Make a "pikapika" Style Animation

this was inspired by: https://www.instructables.com/id/EA0BRX3F0B5PTFM/
and the people who make the pikapika light doodles: http://tochka.jp/pikapika/

Step 1: Learn How to Make a Long Exposure Light Doodle

learn here: https://www.instructables.com/id/EA0BRX3F0B5PTFM/

for this test i used a Panasonic DMC-LZ5 in the "STARRY SKY" setting with a 10 second delay and a 30 second exposure time. this is a one man show so i must allow enough time to hit the button and get the doodle complete before the shutter closes. the light source is a simple L.E.D. keychain thing.

Step 2: Make a Coat Hanger Model

first off, in order to make any stop frame animation, it is necessary to take pictures of something over and over while moving the object a little bit each time. the pikapika crew use multiple people, so one person can operate the camera and the other person can draw the image. i am by myself, so a "coat hanger person" was my solution. This allowed me to return to the same location each time to make the light doodle, then move it and repeat... it was made from 3 metal coat hangers and some tape.

Step 3: Make the Light Doodle With the Model

ok, now if you know how to make the doodle, and you have some type of model. you can take pictures of it in different poses and make an animation. again i used the DMC-LZ5 in "STARRY SKY" mode, this time with 15 second exposure, no timer delay. for the editing i used adobe premier pro 2.0 and set the duration of each image to an extremely short period of time. i sequenced 24 images and looped the clip 4 times, then added a pinch of the flaming lips.

Step 4: Improvments That Can Be Made

let me reiterate, pikapika uses multiple people to make their stop motion films. if you are doing this on your own, then a model seems necessary. in order to make it better i would paint the coat hanger model "flat black" so it would not reflect the light, thus leaving a cleaner image without showing the coat hanger model.