“Coraline”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Corpse Bride” — what do these films all have in common? They are all a type of genre called stop motion animation.

Stop motion animation is when the film is captured one frame at a time with clay characters and props being moved in between frames. When you combine the images together, it creates a sequence and you see the object moving. Unfortunately, the effort it takes for claymation movies is severely underrated and not given as much credit as it deserves.

The amount of time animation companies put in to producing these types of films takes quite a while. Laika, a company that has made many well known stop motion films such as “The Boxtrolls” has large time gaps in between movies. Of course, this is only due to the fact that a movie like “Coraline” took 20 months to film.

“It’s really beautiful and I think the quality is worth the wait,” said junior Tyler Stoner.

These type of films cannot be compared to those that are computerized. Animation companies like Pixar may have released more films and have won more awards, but regardless of how many they win, stop-motion animations are considerably better despite their lack of credit.

There is something special when everything is done with passion when it comes to creating characters’ faces, clothes and backgrounds. The painstaking effort it took when creating the jumping mice in “Coraline” or when Emily faded into butterflies at the end of “Corpse Bride”  brings art to life.

This kind of genre is always evolving and it needs to be appreciated. The effort that is taken to create these films should be given respect and the next time you watch a stop motion film, don’t forget to recognize the hard work that is put into it.