technique
Pixilation
Capture technique
Definition
A stop-motion technique in which live human actors are used as frame-by-frame subjects instead of purpose-built puppets or clay figures. The term derives from 'pixilated' (whimsically capricious, as influenced by pixies) rather than from 'pixel', and was widely attributed to Grant Munro and Norman McLaren at the National Film Board of Canada. Precursors appear in silent cinema: Segundo de Chomón (1908) and Émile Cohl (1911). McLaren's Neighbours (1952) — winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film — is the canonical example: live actors appear to levitate, glide and fight over a flower, embedding a pacifist message in surreal physical comedy. McLaren's A Chairy Tale (1957, co-directed with Claude Jutra) animated a domestic chair around a live actor using the same capture method. Jan Švankmajer incorporated pixilation into mixed-technique works including Food (1992). The technique reached mainstream audiences via Stephen R. Johnson's music video for Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (1986), which won nine MTV Music Video Awards. PES's Fresh Guacamole (2012) is frequently cited as the shortest film ever nominated for an Academy Award. In production, actors pose and shift incrementally between each captured frame on a standard stop-motion camera setup; no specialised hardware beyond the capture rig is required. Dragonframe can be used for live-view monitoring and frame capture. The aesthetic ranges from jerky mechanical movement to smooth impossible gliding depending on inter-frame displacement.