1. Animation

2. Animate tr.v. an·i·mat·ed, an·i·mat·ing, an·i·mates 1. To give life to; fill with life. 2. To impart interest or zest to; enliven: "The party was animated by all kinds of men and women" René Dubos. 3. To fill with spirit, courage, or resolution; encourage.. 4. To inspire to action; prompt. 5. To impart motion or activity to. 6. To make, design, or produce (a cartoon, for example) so as to create the illusion of motion. – The Free Dictionary by Farlex

3. Animation Forms of animation Functions of animation History of animation Technology and process Aesthetics

4. Two major forms of animation Stop-motion animation – Model/Puppet – Claymation/Mud animation – Pixelation – Cut-out animation Cartoon or created animation – Cartoon – CGI

5. Functions of animation Surprise or wonder – Portrayal of wondrous creatures, action by inanimate objects Combine humans with inhuman characters Portray real places, events, etc. that cannot be filmed (efficiently) – CSI – House Present content that would be considered inappropriate for live actors to engage in – South Park

6. Functions of animation Provide a viewpoint that cannot effectively be presented otherwise Allow for enhanced interaction with the video – Real-time interactivity Save money – But only for limited animation Gain increased control over the video

7. Animation has a long history Early visual toys – Flip books, etc. Development of animation in early days of film – Gertie the Dinosaur (McCay) – Stop-motion (Melies) Animated shorts (1920s and 1930s) – Felix the Cat – Mickey Mouse – Merrie Melodies

8. Early animation Early animation was based on the production of a series of paper drawings that were then photographed in order – Gertie the Dinosaur – Very time-intensive process and quite simple pictures B/W characters and flat backgrounds Repetitive motions – Jerky presentation

9. Fleisher brothers Gradually more sophisticated presentations More attention to narrative – Silent Felix the Cat – Develop sound on film Betty Boop

10. Cartoon animation At first, all pictures were hand-drawn completely Cel process – Portion of the picture that moves is drawn on plastic sheet, background remains steady – As animation progressed, multiple cel layers were developed

11. Cel animation Rather than producing all pix on opaque paper, animators began to use layers of cellophane and change only parts of the picture, usually retaining the background for many pictures and only replacing the top cel with the characters

12. Disney During the 1930s Walt Disney’s animation studios came to dominate the commercial animation scene – Turned to feature-length films after Snow White – Naturalism Shorts were often produced by Warner Bros, Fleischer, others – More abstract

13. Disney Walt Disney wanted to make the animation seem realistic even as it portrayed animals as talking, etc. – Realistic movement – Realistic background – Sense of depth – Color

14. Disney innovations Color Sound Depth – Camera Realistic depiction – Extensive use of Rotoscope (not first to use) Feature length Industrialization of production

15. Rotoscoping To improve the naturalness of the motion, the device projected actual photos onto a light table where they were traced and the outline was then filled in with cartoon character – Used in Snow White to make her movements more realistic

16. Cartoon animation Developed a system (Disney perfected) where main animators would produce “key frames” or pictures that occurred at most important moments of action, then “tweeners” would produce the pictures that occurred between the key frames

17. UPA Very abstract Limited animation – Cheaper Gerald McBoingBoing

18. Abstract animation Many animators do not want to present animation as though it were real—want the art of the visual and the audio to be retained – Merry Melodies – Ralph Bakshi – Matt Groening

19. Stop motion Take picture, move object, take picture – Painstaking process – Can look jerky – Models can have mechanical problems May need multiple models/puppets, etc. The most spectacular example in early film was King Kong – Stop motion had been developed some time before, but usually only lasted a short time, did not try to present life-like motion of objects

20. Stop motion Melies King Kong Gumby Wallace and Gromit Monty Python