Animation styles

 

 

 

The animation industry

Within an animation company, there are many job roles which create the animation team:

Animation Director/Supervisor-  Have overall responsibility for the quality of an animated product. This also includes having responsibility for keeping it to the brief and for the performance of the whole animation department.

Animator 2D computer animation- Animating scenes of an animated product. This includes plotting the camera moves, editing the soundtrack, and charting information on dope sheets.

Animator 2D drawn animation- Produce a series of static drawings. When they are recorded in a sequence and then projected they create an illusion of movement.

Animator 3D computer animation- Use specialist software to produce 3D images which when in a sequence creates the illusion of movement.

Animator Stop Motion- Moving models/puppets and capturing the movement frame by frame. Which provides the action outlined in the storyboard.

CG Modeller- Are responsible for building the 3D computer models of everything which is needed for the CGI project.

Compositor: They construct the final outcome by combining previously-created work which includes all the rendered computer animation, special effects, graphics, 2D animation and live action.

Animation can be seen in many different industries such as within:

• VFX
• Games
• Advertising and marketing
• Architecture
• Manufacturing
• Medicine
• Education

 

 

 

Animation timeline

Animation has been apart of human lives for many years. Research and archaeological artefacts show that humans have been attempting to display things in motion for as long as we have been able to draw.  This dates back from as 30,000 B.C.

The Shahr-e Sukhteh a bronze age pottery bowl depicts goats leaping.  It dates back to the 30,000 B.C and it shows a very early form of how we displayed moved back in the day.

Other research which I have done shows that we have been probably trying to depict motion as far back as the palaeolithic period which is prehistoric time. I chose not to put it first because it is not proven but if humans back then had the same mindset as we do now. We can say that it is very possible.

Another early form of displaying motion was Shadowplay.  Now shadowplay can be possible dated back from when humans first learnt how to create fire but the more refined form, which was is know as shadow puppetry dates back to 900 CE.

 

It works by using flat jointed cut-out figures which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen.

Skipping forward to the industrial revolution (the 1600s)  new machines that would make images appear to move we being developed.

 

1603 bought the invention of the  Magic Lantern. Which is an image projector, that works by uses pictures on sheets of glass. Since some sheets contain moving parts, it is considered the first example of projected animation. Invented by Christiaan Huygens

 

The 19th century bought us optical toys Which are devices that display an animated image. Many of them could not project their images and are viewed by a one or a few people at a time.

Thaumatrope it had a rotating mechanism with a different picture on each side and when it was rotated, you saw a combined picture. It was invented by John Ayrton Paris in 1825.

Zoetrope it consisted of a hollow drum. Which had images on a long band, which when span it made the image appear to move. It was created by William George Horner in 1834

Phenakistiscope a spinning disk which was reflected in mirrors this created the illusion of the picture moving. It was invented by Joseph Plateau in 1831-1834 different articles show different dates.

The 20th century was known as the golden age of animation. It started off with the silent era 1900-1930. This era saw the beginning of theatrical showings of animations/cartoons.

1906 Humorous Phases of Funny Faces the first animated film recorded in standard film. Its a short silent animation directed by James Stuart Blackton.

first entirely animated film, using stop-motion photography and cutout animation
to create action.

 

 

 

1914 bought the creation of Felix the Cat. Felix was the first animated character to attain a level of popularity sufficient to draw movie audiences.

By the 1930s theatrical cartoons had become apart of the culture. These years saw the rise of many many characters which are still loved to this day.  Such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Betty Boop and Popeye.

 

Merrie Melodies an animated cartoon series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. It included characters such as  Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd. 1931

 

1937 Walt Disney releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pink Panther series movie The PinkPhink wins the Academy Award for Best Short Film 1964.
 

 

By the 1980s computer-generated imagery or CGI took the animation world to an other level.  The biggest difference between CGI animation and traditional animation is that drawing is replaced by 3D modeling. This is the most modern method of animation and is still used to this day.

 

The Adventures of André & Wally B. short film was the first fully CGI-animated film made by The Graphics Group. 1984

 

Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge the man who proved that a horse can fly by taking a variety of photos of a horse. At one point it looks like the horse lifts all four hooves off the ground during the act of running. To show his groundbreaking work he invented a machine called a zoopraxiscope. Which is a method of projecting animated versions of his photographs as short moving sequences. Which is why he is known as the godfather of animation.

He was born on the 9th April 1830 Kingston upon Thames and died on the 8th May 1904, Kingston upon Thames. His life included travels in North and Central America a career as a lecturer, and the scandal of his trial for the murder of his wife’s lover.