Introduction

Throughout this blog I will be analysing how the work of animation has developed from its inception back in the 1800s, to the present day. I will look at what the effect of this has been on the public and their reactions, the companies that have been established over time and their role that they play in the development, and the key figures throughout history that have been the creatures of such advancements.
In todays world, animation is something normal and expected in film and television that a lot of us do not think about into great depth. However, from the 1800s we have advanced a great deal in the way we are able to view moving images, and how we can create them; from starting with simple drawings and toys, to 3D rendering and modelling using software and programs on a computer.

I have looked at well known successful companies, such as Disney and Warner Bros. as well as influential and creative personalities like Walt Disney, Nick Park and George Lucas. Each have their own investment and inspiration on each other and others that have strived to create new technologies to better animation.

The very early types of animation date back to the 1800s, with the use of pictures in various formats to create an illusion of moving images, to hand drawings in the 1900s, and also the ability to include sound, up to the 1970’s where the creation of stop motion, 3D viewing, and computers played a crucial part to create what we have in our top films today.

My blog will cover three main sections; ‘Motions in art’ which focus more on the early developments of motion and moving image, ‘Traditional Animation’ where i have looked at the very first proper animated films and their technique that covers the principle of what is done today, and finally ‘Animation Techniques’ which covers the techniques that are used in todays modern films.

‘Motions in art’

Motions in art focuses on how moving image was founded, created and developed. These animation methods were used before film and involves ways of showing moving animated images without the motion picture that we know today; also known as the origins of animation. They came in various devices that were used to entertain and amaze a single person. However, people referred to them more as toys and devices rather than part of industrial standards as no machinery or technology is involved. They engage in showing graphic representations of drawings which will show the illusion movement when played back together, showing seamless movement within the drawings.

In the following posts I will be looking at a couple of different devises that were used to show animation with this illusion of movement:

• Phenakistoscope
• Théâtre Optique

As this was before the motion camera was invented, many photographers and some scientists analysed human and animal movement with the use of sequential photographs of them. A quick sequence of still pictures that are flashing by instantaneously will create a deception of a moving picture animation to the viewer.

These devices apply the popular phenomenon known as the ‘persistence of vision’. This is the process of the brain which reads an accelerated course of still images and then perceives it as an unbroken, flowing movement. Drawings or images that used this form of animation were altered slightly in each frame, such as moving a leg or an arm a few centimetres, so that when viewed together it establishes an illusion of movement.
This was seen as a great success at it’s time that was celebrated, as people had never witnessed what they thought was a moving image before. However, it was not a breakthrough for animation and did not stay in fame as they were seen as merely toys used for entertainment of younger audiences. Though, this did establish the idea of a moving image.

Phenakistoscope

Produced in 1831, this was one of the earliest animation devices, made by Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and later on, Simon von Stampfer. Plateau primarily acquired his inspiration from two men; Michael Faraday and Peter Mark Roget. These men invented a device called ‘Faradays wheel’ which was very similar but using two discs that spun in opposite direction of each other. Plateau later adapted the Faraday Wheel into this device that ran by the same principle, which he named the Phenakistoscope. It is a simple gadget which relies on the persistence of vision to create the desired illusion of movement. The basic technique of this device is now being used subsequently in one form or another by the zoetrope, cinematography, television, video, and digital motion pictures.

This ‘spindle viewer’ as it was also called, consisted of a spinning disc with multiple drawings arrayed around the centre in concentric circles. The images showed different phases of the animation that would eventually flow together. Between the drawings, were slits of equal radial spaces apart.

The idea was that the disc was spun in front of a mirror, whilst the viewer looked through the slits with the drawing side facing away from them. This could be done with either the viewer holding the disc vertically on a handle, or by using a phenakistoscope machine. This optical toy, however, could only be used by one person at a time.

Images would move at a fast momentum in a way that looked like a ceaseless motion of movement, rather than separate still drawings. The slits were used to keep a blurred effect from happening between the images, so that the viewer would see a succession of a clear moving image.

 

A later version of this eliminated the mirror, using two discs at a certain distance that spun together.

