Stop the World: Cai Mi, Stop-Motion Animator

If you’re the type of person who can’t imagine slowing down, you’re probably a bit in awe of the patience and hard work necessary to make stop-motion videos. For Cai Mi, an independent animation director, concentrating intensely on individual moments is a way of life. Using imagination and hard work, she spends her days coaxing the illusion of movement from an endless series of static photos.

Why stop-motion instead of other motion graphic techniques?
Nowadays, design and animation are increasingly about effects and computers, but stop-motion remains a tactile experience. It reminds me of my childhood and I like doing things without computers.

Has this line of work changed your life?
I now see time as a process rather than a measurement. What takes up one second on screen can take as long as 30 minutes to photograph. For me, time management is about the whole scene, like when you are trying to cut a cake: how many cuts, how many people, the different parts of the cake, etc. I have to take everything into consideration, and then I can start planning. Then, as long as it looks continuous, I’m happy.

Also, stop-motion is probably good for my health. After a long shoot, it can feel like I’ve been working out all day. I remember a day of posing figures on the floor and standing up to take each shot – I was like a jumping frog. My legs were so sore the next day, but it’s good for me.

Do accidents ever take place during the shoots?
It happens on every single one of my projects. For example, it’s essential that the camera must never move. But sometimes, halfway through the scene, the camera needs a battery change – that’s always super dangerous. Sometimes the bulb in the lamp breaks and the lighting is no longer the same after you replace it. Sometimes the assistant touches something they shouldn’t have or the background moves when people walk by. It’s definitely a detail-oriented job. Reducing the number of mistakes is way more important than increasing efficiency.

Do your characters move the same way you do?
When the models themselves tell you how to move them around, it’s magical. Sometime I do feel that stop-motion can be faster than CG [computer graphics]. The moment you touch the figures, your brain is stimulated – you see possibilities that you wouldn’t have thought of unless you touched them with your fingers.

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Photo: Sui