One Frame at a Time:
A History of Stop-Motion Animation
Date: Monday, Dec 15 @ 12pm
Instructor: Phil Wenstrand
Location: Large Classroom
One frame at a time, a stop-motion movie comes to life.
Single frame by single frame (and there are 24 frames per second in a motion picture), animators subtly and painstakingly manipulate tangible objects (characters, props, sets, etc.) on a working stage. Each frame is photographed for the motion picture camera. When the thousands of photographed frames are projected together sequentially, the characters and environment are animated in fluid and continuous movement. It's movie magic crafted by hand.
Phil Wenstrand will discuss the history of stop-motion animation, with special emphasis on one of its masters, Ray Harryhausen.
In a career that spanned over 30 years, Harryhausen's groundbreaking "dynamation" techniques allowed live actors to seemingly interact with stop-motion creatures in such fantastical films such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), dazzling audiences with special effects that would go on to inspire the work of contemporary filmmakers like George Lucas, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton.
"Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars." -George Lucas
Phil Wenstrand is the GVR Photography Club's resident film historian. Phil spent most of his life in the media. For 30 years he worked in commercial television news and documentary production. He is a graduate of Linfield College and the Brooks Institute. He can often be found teaching classes at the University of Arizona's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI-UA) and educating participants on production, post-production and movie history at the club's Multimedia Special Interest Group.
This class is a great prelude to the Photography Club's field trip to the Mini Time Machine of Miniatures on January 8, 2026. In addition to the permanent collection, the museum features various exhibits during the year. Among the exhibitions we'll see during our visit, one of the most impressive is Ray Harryhausen: Miniature Models of the Silver Screen. This acclaimed exhibition will spotlight his models, archival footage, artist sketches, original artworks, and film paraphernalia from the Harryhausen archives.
Learn more about the field trip here.
The GVR Photography Club is located in the Recreation Village of Santa Rita Springs.