunning visuals, or simply bring your wildest imagination to life, this course offers you the tools in your "skillset toolbox" to do so. I'll guide you from the basics to advanced techniques, turning you into a stop motion maestro in no time.
As Far Back As I Can Remember...
I Always Wanted To Be A Filmmaker
My name is Samuel Burt, and since the age of 11, I've been captivated by the magic of bringing inanimate objects to life.
It was the ability to create with my toys, act out my imagination and put it in a format that other people could see, that was what was so enchanting about it to me.
My journey has taken me from a kid experimenting in his bedroom to a seasoned animator and filmmaker, sharing stories with the world, amassing millions of views and multiple awards.
The road wasn't easy, you'll see below, I understand the questions and hurdles in the way to mastering this art.
Challenges You Might Be Facing
BEFORE
Lack of Basic Knowledge: What are the fundamental principles of the "Illusion of life"?
​Frame Consistency: How do I maintaining consistent lighting? Framing? Focus? Get rid of "flicker"?
​Animating Smooth Movements: How do I create smooth, natural movements frame by frame?
​Lighting Techniques: How do I get cinematic lighting? Stop reflections? Create ambiance? Special effects?
​Camera Setup and Angles: How do I compose shots for optimal story-telling? Whats the best gear to use?
​Editing and Post-Production: How to edit clips? What software is best? How do I add sound effects? Music? Voice-overs? VFX?
I've got the answers for those questions, let me tell you why...
Our Course Stands Out
AFTER
Expert-Led Lessons: I started just like you. My hands-on approach and personal insights ensure that you receive mentorship rooted in real-world experience.
​From Basics to Advanced Techniques: Whether it’s your first time animating or you’re looking to refine your skills, my curriculum covers everything! (Editing, storytelling, publishing online etc)
​Flexible Learning Environment: Learn at your own pace, from anywhere in the world. Our online platform provides you with access to lessons, resources, and community support whenever you need it.
​Behind The Scenes: You watch me in my personal studio, filming animated projects in real time. Frame by Frame.
Loads of EXTRAS: Sound effects, VFX assets, proffessional templates (We'll get to that later).
What You'll Get!
Here's a quick overview of whats included in this training package. Keep scrolling for more details.
25 Highly informative Video Lessons where I work through each principle and technique with you in detail.
​500+ Professional Sound Effects
​Visual Effects Assets: Rain, Muzzle Flashes and Sparks
​Production Templates: Storyboards, Dope sheets & Timing sheets.​
​Lifetime Access to the training
Course Breakdown
Below is a complete outline of the course curriculum. Each lesson has a full video, an in-depth summary of all points covered and any relevant downloads.
Module 1: Introduction
1: Introduction
These are your first steps... The introduction lesson briefs you on how to complete the training, what to expect, and what things you might need throughout.
This is where I set the tone for the course, if we were training in person, this is where i'd tell you about the fire escapes and drills. Since its all online, we can skip that bit.
2: Process Walk-Through
This lesson is a bird's eye view of the Stop-Motion Animation process so you understand where each part you learn fits into the final picture. Starting at the idea conception, all the way to publishing online, and everything in between.
This lesson is belt feeding you information and I don't expect you to remember it all as the proceeding lessons chunk it all down. The important thing this lesson provides is context.
3: Gear Index
Here I break down all the different types of gear you will need and what you need to consider when choosing.
Attached to this lesson is a downloadable sheet which is literally an "index" of all my recommendations, at all price points, covering: Cameras, stands, accessories, microphones, software, computers and miscellaneous.
Module 2: Animation
4: Technical Stuff
Before jumping straight in, there's some technical stuff you need to be aware of so that you can complete your animations properly.
First we explore the 5 main areas of a camera: 1) Shutter speed 2) Aperture 3) ISO 4) White balance 5) Focus. Then we talk into key areas like Frames Per Second (FPS) and Timing.
5: Ease In / Out (Watch Now)
Movement is not linear. It starts off slow, builds speed and then slowly comes to a stop. This is the case for all movements in life. It builds, reaches its peak and then slows.
Without following this natural law in your own animations, even at a minute scale, you'll be inviting jittery, choppy moves to arrive in your films. This is the first animation principle we look at, and it is the foundation to all that follows.
6: Arcs & Timing (Watch Now)
Slow moves require more frames, fast moves require less frames... This is Timing. Each frame captures a specific moment of movement, the amount of these moments of movement captured, influences many different variables like how natural the animation looks or the emotion that's conveyed.
It’s rare that things move in a straight line. In the real world, movements occur along curved paths, these are "arcs".
7: Anticipation & Follow Through (Watch Now)
To anticipate a movement in animation, it just means the preparation for an action. If the main action was for a character to run away, you'd anticipation it by taking a few frames where the character winds their body and arms back, before breaking into the move.
