Feature: Alice in Wonderland

We recently featured Hoedown from Rodeo, a stop motion short that used complex paper creations popping up from between the pages of an old book to tell a "silent western" drama. You can use the same basic idea to animate a pop-up illustrated version of a storybook, like misteryCARD did here for Alice in Wonderland.

Alice in Wonderland

Making the paper cutouts from the pages of a book helps present the illusion of characters coming to life out of the story (Inkheart, anyone?). But you don't need to cannibalize your favorite novel! You can mimic the look by printing on regular paper in a standard serif font. This animator also added light color and drew on details to help contrast the characters from the background.

Flip pages to reveal new scenes. Disappearing tricks like the rabbit going down the black hole are achieved by trimming the cutout at the bottom just a bit between snapping each frame. When you look closely, there are visible white strings being used to manipulate the cutouts and turn the pages. If you have time, these strings can be painted out frame by frame during the editing phase to increase the magical factor of stop motion.

Cast your friends as the voice actors, or tell the entire story yourself. This is a creative opportunity for you to try out distinctive voices and accents for each character! Keep in mind the length that you want for your animated video and edit the story down as needed. For Alice, only iconic scenes and lines were referenced, yet we still get the gist of the plot (especially since most of us are already familiar with the tale). Try recording the lines at performed at various speeds so you have the options you need for the edit.

If you make a paper animation of any kind and would like it to be featured on our site, let us know here!