Plateau is mainly credited and named for creating the device, though his ideas and inspirations grew from others’ knowledge also. Numerous mathematicians and physicists worked on similar theories behind the illusion of movement and how it could be processed with the right speed and shape, the idea being that if it is faster it will work better because the brain cannot process each individual image on its own at that speed. The principle behind this contraption was originally first recognised by the Greek mathematician Euclid and in later experiments by Sir Isaac Newton, until firmly established by Joseph Plateau.

The invention became very popular in Britain and in many other countries for two years before the Zoetrope, with it being made during the early forms of animation. Although it is only seen as an optical toy, it has been very influential to all following forms of animation that came after it. The Flipbook and Zoetrope were further developments on the Phenakistoscope, making it easier for people to view the motions. The Flipbook is still used today as a simple form of entertainment, mainly to delight younger children. In present days, this principle of the persistence of vision is very normal and so the Phenakistoscope is not seen as a great apparatus. However, Plateau confirmed the principle that is used today as a base for all motion picture, including 3D cinema and IMAX, and that his development has had a great effect on todays modern techniques as it is still largely considered to be the first mechanism of true animation. Stop motion for example, also uses individual none moving frames, but with objects, and when put together in a sequence it creates this flowing unbroken movement.

Théâtre Optique

The Théâtre Optique was the first presentation of projected moving images to an audience; created by Charles-Émile Reynaud in 1982. Reynaud first invented the Praxinoscope, as an improvement of the previous Zoetrope.
But in order to make the greatest improvement, he went further than creating a viewing device, by creating a Projection Praxinoscope, which was capable of projecting the motion images onto a screen for numerous viewers at once. This method went beyond the simple cyclic movements that were used in preceding animation devices, and was known as a complex appliance for public performance at it’s time. He was considered the first person to establish frame by frame animation in the form that we are familiar with and use in todays animation.

It constituted of glass plates which were all connected, allowing it to locate on the rotating drum, and align the painted images with the projecting lantern. By mounting the image strips onto a pair of wheels, similar to our modern film reels, he was able to produce a series of continuous motion pictures. It also meant he could produce endless frames instead of a limited amount like before, and a moving image could be watched for a longer period of time. He formed his show with 500 frames, resulting in a 12-15 minute production. Using his devise, he gave the first public performance of a motion picture show in Paris’ Muvée Grevin, a famous museum of waxworks with a small theatre. The show stayed here until 1900 when cinema superseded, at which point over 500,000 people had come to see this great advancement.

  

Developments such as cinematography soon followed after this. ‘Lumiere style’ used photographs rather than drawings, so the pictures were more clear and realistic, and the Lumière brothers soon perfected the first film camera. The cinemas also began to industrialise and develop themselves, and Reynauds style was no longer wanted. Although he was unable to succeed in any further transformations, his work still inspired the cinemas expansion with the way he was able to produce the first public screenings. The base techniques he used, with the practice of a projecter, mirrors and images, were still being used in further adaptations years on.

The projection praxinoscope has effected cinematography today as industries are able to develop from this and produce even better motion picture. It was a massive step forward at this time and people were amazed, as complicated constructions were rarely used, especially in motion images. Compared to the Phenakistoscope which was considered a toy and only allowed one viewer, the Projection was a complete successful development that was the beginning to cinema as we know.

 

Pauve Pierrot (1982) Emile Reynaud

‘Traditional animation’

Traditional animation is a 2D animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand, also known as hand-drawn animation. From 1900s, where the cinema had come into great popularity among the public, this was the dominant form of animation until the establishment of computer animation that we use today. This hand drawn technique advanced quite quickly over time, by using multiple artists working on the drawings, and applying various backgrounds and characters to the screen, and soon became an exceptional standard to what is contemporary. Compared to the techniques that were used before film, the images flowed better, and could be more diverse in the length and in the number of frames, and included more variety in what was featured. They involved making numerous drawings but each with a subtle difference for each frame, for example, a closed mouth to an open mouth.

