ANIMATION
Animation is a sequence of still images that are presented in a way that it looks as if they are moving. It started in the early 1800s as parlour-game toys, which experimented with persistence of vision.
Persistence of vision is when the eyes perceive an object and the brain continues for a small fraction of a second after the view blocked or the object is removed.
Cel Animation
Cel Animation is a tradition animation
technique where each frame is drawn by hand.
Sketches would normally be made on paper for the key positioning and
sequence of frames, then the rest of the frames would be sketched in, this is
known as inbetweening.
Each drawing would then be painted and
inked onto a sheet of transparent cellulose acetate or cel, from where the
animation gets it name. The cels are transparent so that it can be laid over
painted background so that the backgrounds are visible.
Once all the cells have been inked and
painted they would be given to a camera person who would photograph the backgrounds
and corresponding cels in sequence. It is vitally important that every cel was
numbered
Often more than one cell would be used on a
background. Numerous cells would be
layered on top of one another if more than one or more characters needed to be moving.
One moving character might need several cels, with different parts of the body
on, the corresponding cell would be remove and replaced with another painted
cel to show movement. Twenty five frames would be needed for one second of
animation.
Cut Out Technique Animation
Cutout animation is a technique for producing stop- animation by using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut out from different materials such as card, paper stiff fabric. The animation can be hand draw, found objects, colleges or silhouettes. These can be used alone in an animation or a animation could be create with the mixed media.
The cut out media would be placed into position, with various cut out parts that could be moved separately. More complex character in cut out animation can have hinged joints that are made with rivots pins. Using the “I stop Motion” software and a Hue HD camera, that would be placed in a Rostrum to get an aerial view. A shot would be taken and then the cut out would be slightly moved and another shot would be taken. This would be carried on unit the desired effect was created.
Today the use of scanned images and vector graphics on computers using computer software are frequently used instead of physically cut out materials.
Lotte Reiniger was on of the pioneers of cut out animation. She as a German Animation who used silhouettes.
Time Lapse
Time-lapse animation /photographic is a technique where series of film frames are taken at interim periods, at much lower frame rate than usual and then played back normal speed. Time lapse animation is a way of manipulating time, things that would normally take hours, days, weeks, or even years can be viewed and finished in seconds.
A camera would be set up in position and then manually or set to automatic would capture a series of shots of the subject over a period of time. When played back at normal speed through persistence of vision the still shots appear to be moving.
Example
This example if Time Lapse animation, it is a series of shot taken of somebody making a sketch. The sketch could take minutes or hours to achieve the final result yet it is played back in seconds. When doing a sketch with Time Lapse animation the artist would have to be a practice sketch fist to find out how long it would takes so then they would know how many frames they would need.
Example
This example of Time Lapse animation is a series of shots of flowers changing over a period of time, this could be weeks. When played back at normal speed because of persistence of Vision it looks as through the flowers are moving.
Model based Animation
Model base animation is a form of animation using I Stop Motion software and camera. 3D models are moved in a sequence, a picture is taken after every small movement and when played back this illusion of movement.
Claymation
Claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. It is a technique where characters, figures or objects are sculpted out of clay, plastercine or similar workable materials and filmed using stop-motion photography to create a lifelike look.Normally sculpted around a wire skeleton call an armature and then placed on set. The figures are then photographed once before being slightly moved by hand for the next shot, this is continued with the figure being moved and shots been taken until the animator has achieved what was desired.
The figures cannot be moved by accident and must be free from dirt, hair or smudges.
When the film is played back the human mind observes the rapid changes of images as motion.
This method of animation, using clay and stop-motion photography, is extremely time consuming with twelve frames only producing one second of film movement. A thirty-minute film would take approximately 21,600 stops to change the figures for the frames.
Although there are a few different types of Claymation, two of them are “Freeform” clay animation and “Character” clay animation
Art Clokey was an animator who made Claymation popular by creating a Claymation character called Gumby and his horse Pokey which first appeared on the Howdy Doody Show and later got their own series. In 1990 Gumby the Movie was released.
