Skip to main content

Watch the evolution of stop-motion film in this 3-minute video

Watch the evolution of stop-motion film in this 3-minute video

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Stop-motion animation has been a mainstay in cinematic special effects for almost as long as movies have been around. Filmmaker Vugar Efendi recently posted a video that charts the history of the technique, and shows just how far it has come since it was first introduced over a century ago.

Starting with 1900's The Enchanted Drawing and running all the way up through 2016’s Kubo and the Two Strings, short video is a fascinating look at how the technique has evolved over the years, and include some of cinema’s best-known moments, from King Kong atop the Empire State Building to the AT-AT attack in The Empire Strikes Back.

Kubo and Two Strings is the recent film to utilize the animation style, which entails manipulating a puppet or prop frame by frame to give the illusion of movement when viewed in sequence. Originally used to create fantastical elements before the advent of computer imagery, it’s now the basis for numerous films, such as The Little Prince and Nightmare Before Christmas.