The first animated film that used these traditional methods, was by the French artist Émile Cohl in 1908, named Fantasmagorie. The film was in complete black and white, consisting of stick figures and diverse objects that morphed shape and moved around to an extent that could not be done before. Each frame was drawn by hand on paper and shot in a negative film to give a blackboard look. It is about 75 seconds long and took 700 different drawings to complete. This was considered by film historians to be the first animated cartoon.

 

Walt Disney was also famously known for his 2D animations of Mickey Mouse, a well acknowledged character that still lives today.

During the 1910s, these animations, also the first that were named as ‘animated short films’ became known as cartoons. These cartoon shorts soon came into an industry of its own after growing into something caught on by the public, and were being shown in many movie theatres. Several companies that soon got involved with cartoons were well-renowned. This was also known as the ‘golden age’ of animation due the successes of these companies and how they helped to popularise the use of traditional animation for years on.

2D animation soon moved onto the television screen and away from theatres. In present days, we will mainly find cartoons channels on television and not so much in films anymore as they became very popular with children; such as The Flinstones.

In the next couple of posts i will look at these different eras of traditional animation and how they developed and succeeded:

• Silent era
• Golden age
• Television era

Each has had a major impact on what we do today, with traditional animation still be frequently used on television shows such as Mickey Mouse, Looney Tunes, and older cartoons like The Simpsons.

Silent Era

Reynaud’s Théâtre Optique inspired photographic video devices such as Edison’s Kinetoscope and Lumière brothers’ Cinematograph, popularising motion picture throughout the country, as endless animation potentiality began developing. The Lumière brothers were seemingly the most inspirational of this time when cinema was advancing. They held numerous screenings, of which they sent crews abroad. This inspired the birth of film industries around the world and gathered fame, as they realised an industry would help to build films to a better value, rather than freelancers.

Soon after, other individuals began to focus their intentions on fiction films rather than everyday occurrences, and the way films were shot with the different camera shots. By this time in around the mid 1900s, the changes had established cinema as a valuable profit-making enterprise. This betterment gave emergence to popular industries such as the Hollywood film industry, a profit-driven enterprise.

However, these first twenty years of  motion picture were mainly short silent films of only a few minutes long. A silent film is a film with no synchronised recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. Many of these films reverted to using muted gestures, mime, and title cards to replace the absence of sound, though live music from a full symphonic orchestra, or a piano, did accompany many of these films to represent the mood or event in the film. This ended in 1929 when a method which allowed people to record sound that was synchronous with the recorded motion. Films then started to include sound, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin who refused to go along with sound, yet still became a very well known accomplishment. The silent screen actors and producers soon grew into fame and popularity and blossomed into the first generation of Hollywood actors.

This was a critical period for film as it was the beginning of a great change in entertainment worldwide. As an intensely visual medium, it was accessible to all audiences, even those of immigrant areas where titles would be translated. This made it enjoyable and appropriate for everybody, and the popularity grew.

The Golden age and Television era

The Golden age of animation began in the 1920’s, when Walt Disney started to become a well known individual, and the whole animation sector was becoming a huge success and developing into popular entertainment.

Walt Disney first created the Laugh-O-Gram studios which was a home to many pioneers of animation. Unfortunately this film studio was quite short lived and became bankrupt in 1923. However, this holdback did not stop Disney from opening up a new studio in Los Angeles. Through this he was thriving through the animation business.
His first well known project was the Alice Comedies, short films featuring a live action girl, and an animated cat. They were released during the 1920’s, starting with only Disney and his brother, Roy to animate and film the series. After being released, the series became so successful that the Disney brothers created a studio staff that included varied animators and camera operators, as well as the 4 actresses. Over the years more people were hired, and also inspired to start their own businesses such as Warner Bros. Walt and Roy set off being inspired by the success of these shorts as it enabled them to set up a larger studio in 1926. Alice Comedies proved to be a major development in their career of animation.

The first Alice Comedy: Alice’s day at sea:

However, the first notable breakthrough for Disney was his 1928’s Steamboat Willie series; part of the Mickey Mouse movement. This was the first cartoon to include a full post-produced soundtrack, featuring voice and sound effects. The short films consisted of an animated mouse character named Mickey, known very well as Disney’s main character that is still famously featured today. This shows the success  that was inspired and has grown for years on.
In the test screening which was done in front of family and friends, Disney recalled the response he received to his new sound in these cartoons:
“The effect on our little audience was nothing less than electric. They responded almost instinctively to this union of sound and motion. I thought they were kidding me. So they put me in the audience and ran the action again. It was terrible, but it was wonderful! And it was something new!”

