Stop-motion storytelling: exploring methods for animating the worlds of rare genetic disease

Qualitative research is increasingly challenged to think creatively and critically about how accounts of lived experience might be collected, collated, curated, and disseminated. In this article, we consider how forms of participatory filmmaking and animation might assist in the development of methodologies appropriate to accessing, revealing and representing the social worlds of families affected by rare genetic conditions. We trace how participatory animation, specifically stop-motion animation (a filmmaking technique involving incrementally manipulating objects to produce the semblance of motion) offers opportunities for enlivening qualitative research. We discuss the creation of a series of workshops which took participants through the process of producing their own animated film. Stop-motion storytelling as a method enabled us to encounter, and subsequently foreground, different narratives and emotions, whilst creating-together and watching-together prompted novel conversations. We move to reflect on how participatory animation can be a provocative and productive practice in the toolkit of qualitative research.