Follow through means the movement after the action has taken place. If a superhero came into land, the follow-through action would be bending of the knees, maybe even lean to absorb the left-over momentum.
8: Exaggeration
Here we look into the principle of "exaggeration".
This is where certain aspects of movement or action are heightened or amplified beyond realistic proportions. It helps communicate emotions, convey ideas, and capture the viewer's attention. But there is 5 main types of exaggeration, and each should be used differently.
9: Squash & Stretch
This is where we focus in on one of the most important forms of exaggeration within animation. This principle stems from the older drawn animations, but is also rooted in realistic movements too.
In life, only hard solid objects remain the same shape when they are in motion or under impact, while objects with more elasticity, often distort depending on what's going on around them.
10: Overlapping Action
In life, we don’t just move one part of ourselves at one time, and when we do move multiple parts of ourselves, we don't begin the movements all at the same time. Our actions overlap!
This is how you should be thinking when you’re bringing life to an animated puppet.
You’ll have your main action in a scene, but within that main action, there might be another action within with slightly different timing.
11: Walk Then Run
A walk cycle or a run cycle is a series of carefully choreographed poses and movements that depict a character walking or running.
It's all about repeating a sequence of frames that create the illusion of continuous motion. Mastering the walk cycle is essential for bringing your characters to life and adding believability to your animations.
12: Performance
In this lesson, we look into character performance. By this point, we've covered some of the animation principles, now, when and how you use them in your films should be thought into.
Through the use of timing and a new principle called "Secondary action", here I show how you'd animate two characters talking to one another.
13: Mouth Movement (Practical)
Some studios, like Aardman Animations create different mouth models and swap them out each frame on their actual puppets, others sculpt the clay or plasticine that the puppets are made from. Others use paper replaceable mouths and some just do it in post.
Whichever way you want the mouth of your character to look, the principles behind it remain the same. The principles that you will learn in this lesson.
14: Camera Movement
Camera movement is a staple in every film, it's a part of film form, good for cool shots and very effective for story telling purposes. Its important to know how to animate it!
There are all sorts of different types of camera moves you can do, here are the main 5 which we’ll be covering in this lesson: Panning, Tilting, Tracking (Left, right, forward, backward), Pedestal (Up, down) and Zoom
15: Practical Effects
Animating practical effects into scenes saves time messing on in post production, and depending on who you ask, can improve your films.
In this lesson, i'll be showing you how to animate: Explosions, Muzzle Flashes, Lasers, Rain and Blood.
Module 3: Create
16: Composition
Shot composition is all about how your frame looks, where are objects placed and why. Is the camera simply pointing at the character, or is it close in at a low angle slightly tilted. What looks good, what's most relevant to the feeling you’re trying to convey.
It's one of those things you don't realise has such an effect until you see it side by side being used and not.
17: Lighting
The first part of this lesson will cover the different lights you can use.
The second, more important part will cover all the lighting techniques and principles you need to know for cinematic results, you’ll see them in action and gain an awareness on how and when you can use them for different desired outcomes.
Module 4: Story & Planning
18: Story Structure & How To Be Funny
Before you jump into animation, you need to know what your films are going to be about. Whether you write a fully-fledged script or just a few bullet points, the amount of detail you’re willing to go to on this is entirely up to you, but just remember this.
If your idea isn't great or your ending is weak, no matter the quality of the animation, people won’t watch it... Unless you’re making a fruit cutting satisfying video, or cooking video of course.
19: Storyboarding
When I was a younger man I used to skip this stage, and shoot the scene on the fly, but drawing or at least planning the shots you want to film can not only save time but allow for a grander vision than first realised as the act of this stage facilitates thought into how a scene is composed.
20: Recording Lines
You can record your dialogue with a condenser mic, a shotgun mic or you could even use your phone as an audio recorder.
Whatever you choose to use, the 3 main things to consider when recording voices are: Acoustics, Quality and Performance. This lesson, we'll take a deep dive into all three.
Module 5: Post-Production
21: Editing
You've captured your frames, and now it's time to bring them together into a compelling story that captivates and entertains. This lesson is where your creativity meets technical skill, transforming your raw footage into a polished masterpiece.
Importing footage, clipping frames, adding dialogue and digital camera movements are all covered here.
22: Sound
Would you believe me if I told you that I believe quality sound to be more important than quality visuals in storytelling. An audience is more forgiving of poor visuals if the sound is good and coherent, they can still follow on and be immersed to a degree.
In this lesson, I'm going to show you where you can source sound effects from, how you can record your own foley, and how you mix and master it to fit your films.
23: Visual Effects
Now it's time to get started using the real movie magic.
