Unit 33: Animation Magazine

Task 1 LO1
Persistence of vision

Theory which states that the human eye always retains images for a fraction of a
second. This means that everything we see is a slight blend of what is happening
now and what happened a fraction of a second ago.
If the persistence of vision did not exist, every time we would blink, everything
would go black shortly.
Stop-frame (Stop motion)

Stop motion animation is a cinematic process where it is possible to
make still objects appear as they are moving. This is done by
photographing every individual frame of the object and after every
photo is taken the object is moved slightly. Once you have all of the
images, if you put them together in quick succession, the object
would appear to move. For example if you look at Wallace and
Gromit all of the episode and movies we are shot using the stop motion animation
technique and every character in the show were made of plasticine.

Frame rates

In motion pictures and television, the frame rate is the number of
images that are displayed per second. In movies the amount of
photos taken per second is measured in frames per second (fps).
The usual frame rate for movies is 25 frames per second. The
more frames that have been recorded per second the more clearly
motion can be seen.
Frame rates under 24fps will not look like a smooth flowing video,
the images will appear to jump. If you play images at a different
speed from the original recording speed, you can create effects like time lapse and slow
motion. The higher the frame rate the slower you can make your film.


Movement of models

In animation sometimes they use armatures which are little wire sculptures which
help support the model so it doesnt fall over. The frame work of the armature
provides structure and stability, especially when plasticine is being used as the
main material. Armatures used in stop motion are articulated metal, wire or
wooden figure which can hold positions for extended amounts of time.





Pioneers of Animation

Joseph Plateau (Phenakistoscope)

Joseph Plateau was a Belgian physicist. He was the first person to create the illusion of
a moving image. The device consisted of two disks, one with small slits of equal
distance all around where the viewer could watch the illusion and the other with
pictures on it. When the two disks are spinning at the correct speed the slits in the
paper match up with the pictures, it creates an animated sequence. The device was
called the Phenakistoscope. Plateau's inspiration had come primarily from the work of
Michael Faraday.



William Horner (Zoetrope)

William Horner was a British mathematician, but also a schoolmaster. Horner was also
know for creating the zoetrope. The zoetrope is a device for giving an illusion of motion,
consisting of a slotted drum that, when spun, shows a succession of images placed
opposite the slits within the drum as one moving image. The zoetrope had two
improvements over the phenakistoscope. First, the zoetrope did not require a viewing
mirror. The second and most important improvement was that more than one person
could view the moving pictures at the same time.
Emile Reynaud (Praxinoscope)

Emile Reynaud was a French inventor who was responsible for creating the first
projected animated cartoons. He created the Praxinoscope in 1877. The
Praxinoscope much like the Zoetrope used a strip of picture stuck on the inside of
a spinning cylinder. The Praxinoscope was better than the zoetrope because the
slits were replaced by an inner circle of mirrors inside the Praxinoscope. The
image produced is more brilliant than with any previous devices. Because of this
advance, it quickly replaced the zoetrope in popularity.
Using this principle, Reynaud found a way to project the series of pictures onto a
screen. He called this the "Theatre Optique." A standard Praxinoscope, like the
one above, can only accommodate a second or two of animation because of the
limited number of pictures it contains. Reynaud's "Theatre Optique" used a long
roll of paper to increase the number of pictures, and was therefore able to create
a much longer show for an audience.


Eadweard Muybridge (Zoopraxiscope)

Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer important for his pioneering work in
photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. Today,
Muybridge is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion in, which used
multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs, and his
Zoopraxiscope. The Zoopraxiscope was essentially a projecting version of the old
Phenakistoscope. The device projected sequences of images from glass discs and was
devised in order to prove the authenticity of Muybridge's galloping horse pictures. The
Zoopraxiscope took the 12 inch discs.



Lumiere Brothers

Auguste and Louis Lumiere are the first filmmakers in history. They patented the
cinematograph which allowed viewing by multiple people at once, like current cinema.
Their first film, Sortie de l'usine Lumire de Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumire Factory),
shot in 1894, is considered the first real motion picture in history.

