 A stop @-@ motion opening sequence for the series ' 10th anniversary special was created by LA @-@ based animation studio Screen Novelties . The group was re @-@ enlisted a few years later to produce the eighth season episode " It 's a SpongeBob Christmas ! " This was the first full @-@ length episode in the series to be produced in stop motion animation . Mark Caballero , Seamus Walsh , and Christopher Finnegan of Screen Novelties animated the episode , and Caballero and Walsh also served as its directors . 
