Animation was originally not made for large broadcasting and instead created on devices that would only allow viewing by single people at a time.
A Zoetrope is one of several pre film animation devices and has a greek name- Zoe meaning life and Tropos meaning turning, although historians believe that it was created in 100 bc by a Chinese inventor. The device was a cylinder with vertical slits in the sides and images around the inside.
This is a Victorian Zoetrope which was recently up for sale online.
A phenakitoscope is another early animation device, the first part of the word comes from the greek- phenakizein- meaning to deceive or to cheat, as it deceived the eye into thinking the images were moving.
A phenakitoscope is another early animation device, the first part of the word comes from the greek- phenakizein- meaning to deceive or to cheat, as it deceived the eye into thinking the images were moving.
The device used a spinning disk that was attached vertically to a handle. the disks centre displayed drawings showing the different parts of the animation, and had a series of equally spaced slits. When the disk was spun, people could look through the slits and see the images reflection in a mirror.
This is the moving version of the phenakitoscope shown below.
The kinetoscope was made for films to be viewed by one person at a time through an eye hole window at the top of the machine in 1889 by a friend of Thomas Edison. The device created the illusion of movement by moving a strip of film with images on over a light source and a high speed shutter.
The mutoscope was similar to the kinetoscope as it didn't
project the film onto a screen and could only be viewed one person at a time, but was cheaper than a kinetoscope. The machines were coin operated and had a series of cards resembling a flip book, however weren't bound into a booklet, and were instead attached to a circular core- with 850 cards giving a minute of viewing time.
The thaumatrope was an animation technique that was also used as a toy in the 19th century. It is a small disk with a picture on each side that is attached to a piece of string. When the strings are twirled quickly it gives the illusion of the pictures blending together to give the persistence of vision.
Early animation pioneers
Georges Melies was a french illusionist and film maker, starting in 1896. He discovered that he could split film to give a perception of vision.
This is one of his films which used animation and was hand painted to include colour.
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist (known for the comic Little Nemo) and animator (known for Gertie the Dinosaur). The technical level of McCay's animation was unmatched until Walt Disney's films arrived in the 1930's.
Cel- based animation was the technique which involved drawing each individual frame onto a clear piece of plastic film, then flipping it over to paint the colour onto it. The background would also be hand drawn but onto a seperate sheet so that when the characters moved, they did not disturb the background. The Walt Disney Studios used cel based animation until winnie the pooh (2011) and the princess and the frog(2009) , but they did not do as well as their cgi films out at that time- Bolt (2009) and Tangled (2010).
Walt Disney's first feature cel based animation film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) which took three years to produce.
Cut Out animation is created by cutting out shapes (e.g a characters mouth) and making them move. One of the earliest full length cut out movies was Prince Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reininger. She also produced shorts such as Cinderella.
An example of a modern use of cut out animation is Charlie and Lola. This style of animation was used to capture the collage style of the original books.
Model based animation includes building/making characters and sets out of clay, lego, etc.
An early example of model based animation was a remake of Romeo and Juliet in 1917 by Helena Smith Dayton.
An example of modern model based animation is Wallace and Gromit. The first short film was made in 1990 by Aardman's animations.
Pixilation is a form of animation which includes taking pictures of live actors as they move slightly every time. An early example of pixilation is Monsieur Pontu (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP7p7lnC7dE
A more recent pixilation animation is The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) This film used a combination of pixilation with live actors and stop motion animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddl9d-gsdBQ
Time based animation (time lapse) is a method of animation in which a camera takes scheduled pictures of something, and when played back you can see how it develops. This method is regularly used on sun rises/ sunsets as well as on other things in nature because of how long they take to happen when we are watching.
An example of time lapse that I found interesting was the one below created by a Dutch artist who took a picture or video of his daughter every day and then compiled them into a video to see her growth.
This is the moving version of the phenakitoscope shown below.
The kinetoscope was made for films to be viewed by one person at a time through an eye hole window at the top of the machine in 1889 by a friend of Thomas Edison. The device created the illusion of movement by moving a strip of film with images on over a light source and a high speed shutter.
The mutoscope was similar to the kinetoscope as it didn't
project the film onto a screen and could only be viewed one person at a time, but was cheaper than a kinetoscope. The machines were coin operated and had a series of cards resembling a flip book, however weren't bound into a booklet, and were instead attached to a circular core- with 850 cards giving a minute of viewing time.
The thaumatrope was an animation technique that was also used as a toy in the 19th century. It is a small disk with a picture on each side that is attached to a piece of string. When the strings are twirled quickly it gives the illusion of the pictures blending together to give the persistence of vision.
Early animation pioneers
Georges Melies was a french illusionist and film maker, starting in 1896. He discovered that he could split film to give a perception of vision.
This is one of his films which used animation and was hand painted to include colour.
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist (known for the comic Little Nemo) and animator (known for Gertie the Dinosaur). The technical level of McCay's animation was unmatched until Walt Disney's films arrived in the 1930's.
Lotte Reininger was a German film director and a pioneer of silhouette (cut out) animation, best known for the adventures of Prince Achmed (1926).
She anticipated Walt Disney by a decade, due to creating the first multi-plane camera for special effects.
Walt Disney was an American animator and film producer. His best known early animation is Steamboat Willie, which was among the first animations to include sound - which started happening in 1928. His early animations were drawn on cels and then flipped to be painted.
Animation TechniquesWalt Disney was an American animator and film producer. His best known early animation is Steamboat Willie, which was among the first animations to include sound - which started happening in 1928. His early animations were drawn on cels and then flipped to be painted.
Cel- based animation was the technique which involved drawing each individual frame onto a clear piece of plastic film, then flipping it over to paint the colour onto it. The background would also be hand drawn but onto a seperate sheet so that when the characters moved, they did not disturb the background. The Walt Disney Studios used cel based animation until winnie the pooh (2011) and the princess and the frog(2009) , but they did not do as well as their cgi films out at that time- Bolt (2009) and Tangled (2010).
Walt Disney's first feature cel based animation film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) which took three years to produce.
Cut Out animation is created by cutting out shapes (e.g a characters mouth) and making them move. One of the earliest full length cut out movies was Prince Achmed (1926) by Lotte Reininger. She also produced shorts such as Cinderella.
An early example of model based animation was a remake of Romeo and Juliet in 1917 by Helena Smith Dayton.
An example of modern model based animation is Wallace and Gromit. The first short film was made in 1990 by Aardman's animations.
Pixilation is a form of animation which includes taking pictures of live actors as they move slightly every time. An early example of pixilation is Monsieur Pontu (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP7p7lnC7dE
A more recent pixilation animation is The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) This film used a combination of pixilation with live actors and stop motion animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddl9d-gsdBQ
Time based animation (time lapse) is a method of animation in which a camera takes scheduled pictures of something, and when played back you can see how it develops. This method is regularly used on sun rises/ sunsets as well as on other things in nature because of how long they take to happen when we are watching.
An example of time lapse that I found interesting was the one below created by a Dutch artist who took a picture or video of his daughter every day and then compiled them into a video to see her growth.
This next example is an example of a time lapse drawing, which I think I would like to create myself when it comes to creating our own. I find it fascinating seeing the blank page and then what is created and must have taken many hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment