Rolling Into Stop Motion Editing: My (Almost) Spicy Tuna Adventure

This week was quite the challenge! I spent the first half just figuring out what I wanted to try. I eventually landed on stop motion and decided to explore iMovie as well. With those two goals in mind, I just needed a recipe to attempt—and I settled on spicy tuna rolls.

In this post, I’ll break down everything I learned, but you can also check out my video above for a glimpse into my weekly experiment.

The Spicy Tuna Rolls (Well Kinda)

I’ve always been a little hesitant about trying raw fish, and this was supposed to be the week I finally conquered that hesitation. However, one of my biggest challenges throughout my courses has been balancing work, parenthood, and assignments. This week pushed me to my limit, and unfortunately, my sushi-grade tuna was a casualty—I just didn’t have time to visit a specialty Asian store.

So, I improvised! I found a spicy tuna recipe on AllRecipes that used canned tuna as a substitute. While it worked, there were a couple of things I wasn’t thrilled about. First, their instructions for making sushi rice seemed a little odd, so I ignored them and relied on my previous experience. I’m actually getting pretty good at making sushi rice, so it was nice to see that progress from my past weeks of cooking.

The bigger issue was simply the canned tuna. If I think of these rolls as a “sushi version of a tuna sandwich,” I’m happy with how they turned out. But when compared to real spicy tuna sushi, they definitely fell short. That said, I enjoyed the process, and things felt easier this time. Maybe next week, I’ll finally tackle raw sushi!

Apple Screen Recording

This week, I also learned how to screen record on my iPhone, thanks to my sister-in-law. She often records clips to share in our family group chat since my in-laws don’t have social media. Inspired by her, I Googled how to enable the feature on my iPhone and iPad, and Apple’s built-in AI gave me easy-to-follow steps.

I had used screen recording before, but the new skill I picked up this week was adding a voiceover. Another quick Google search helped me figure this out. I even used it to create a lesson video for one of my classes since I was away for an appointment and wasn’t sure if my sub had enough background knowledge to teach the content.

Stop Motion on TikTok

I’ve always loved stop motion videos, so I decided to finally try making one. Since I already had TikTok, I went with that and watched a few tutorials. One thing I love about social media is how creators teach you how to use the platform—there’s so much you can learn!

Some of the best tips I found included:

• Keeping the camera stationary

• Filming very small movements for smoother animation

• Choosing the right editing app

One creator mentioned she spent five hours editing her stop motion on CapCut—definitely more time than I had! So, I used TikTok’s built-in stop motion effect instead, and I’m so glad I did. It was simple to use, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. You can see more of the process in my YouTube video above!

iMovie

I’ve had a Mac for a while, but I’ve always leaned toward Canva and other video editing apps. This week, I decided to finally give iMovie a try. I used an Apple tutorial to get started—it was easy to follow, though it lacked videos, so if you’re someone who prefers watching tutorials over reading them, this might not be the best guide.

iMovie turned out to be pretty simple! I played around with adding a theme, inserting text, and testing some editing tools. I didn’t go too in-depth, but I can see myself exploring it more in the future, especially since it’s already included on my computer.

In Conclusion

This week was packed with learning—stop motion, screen recording, iMovie, and (almost) making real spicy tuna rolls. Even though I didn’t get around to using raw fish, I feel like my skills are progressing. Maybe next week, I’ll take the plunge!

Let me know if you’ve ever tried making sushi at home, stop motion videos, or if you have any favorite editing tools. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

**I used AI to help correct my grammar this week – I fully wrote the post, and then asked it to edit. Do you feel like utilizing this feature adjusts my writing voice?