If you're using a DSLR, it's pretty likely it has the option to use a manual white balance setting so it won't change from frame to frame. Check your camera settings. If you're using a recent Canon it would probably appear under "custom white balance".

One other thing that can cause light flicker in an otherwise good setup is your own movement; if you're wearing light colored clothing and don't return to the same position each time you capture a frame, the light bouncing off of you can create flicker. The general solution is to wear black clothing and try to always capture from approximately the same position.

That's a big mistake there. NEVER use automatic settings. Any settings that you are able to, turn it to manual. If you don't know what it is, just turn it off auto and don't mess with it. That's why you get light flicker. Once you've done that, you don't have to edit every single frame for brightness and color balance, and it will be a way less grueling task.

Thanks for the input guys! I will definitely look into getting more out my camera. I will try some test shots after I finish off my latest video.

Onto Chapter Two of my incredible journey into this crazy world called Brickfilmation

Yup, you guessed it, I am stop motioned out for the day. Time to write of my glamorous exploits so you can live vicariously through me.

Approximately, two arduous weeks ago I decided it was time to post my first official Youtube video. Little did I know what I was delving into.

My first video is best described as a hot steaming pile of... PURE AWESOMENESS!!!

I simply don't know how to describe in words the utter perfection you will witness in this video. You will just have to see it for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UILurIMziM

Okay, so perfect might be too strong a word. But c'mon there is a explosion in it! Every good stop motion should include an explosion, right?

Yes, the camera was too far away from the action, and yes, it is a bit jumbled. There should be a warning label attached because the strobe light effect from the multiple light flickers might cause a seizure in small children. The over saturated colours could cause temporary blindness. And the constant out of focus frames would drive even a far sighted person, without their glasses on, to shudder in revulsion. But, besides all that, perfection!

I DID manage to get the voices in on the right cues, using Audacity. Honestly, the voices are my favourite bit. Disney really should give me a call, I could give them a few pointers.

I had actually included LegoDad doing the intro and extro at a later date,as well as the Splash screen

Strike it up to lessons learned and move on to my next great achievement!

It was time to try my new found skills to put together a whole video, with a stop motion segment, and a quick build review segment. Also, at this time, I filmed the intro and extro.

Now I don't want to set your hopes up but this, ladies and gentlemen, is truly something which must be seen to be believed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omcBGKrVULQ

DID YOU SEE THAT!!! Oh... you only got through half of it and fell asleep... Yeah, most of the kids who watched it did the same.

So I have to rethink the video segment, no worries I got a plan!

Onto the important bit, the truly revolutionary Stop Motion segment! And what about that intro and extro. I have no idea why LegoDad refuses to stop looking around like a wanted fugitive who hears sirens in the distance. And look at how smooth his movements are. That there is just plain impressive is it not? No...hmph, what do you know anyway

There is an explosion! That counts for something, right? And just because you have no idea why the explosion happened doesn't dilute its effect at all. I mean did you not notice the guy falling on the detonator while the dump truck ran over the dynamite? No... sigh...

But hey, look almost no light flicker! Woot, score that one up to a win!

Believe it or not, and I know it is hard to believe, but I, me, I did all the sound effects! Yes, sirry, you should be impressed!

Stop looking at me like I am little child who just tried to draw their dog and managed somehow to create a passing imitation of a Picasso painting. It's not THAT bad...well..sniff.. it isn't, is it?

Yeah, yeah, I am going to go away now, but I will be back and better! You wait and see!

Last edited by LegoDad (July 7, 2016 (04:31pm))

My thoughts exactly. Where is this posted? It sounds like something I need to read

WOW, Wow, wow! I took several test shots playing around with different settings this morning and filmed a segment of my latest video with the best settings I could find. What a difference! Thanks for pushing me in that direction! Now I will have to go back and try to emulate those settings with the magic of editing, but still this will be a HUGE time saver when filming my next video!

Time for another installment of the hit series "What to do when you are bored and want to read the inane ramblings of a mediocre-at-best stop motion animator"

The great burden of responsibility fell upon me to provide quality a quality video for all of my six Youtube subscribers (My wife and my other Youtube account not withstanding) last week and that is exactly what I set out to do!