Disney’s Steamboat Willie:

It was such a success that the series was added to the National Film Registry, and also references to Steamboat Willie was included in later films such as Saving Private Ryan and The Simpsons.
These accomplishments how influential Disney was during this time, and putting animation into a golden achievement.

In 1930, Warner Brothers Cartoons were founded; a largely successful company. They allowed their animators more freedom and resulting in variety, where Disney’s studio was strictly controlled by Disney himself. After Disney’s first animation to use the full, three-colour techicolour method. Technicolour was a new colour film printing process, used largely in Hollywood from the 1920’s was lionised for its first use of saturated levels of colour. The new process was made due to the increasing advance of film making at the time, using it most commonly in musicals such as The Wizard of Oz, Singin’ in the rain, and Disney’s animated classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The animation ‘Flowers and Trees’ by Disney, used 3-strip technicolour, an even more advanced process that was devised and used in the 1930s. This development was a huge breakthrough for colour in film as it provided a much better and clearer use of colour, however, it only had streak during the 30’s and 40’s as new coloured film technologies were being matured and introduced in to the public since colour animation soon became the industry standard. Though, Technicolour still had a great impact as it gave a starting point for these other technologies. Using all these advances, Disney grew and developed even larger, and by 1937, released their first feature length film using cel animation; Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. This became well known within many countries, and today is considered a classic. Due to its success Disney continued to focus much of its productive force on feature length films.

Colour and animation made its way to television during the 1950’s, showing animation with colour.

‘Animation Techniques’

Over the years since the early traditional approaches to animation, there has been various innumerable advances to creating animation, mainly using non traditional techniques that are commonly incorporated in present day.

Over the next few posts i will be focusing on the more recent developments of animation, using well advanced techniques that are used in films and television today. Overall, they have become the most popular and successful techniques over the years and so are generally practised.
The areas i will be focusing on are:

• Stop Motion
• CGI

Stop Motion creates visual outcomes such as Wallace and Gromit, whereas CGI creates films such as Toy Story, giving it a more cartoon look.

Stop Motion

Stop motion is a popular common cinematic technique, used to make still objects appear as if they were moving in a flowing image. It is used for claymation, such as ‘Wallace and Gromit’ and puppet-based animation. This is done by filming separate frames one by one with the objects moved in small increments in each individually photographed frames, so when put together in a continuous sequence, it shows a clear flowing accurate perceived movement.

Stop motion has been around since film itself and can be tracked back to the 1800s. All work following was inspired by Edward J. Muybridge, a photographer who was known for famously creating the ‘running horse’ animation. He is well known in the stop motion industry to this day as he became an important pioneer. Although his work was to prove a completely disparate theory, he accomplished creating motion using still images, which was discovered as a knew and unique use for film.
The first instance of its use in a film is credited to Alber E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton in 1898 with ‘The Humpty Dumpty Circus’. In which a toy circus of acrobats and animals come to life. The film was not viewed by many in the public because of lack of information, but is still regarded by industries as a ‘revolutionary inspiration’ for many stop motion investments. The animation still received significantly large amounts of media attention, as it was a first for blending live action and stop motion; something that is still used in todays films. This shows the effects of stop motion on the public as it was greatly received and inspired many to evolve it. It brought a new way of exploring animation and how the combination of techniques can be equally compelling. Another largely successful film when released, using stop motion was ‘The Haunted Hotel’ by J. Stuart Blackton.
One of the earliest clay animation films was ‘Modelling Extraordinary’ which dazzled audiences as it was so new and unique.
Although such an old technique, it was proved successful and efficient and so could be carried later through the years. Two of the most popular films that are regularly remembered are ‘The Lost World’ and ‘King Kong’, two films that have also been recreated over and over across time. Willis O’Brien was well known during his period but was most admired for these two milestones in his work.

