The Creepy Aesthetic of Stop Motion: PART 1

From "Madame Tutli-Putli" directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

Have you ever watched a stop motion animation that gave you chills? Did looking at the characters make you feel tense? Did you find yourself paying closer attention and anxiously awaiting what would happen next? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, don’t worry! This is perfectly normal because the truth is: stop motion animation is creepy.

In this post, we’re going to go over why we find things creepy and why stop motion in particular is so good at it. And if you’re feeling brave, I have included one of my favorite stop motion short films at the bottom that, for reasons we’ll explore in Part 2, does a great job being creepy.

What Makes Something Creepy?

We find something to be creepy when we believe it poses a potential threat to our well-being. The key word here is “potential.” We aren’t entirely sure if it is truly a danger to us and it is this ambiguity that makes being creeped out different from being afraid. Since we aren’t sure if we are in any real danger our bodies don’t go into full fight-or-flight mode. However, facing a potential threat is enough to set us on edge and so we prepare ourselves for the possibility of a fight-or-flight response nonetheless. We do this primarily by heightening our senses- perhaps our eyes will widen or our muscles tighten.

From "The Maker - Behind the Scenes" released by Zealous Creative

Why is Stop Motion Creepy?

In stop motion, the animators manipulate characters and objects in increments, take pictures, and then compile these images to create a fluid illusion of movement. In other words, they bring inanimate things to life.

You might be thinking “Well, so does any other animation form.” And that’s true! The goal of 2D and other forms of 3D animation are indeed to bring lifeless things to life. But no other animation form requires the use of actual things.

The characters you see in a stop motion animation are not computer-generated or hand-drawn, they are essentially real. It is this use of real-to-the-touch characters and objects that sets stop motion apart from other animations and gives it an advantage when creepiness is the desired effect.

In Part 2 we’ll take an in-depth look at some of the specific elements that make stop motion animations creepy.

Featured Creepy Short: Madame Tutli-Putli

“Madame Tutli-Putli” is a 2007 short film directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. It’s a rather lengthy short film (about 17 minutes) but one well-worth featuring here. Its rich symbolism is open to interpretation but it is the character’s haunting eyes that have made this short film unforgettable for me.

****Please be warned: Some scenes may be deemed disturbing.