You are fortunate enough to be able to see before a work of true... hmm, Vision? No. Artistry? Not really. Splendor? Most definitely not! Shi... Don't say that kids could be reading this!

Dear reader I shall let you decide.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=S4KnQF30GSs

I can tell by your stunned silence that you are at a loss for words. I shall take your awestruck expression with the greatest of humility. I know it is not everyday you see a video of that calibre.

That special effect with the ever changing colour balance in the intro took some doing, hours of painstaking editing went into making sure each was just a little bit off from the one before. Look at how smooth LegoDad moves! Notice how you can hardly tell where I repeated the loops for his headshake and emphathic gestures. Oh, you did notice... Well NOW you see it because I just pointed it out, obviously! An look how his hair moves so naturally as he moves his head, it is almost like it is actually real. Can you imagine the work that went into that effect!

Did you hear the music? That is called production value! Only the best for people watching my videos, I do after all have subscribers to please.

Easing??? That's what I do on Friday night with a few pints of Guinness. How the heck does that apply to brickfilming? Unless, you mean, it helps to be slightly inebriated when filming or watching this stuff. That makes sense, I mean the blurred vision would be useful in blending the images together, just like a mask for photo editing. That makes total sense, thanks for clearing that up!

Ease in. Ease out. Ohhh, now I get it. Speed up the frame rate as I get to the apex of the action then slow it down at the end! Got it! No? But... argh, that should work in theory right?

Okay, okay, that doesn't work. Well then, what about adding in extra frames to blur the action? That sounds all technical, so it should blend the whole sequence together, just like those Guinness I mentioned before. Oh.. they needs to be high speed so you don't actually see the blurred part hmmm.... might need to work on this easing stuff a bit more.

But wow a pay loader drove OVER a dump truck! Magic I tell you, pure studio magic! I bet you did even see the bricks holding the wheels in place as she went over the ramp. Yeah, yeah, sure you did. Just like you noticed the recycled loops pfft your such a liar

And what a flawless explosion! You could just feel the concussive blast waves coming off that one couldn't you. So fluid how the pay loader fell apart like that, exactly how it look like in real life. Rushed you say! My Guinness had just settled out, of course I was rushed to finish. I had some easing to do.

The subtle smooth panning seamlessly followed every movement on the screen with no distraction added at all, you could hardly even tell that you were looking through a camera lense. Such a marvel of filmography! I really don't know how I could improve on that. Oh, yes, I am sure you do!

The sweet lovely tones of the pay loader driver's voice took me hours to perfect. Sadly, no, that wasn't a joke... Her grating voice was a result of mixing a terrible Miss Piggy impression with and equally horrendous Southern US accent. Wrap that up to a stereotypical country bumpkin persona and you have sheer genius!

I will be hard to top that level of stop motion excellence. I have taken over a week to film my next video and I am not even close to complete yet. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to do better. You will just have to wait and see! Hint, hint, do what the little man says at the end of the video so you don't miss an genre altering videos Of course, you could always wait until I post again, but where is the fun in that!

Between now and then my Guinness and I have a lot of easing to do.

I am I have two little girls, 5 and 8, both who are as a obsessed with Lego as I am.

It was them who were the motivation behind me starting this channel. They love watching all the Lego videos on Youtube and wanted me to start one. Of course, being a big sucker for my girls I had to oblige. That is also why my channel is targeted towards kids rather than adults.

Thank yo very much for taking the time to give such an in-depth explanation of easing! I had watched a video or two on easing so had a rough idea of what easing was, but you have definitely increased my understanding a lot.

I will take your advice and look into the principles of animation, that sounds very useful!

I really wish I had a grounding in animation, but flying by the seat of pant is usually the way I approach learning new things which has it own fun, and no small amount of frustration as well.

I have a trip coming up and am going to use the down time to read through your guide and familiarize myself with the principles of animation, as well as get to know my camera a bit better.

I am just finishing up my latest video so it should be up in the next couple of days, I personally think it is a big improvement. But we shall have to see how others feel.

An EXCLLENT RESOURCE (and this should be added to the RESOURCES section under renovation) is CARTOON ANIMATION by Preston Blair.  I think a moderately abridged version of this book also can be found at craft stores.  My pre-brickfilm hand-animated cartoons were possible because of the knowledge contained in this book.