ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the frame-by-frame exercise and technique that is very popular in Japan. The Japanese refer to it as pika pika. They also call it a "lightning doodle project", and often large numbers of people get together to create wonderful, fresh, and vibrant images of light painting in front of the camera frame by frame. When the filmmakers shoot an animated light loop, they have to keep in mind that the registration of one frame to the next is difficult to control because there are no registration guides. The exercise requires a few small props, a dark room or environment, and a DSLR camera like a Canon 5D or a Nikon D-7000, and that the person painting the light should wear dark clothes. The star guide should be stabilized and placed very carefully in each frame as it rises into the composition.
