Pixilation

This article is about the animation technique. For the graphics effect induced by enlarging a bitmap, see pixelation. For the image-editing technique of displaying part of an image at low resolution, see pixelization.

Pixilation (from pixilated) is a stop motion technique where real actors are used in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. Thus the actor becomes a kind of living stop motion puppet.

The first work known to use the pixilation technique was Emile Courtet's 1911 film Jobard ne peut pas voir les femmes travailler (Jobard cannot see the women working).

Other well-known examples include the Canadian short film Neighbours, the music videos for "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads and "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel, and the tour-de-force full-length independent film The Wizard of Speed and Time by Mike Jittlov.

Pixilated also means affected by pixies, or bewitched (a pixie is a kind of sprite or elf), and in British usage is a synonym for being intoxicated by alcohol.