Otmar Gutmann was a clay animator who created the character Pingu which was part of a stop-motion animated television series.
Pixilation animation
Pixilation animation uses people and real life props in a series of images to create an animation.
I worked with Nathan to create this pixilation animation. We used to web cam using a program called I stop Motion. We intended the animation to be ten second long. Using 12 frames per second, we needed approximately 120 frames. The animation was created with the file format H.264 which is mp4. The prop we used was a pigs mask.
The pioneers
Walt Disney (December 5, 1091- December 15, 1966)
Walt Disney was an animator, entrepreneur, cartoonist, voice actor and film producer.In 1919 he met another animator Ub lwerks and they formed a company called “Iwerks-Disney.” This company didn’t last long and Disney went to Kanas City Film Ad Company, later Iwerks followed. Here they began to study how to do film Cel Animation, Oswald Rabbit was their first character.
They then created Mickey Mouse who starred in two silent short, Plane Crazy and Galloping Gaucho
In 1931 he Walt Disney started using two-strip colour and by the mid 30’s was using three-strip Technicolor.
He was the first use a storyboard. His studio grew, he employed hundreds of people and included its own art school. When the multiplane camera was developed, he could do more fluid, realistic animated movements with greater perspective and depth.
In 1937 Disney had the released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a film that went on to make nearly eight million dollars in the first release. They had films followed, people liked them because the animation was spectacular, the tunes were catchy and reassuringly and upbeat during the troubled war years.
In the 1960s, Disney was awarded 29 Oscars for his films, he had become the king of American entertainment.
He was the first use a storyboard. His studio grew, he employed hundreds of people and included its own art school. When the multiplane camera was developed, he could do more fluid, realistic animated movements with greater perspective and depth.
In 1937 Disney had the released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a film that went on to make nearly eight million dollars in the first release. They had films followed, people liked them because the animation was spectacular, the tunes were catchy and reassuringly and upbeat during the troubled war years.
In the 1960s, Disney was awarded 29 Oscars for his films, he had become the king of American entertainment.
Otto James Messmer (August 16, 1892- October 28, 1983)
Otto James Messmer was an American animator who was well known mainly for his work on Felix the cat, a popular animation of its time. He studied at the Thomas School of Art in New York, and his true passion was for cartooning. He got his inspiration from Winsor McMay’s films, one of the them being “How a mosquito operates”.
In 1915 he went to work with Jack Cohn of Universal Studies and created a test film for character called “Moto Mat”. It was never released. Messmer then went to work with a well-known cartoonist, Henry “HY” Mayer, where they collaborated on the successful animation The Travels of Teddy.
In 1919 Otto Messmer went work to at Sullivan’s Studio where he was hired by director, Earl Hurd, of Paramount Screen magazine to create a cartoon short that would accompany a feature film. The end result was Feline Follies, which started a black cat, Master Tom, who was that was the prototype to Felix, which brought good luck to people in trouble.
Felix the Cat was the first cartoon character created and developed for the screen. He was also the first licensed, mess merchandised character. Although Messmer directed and was the lead animator on all of the episodes Sullivan took the credit. Messmer did most of the pencils and link on the Felix newspaper strips until 1954. Felix the Cat starred on over 150 cartoons until 1931 when animation studios began converting to sound film.
Messmer then worked with Douglas Leigh on the large moving electronic signs that lit up Times Square.
In the 1950’s he produced more Felix comic books for companies such as Harvey comic and Dell comic. Messmer was also credited for his work for the Paramount Studios on the Popeye cartoons.
By the 1960s, Felix had been reinvented for television and Messmer was finally recognised as the creator of Felix the Cat. Messmer continued working on the character for the rest of his life.
Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger was a German film director and pioneer in Cutout Silhouette Animation. Her technique involved cutouts made from cardboard or similar materials, manipulated and shot frame by frame to create the animation. She has made more than forty films over her career.
