Claymation

The prompt

Stop-motion claymation on a miniature handmade set: every character and object is sculpted from matte plasticine with visible thumbprints and tool marks and slightly lumpy hand-shaped forms, lit like a tabletop studio; movement is stop-motion at about 12 frames a second, with the small jitter of hand-posed frames. On a rooftop garden above a city in late-afternoon sun, a plasticine girl with brown clay hair in a yellow clay T-shirt waters potted tomato plants with a clay watering can. Medium-wide shot at her eye level, three-quarter view, the camera holding still. 0–2s: she tips the watering can over a potted plant and a few blue clay droplets fall onto the leaves. 2–4s: a white paper airplane glides in from screen left and lands on the rim of the pot beside her. 4–6s: she sets the can down, picks up the paper airplane and turns it over in her hands. 6–8s: she looks up and out over the city rooftops and smiles as the wind ruffles the leaves and her hair. Throughout: everything stays matte plasticine with thumbprints and tool marks, animated in slightly jittery stop-motion steps, one continuous take.