Stop motion = Step By Step motion

OR " A fantastic tool to use in a viral marketing"

In this article I will share an information what is "stop motion", what are the main tools to create "stop motion" and have it has been used in commercials, video clips and movies. 

In my opinion stop motion is like a step by step motion, created from a lot of pictures which follows each other and making the story. The pictures follow each other and in every picture there is some little change which is making movement. Step by step movement, like making an animation. The only difference is that you can also make this animation with real things, real people and etc. Together it creates story. 

Wikipedia explains the main idea of “stop motion”. It is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

“Stop motion” was born on the 19th century and it’s the first special effect used in cinema. Nowadays anyone can create this moving animation effect. What are the main attributes to create a „stop motion” movie/clip/commercial? 

Firstly, you need an idea. As we know it’s actually the hardest step. Afterwards you need a lot of time and patience, because usually it takes more time than expected. Then  you need camera, tripod and program „Windows Movie Maker” which is the easiest  one or „Adobe Premiere Pro”. Ready to start? 

In Internet world we can see more and more videos made in "stop motion" technique. Mostly though it is the amateur level and professional level is seen rarely. Usually, they also exceed the 10-minute length. This is largely explained by the fact that this technique is very time consuming and requires great attention and concentration. But "stop motion"  is an excellent way to draw and retain Internet users' attention, especially for making the campaign viral. 

The most common „stop motion” tricks are object „revival”, give people and object possibility to move, fly and to create unusual situations. 

In my opinion here are the best examples where the "stop motion" technique have been used:

 Sony Bravia commercial

 xBox360 commercial 

As we saw on these examples, the clay figures were used. That is called clay animation or clay-mation technique. Clay figures are used a lot  in "stop motion" because of their ease of repositioning.

This is the most popular "stop motion" video, it was made as a music clip for a song by Oren Lavie:

Her Morning Elegance 

This video was and still is incredible popular. Here you can see have it was done and how many awards they won:

Behind the scenes

Of course this video become so viral, that it has also a parody:

Parody 

As we can see "stop motion" is a fantastic tool to attract viewers attention! And to develop your own creative thinking, take your camera, go outside and create your own "stop motion" video. It's really fun. 

P.S. Here you can find very simple "stop motion" videos which I have created just to understand if it really works. And it does. (It took 3-5 hours to create each of them)

Flying people

"Life" objects

Painting with "stop motion"

“The new trend of social media – Foursquare”

OR  “Let burglars know that you are not at home”

When today I was posting a tweet on my twitter account, I noticed a new feature. The idea is that you can add information about your current location. The information is shared publicly and it can be either your exact location (coordinates) or place. Of course you need to have other applications or mobile devices that support this feature.

So, I started to think that it’s actually the main idea of location- based social networking service which already has been offered by a lot of networks. The main players are Foursquare and Gowalla. Why these new location- based platforms are so appealing? How you can use them from business point of view? I tried to understand the  positive and negative aspects of Foursquare.

What is Foursquare? 

It’s a web and mobile application, that incorporates gaming elements and you can use it wherever you go.  Click here and find out what is Foursquare

The good things I found out about the Foursquare from the business point of view are:

• It’s a perfect tool for tourist business and hospitality industry. There are many benefits you can get out from it.

• You can see how many loyal clients you have and use the Foursquare (how many checking they have in your place) for giving them discounts. It’s the most common one.

• If your place is hard to find, Foursquare is the right tool to help you. 

• It helps to build loyalty. Eugene Schoen: "Speaking about Loyalty building & Location, Foursquare’s business model statement comes to mind: “Helping users connect with local business and helping local businesses connect with their best consumers”.

• It can be a good tool for giving you the recommendations, suggestions for things to do or in contrary- places to avoid. Everything nowadays are  based on people recommendations and advices. So, that leads to the fact, Fq.  can really help to improve services offered to consumers, because services will struggle to get „higher score”. Then better  recommendations and „check-in” for your service (hotel, hairdresser’s, cinema, club etc.) you have, then more possibility, that it will attract more and more people. So it work on both sides. Better for service providers and better for consumers.

• You can learn from consumer „bad feedbacks”.  That means that people can give their feedback about things to improve (they give general advices to you). So you get free and honest recommendations which comes directly from the consumers which are using your service.

Click here and read more about Foursquare marketing potential

• You can use Fq. to connect with your friends, see where they are right now, what places they usually visit and the opposite. You can also post your „chek- ins” on your account on Twitter and Facebook.

• From the consumer point of view, you can see the list „things to do” and explore and find a good service offer around you. You can also see the „The things to avoid” list.

• Fq. is the right place for people who love competition and game elements. You can get badges and points based on where, when and how often you "check in." It reflects your statistics. Then higher score you have, then better for your statistics.

• Fq. is for the „lazy travelers”, for the ones who haven’t done the homework and before  their trip, didn’t really check and plan the places they would like to visit. So, the only thing they need to do, is to open the application and see the nearest monuments, exhibitions, bars, disco clubs and choose. It’s also good for people who like to be spontaneous. The quote from the foursquare: „You can find happiness just around the corner.”

So far it’s about good things which I found out about location- based social networking service. Now it comes the point which bother me a bit.

 The thing is that if you use this network, then actually everyone know your location, where you are, what are you doing, your hobbies, the places where they can usually find you and so on.  It makes me bother a bit.

It’s obvious that you get a virtual value out of this network service, expecially if you have a service to offer, but on the other hand, I choose not to be so naked for the whole world. That's why I don’t have Internet on my phone. I don’t wan't that anybody can achieve me easily. On the other side, if I would have it, I’m sure I would try to use Foursquare and maybe even get in love with it.

P.S. As I said before, the biggest competitor for Foursquare is Gowalla. If you are interesting on that, but it’s hard for you to choose, click here and decide