Developers of animation

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen was an American visual effects creator, writer, and producer
who created a form of stop-motion model animation known as Dynamation.
Dynamation is essentially special effects within stop motion animation.
The process was simple but very effective. Harryhausen projected a live image
onto a rear screen behind the animation table with the model. He would then
put a glass screen in front of the animation table and the screen. When the live action plate had
been shot Ray would establish where he wanted to make his line and so by looking through the
camera viewfinder he would re-establish that line and with a wax pencil on the end of a stick, follow
that line by drawing it on the glass. When he was satisfied that the line was accurate he would then
paint out, with black matt paint, the lower section, below the line. He would then photograph the
animation of the model reacting to the live action on the plate. Afterwards he would then create a
second pass in the camera to bring back the lower previously matted out section so creating a
combined image of the creature in the scene.



Willis OBrien

Willis Obrien was an American special effects and stop motion animation pioneer who
according to the international animated film association Was responsible for the best-
known images in the history of cinema. He is remembered for his works in very
memorable films such as King Kong (1933) as chief technician .In 1950, he won the Academy
Award (Oscar) for Best Visual Effects. His animated dinosaurs for the film version of Arthur
Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1925) and his work on King Kong are considered classic
examples of stop-motion photography.
Despite the success of King Kong, O'Brien spent most of his career trying to get various
projects financed. Now a legend among horror, dinosaur and animation fans, O'Brien did
not enjoy great success while he was alive.

Contemporary Animators

Tim Burton

Tim burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer, poet and stop motion artist. He is
known for his dark, gothic, macabre and quirky horror and fantasy films such as: Edward
scissorhands, the nightmare before Christmas, Sleepy hollow and Corpse bride.
The nightmare before Christmas and Corpse Bride are both Feature length stop motion films either
produced or directed by Tim burton.


Aardman animation

Aardman animations are a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is
known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring
Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit. Aardman animation went into the computerized
animation with their film flushed away in 2005. Aardman are responsible for some of the best stop
motion animations of the modern generation. The series consisted of four TV programs and one
feature length film. Because of their popularity, the characters have been described as positive
international icons of both modern British culture in particular and British people in general. BBC
News has called them "some of the best-known and best-loved stars to come out of the UK". Icons
has said they have done "more to improve the image of the English world-wide than any officially
appointed ambassadors".


The Brothers quay

Stephen and Timothy Quay are famous American stop motion animators. The Quay Brothers work in
England, having moved there in 1969 to study at the Royal College of Art in London after studying
illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art. Most of their animation films feature puppets made of
doll parts and other materials, often slightly broken, in a dark and moody atmosphere. Their best
known work is Street of Crocodiles. The brothers are also the winners of the 1998 Drama Desk
Award for Outstanding Set Design for their work on the play The Chairs.





Genres and forms of animation

Animation is now very wide spread in todays world and can be used in many forms. One of the
forms of animation you see almost every day, these are adverts and channel idents. Stop motion and
other types of animation are now being used to advertise products on television. Most recently John
Lewis created and adverts which integrated both stop motion animation and green screen in their
advert. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy2hrrI5BKY
Channel idents are what you watch on TV before a program starts. A prime
example of animation being used is in the channel ident for BBC one with
the hippos creating a circle. This was created using CGI. Here is a chennel
ident for E4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIQ4U_eFIXk
We are now seeing animated movies more and more, in the past few years
we have had some very popular stop motion animated movies such as
Frantastic Mr Fox and Wallace and gromit: curse of the ware rabbit. These movies have extreamely
popular to all audiences and also they have been technological break throughs as they are the
longest stop motion animations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2igjYFojUo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzsoSkVYon0
Morph is a prime example of a TV animation. Morph was found most popular when integrated
within a childrens art show. Even though Morph didnt speak and had a target audience for children,
he still appealed to many other audiences up to adulthood.