Video essay traces the evolution of stop-motion from 1900 to Kubo

Filmmaker Vugar Efendi, following his successful Film Meets Art series, has released a new video essay that chronicles the history of stop-motion animation. The technique relies on physical models, small sculptures, and objects photographed frame by frame, preserving craftsmanship in the digital age. The video begins with early pioneers James Stuart Blackton and Edwin S. Porter in 1900 and extends to Travis Knight's Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). It features classics such as King Kong and Gulliver's Travels (both 1930s), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and Star Wars episodes, alongside sequences from Terminator, RoboCop, and Beetlejuice. Family films like Wallace & Gromit and The Little Prince are included, as are stop-motion masterpieces The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Anomalisa.