This is an example early stop motion in a black and white silent short:

Computer generated imagery has now allowed objects to be made moving on a screen, removing the need for stop motion. However, it provided a unique outcome with realistic textures which are still very effective and used today. The use of stop motion in films has developed dramatically since its first age, as industrial light is often used for model animation, such as in Star Wars. A lot of stop motion is also used alongside live action and CGI as well, mainly for large scene shots or setting shots. This makes it easier to control and adjust with such a large area to work with.
A company that has been inspired and led to huge success is the Aardman Animations; famous for creating the familiar titles of ‘Wallace and Gromit’, ‘Creature Comforts’ and ‘Chicken Run’. After twenty years of production, he released his first Wallace and Gromit animation in 1989, winning awards and creating huge recognition. His animations are known worldwide for his use of clay animation which is not used very widely anymore. Aardman Animation are still a continuing and growing company, showing how effective stop motion has become and how it is still thriving alongside CGI.

Wallace and Gromit – A grand day out (first released episode)

CGI

Computer-generated imagery is the most popular and most developed form of animation. It has revolutionised animation in a way that we can create anything on a screen that we desire, using programs and software that allows us to create creatures, people, scenery, buildings, animals etc. The principle difference to other traditional animations, is that nothing has to hand drawn and authentic objects do not have to  be used like in stop motion animation, because it is replaced with 3D Modelling, using virtual visuals.

It can be used variously for films, TV, commercials and now creates video games which are based upon computer modelling. In films, it beneficial for the use of visual effects because quality is higher and can be more easily controlled for aspects such as effects like an explosion, or large scale shots where more people can be added to a crowd, or more trees in a background etc; saving the use of more actors or finding the right location, because it can be easily adjusted.

CGI may have taken off into public and businesses during the late 70’s, however, was first inspired by a group of Russian mathematicians in 1968. A special program was made on a computer, able hundreds of frames for film material. Their breakthrough was a model of a moving cat; the very first virtual moving image.

This was a discovery that would lead to one of the most revolutionised developments.
A few years later, Peter folded created the first CGI animated short film, using the worlds first key frame animation software. This was an exceeding evolvement in animation and was taken great notice of by everybody as by this time many people were experimenting and creating new ways of designing techniques for movies, which were rapidly evolving as technology grew bigger in industry. Throughout the 1970s, CGI was being used in television and developing fast, until the first 3D CGI was created in 1976 by Futureworld. He used materialisation and other enhancing effects to make images look 3D. Picture was starting to become more realistic, with no pixalated look, and was clear to see.

All this famously encouraged the well known director of George Lucas. His Star Wars films were a significant success, then and now, being one of the most well known series of films, and still being continued with more films today. After seeing what CGI could offer, he used the upmost effects that he could to create an all new huge box office hit in 1977. Star Wars consisted of using actors and CGI together, including the modelling of spaceships and lightsabers; all of which had a 3D and realistic effect that matched the human actors. Alien and Superman were just two of the films that were inspired and awed by Lucas’ effects and the use of the possibilities of CGI.

     

Later, technology developed and so CGI had to develop alongside it. Computers were invented and becoming increasingly popular with the public. During the 1980’s CGI made a number of fundamental steps. There was a first CGI human character, the creation of alien like creatures, and new techniques such as fully rendered CGI which is seen most often in ‘TRON’. CGI was improving fast as the demand got more, and the sector became so large. It became more and more photo realistic, examples being from ‘Terminator’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ which became hugely well known in the film industry. Game consoles were also being matured due to the film industry. 3D supported gaming consoles like the Playstation were released, where the audience was able to play animated 3D games just like the films.

From all this, CGI was the most developed and the most popular as the increase in improvements arrived so fast. Come the 21st century, films were making even further possibilities. ‘Lord of the Rings’ was the first to make use of an artificial intelligence digitally created characters, and created the first photo realistic motion captured character. ‘The Matrix’ first used Universal Capture to to capture more frames, and ‘The Polar Express’ was the first to use motion capture on all its characters. Following films and games continued to push boundaries and developing the art of CGI further.