Born in Berlin in 1899, as a child she was interested in the Chinese art of silhouette puppetry and created her own puppet theatre so she could entertain her family and friends with her shows. As a teenager she was fascinated with the films of Georges Melies for their special effects. She also was interested in the films of the actor and director Paul Wegener. In 1915 she attended a lecture by Wegener that discussed the amazing effects and possibilities within animation. She joined an acting group that Wegener belonged to and soon started making elaborate title cards for Wegener’s films.
In 1918 Reinger worked on Wegener’s film, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, she animated wooden rats and created the intertitles. Her work was recognized and this got her admitted to the Institute for Cultural Research, an experimental animation and short film studio. Here she met her future husband and creative partner Carl Koch.
In 1919 Reiniger directed her first film; The Ornament of the Enamoured Heart, it was very well received. In this period she went on to direct six more short films, which her husband photographed and produced.
In 1923 she was asked by Louis Hagen to do a feature-length film, the result was The Adventures of Prince Achmed, which featured the silhouette animation Reiniger had invented. The story was based on elements taken from the One Thousand and One Nights and is the first animated feature film with a plot. The film became a huge success.
Reiniger’s next feature length film was “Doctor Dolittle and his Animals”1928, which was based on an English children’s book. She continued to word on several films with British poet, critic and musician Eric Walter White.
With the rise of the Nazi party Reiginer and her husband tried to immigrate to different countries in Europe but were unable to get visas. In 1949 they moved to London and here she met “Freddie” Bloom the first director of the National Deaf Children’s Society who asked her to design a logo for the charity. Th logo was used until the 1990’s.
In 1953, Rieginer with Louis Hagen Jr founded Primrose Production, where they produced over twelve short silhouette films based on Grimms’ Fairy Tales for the BBC, Reiginer also provided illustrations for the 1953 book King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.
Messmer then worked with Douglas Leigh on the large moving electronic signs that lit up Times Square.
In the 1950’s he produced more Felix comic books for companies such as Harvey comic and Dell comic. Messmer was also credited for his work for the Paramount Studios on the Popeye cartoons.
By the 1960s, Felix had been reinvented for television and Messmer was finally recognised as the creator of Felix the Cat. Messmer continued working on the character for the rest of his life.
Lotte Reiniger
Born in Berlin in 1899, as a child she was interested in the Chinese art of silhouette puppetry and created her own puppet theatre so she could entertain her family and friends with her shows. As a teenager she was fascinated with the films of Georges Melies for their special effects. She also was interested in the films of the actor and director Paul Wegener. In 1915 she attended a lecture by Wegener that discussed the amazing effects and possibilities within animation. She joined an acting group that Wegener belonged to and soon started making elaborate title cards for Wegener’s films.
In 1918 Reinger worked on Wegener’s film, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, she animated wooden rats and created the intertitles. Her work was recognized and this got her admitted to the Institute for Cultural Research, an experimental animation and short film studio. Here she met her future husband and creative partner Carl Koch.
In 1919 Reiniger directed her first film; The Ornament of the Enamoured Heart, it was very well received. In this period she went on to direct six more short films, which her husband photographed and produced.
In 1923 she was asked by Louis Hagen to do a feature-length film, the result was The Adventures of Prince Achmed, which featured the silhouette animation Reiniger had invented. The story was based on elements taken from the One Thousand and One Nights and is the first animated feature film with a plot. The film became a huge success.
Reiniger’s next feature length film was “Doctor Dolittle and his Animals”1928, which was based on an English children’s book. She continued to word on several films with British poet, critic and musician Eric Walter White.
With the rise of the Nazi party Reiginer and her husband tried to immigrate to different countries in Europe but were unable to get visas. In 1949 they moved to London and here she met “Freddie” Bloom the first director of the National Deaf Children’s Society who asked her to design a logo for the charity. Th logo was used until the 1990’s.
In 1953, Rieginer with Louis Hagen Jr founded Primrose Production, where they produced over twelve short silhouette films based on Grimms’ Fairy Tales for the BBC, Reiginer also provided illustrations for the 1953 book King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.