This lesson, i’ll be showing you how to:
- Make things fly
- Use a green screen
- Use Overlays (Explosions, muzzle flashes, sparks, rain etc)
24: Mouth Movement (VFX)
So in a previous lesson, I showed you how to do character mouth movement practically, now I'm going to show you how to do it with visual effects.
The same principles apply with the phonemes, but it's the implementation that is different.
25: Publishing
So you've edited your movie and exported the timeline, now its time for the big release.
Don't go to all the hard work of creating your film to then have no-one see it. To make sure that they do, this lesson, i'll be talking into the 5 main things that I use to pull in millions of views.
Bonus Features
For Taking Action Through This Page
When you enroll in our Stop Motion Animation Training Course, you're not just gaining access to expert-led tutorials and comprehensive learning resources.
500+ Starter Sound Effects Pack
Unlock a treasure trove of creativity with our special Sound Effects Pack.
This isn't just any collection; it's a meticulously curated library of over 500 sound effects, designed specifically for stop motion animators.
The sound effect categories in this folder include but are not limited to:
- Ambiances
- Household Objects
- Hits & Impacts
- Risers
- Footsteps
- Vehicles
Visual Effects Assets
Kick start your journey into the world of visual effects with these assets.
Within this pack, are overlays designed for ease of use which bringing out the best in your scene. Included in this pack are:
- Muzzle Flashes
- Rain Overlays
- Sparks
- Animated Character Mouth Assets
Simply drag and drop these effects into your video editing timeline, change the blending mode and voila (I'll show you how to do this of course).
Professional Production Templates
These are the things you don't consider when you first start out, but once you've used them, you'll see how important they are in the overall process.
Storyboard: A drawn version of your film, the PDF template I'll provide you with has 6 boxes, with space for shot details and scene admin.
Dope Sheet: A physical chart where you can map frame by frame in your animations the phonetic sounds for dialogue. This is important for when you animate mouth movement. (This is covered in the mouth movement lesson).
Frame Track List: An example of a chart I use when animating multiple things at once in a scene, it helps me to not forget moves.
Life Time Access To The Course Page
Complete the training at your own pace, and revisit and rewatch the lessons as many times as you wish.
The image in this section shows you what the course page looks like. You can see down the left, there is a menu where you can freely navigate the different modules, accessing the lessons in any order you want.
When you complete it for the first time, I do recommend following the lessons chronologically, i've set them that way as that's the most effective way of learning the process in my opinion.
Community Access
You don't set you off on your journey alone.
You can join a private support group of like-minded animators eager to see and cheer on your work. We all share a love of the craft and are keen to recruit other creatives into our ranks.
Use us! Ask questions, collaborate on projects and nurture your abilities. The more you engage and build your network, the better you will become.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is this course designed for?
This course is perfect for beginners who are new to stop motion animation, as well as intermediate animators looking to refine their skills and learn new techniques. Whether you're an aspiring animator, a creative hobbyist, or a professional looking to diversify your skill set, our course has something to offer you.
Do I need any special equipment or software to take this course?
To implement this course, you will need access to a camera (a smartphone camera can work), a tripod, and a computer, if you don't have any of these, and are unsure of what to get, I'll be talking into it in the Gear Index lesson, so you don't actually need anything to get started. For software, I'll introduce you to both free and paid options.
Is there any support available if I get stuck?
Absolutely! I offer support through a dedicated online Facebook community group where you can post questions, share your work for feedback, and connect with fellow students and instructors. Im committed to providing a supportive learning environment to help you succeed.
What is the refund policy?
We offer a 14-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied with the course for any reason, simply contact us within 14 days of purchase for a full refund. We want to ensure that you're happy and confident in your investment in your education with us.
My Results
First Class Degree In Film, TV & Theatre: In 2022, I graduated from the Northern School of Art. A specialised university focusing solely on the arts, After 3 years of study and practical work, I left with a prestigious first class bachelor of arts degree.
​Highly Commended Award From The British Film Institute: One of my films received a highly commended award from the BFI's moving picture awards program in 2019.
​Royal Television Society Award: In 2023 my film "Boulder & Pebble" picked up an RTS from my region of the north east.
​Over A Decade In The Game: I've been releasing animated films online for over a decade now, and in that time, i've amassed millions of views, and thousands of subscribers.
​British International Film Festival: My film "Boulder and Pebble" was crowned champion again at the British International Film Festival 2023.The victory was covered in the news, i've linked the article below this section.
This section isn't a brag, its to show you that you can listen to what i'm saying (credibility). If you want to invest in a training program, you better make sure that the trainer is qualified, so here are some of my results:
My Film's Have Received Awards These Places:
News Articles:
Sam Burt is from Redcar and recently picked up the Best Student Film award at the British International Film Festival at a ceremony in Lichfield. The 22-year-old was nominated for the award for his stop-motion film Boulder and Pebble, which he filmed in and around his hometown.