Animation Lecture Notes

Animation - derived from ‘anymore’ (Latin) which means ‘to give life to’. It is the illusion of movement. Images move so fast that it tricks the brain into thinking that an object is moving, this is ‘persistence of vision’.

Documentation and storytelling is not a new concept, sequences of images have been used to tell stories since before 3000BC. 

The Magic Lantern - invented around 1650 by Christian Huygens.

The Thaumatrope - invented in 1824 by John Herschel but made popular by John Paris. 

The Phenakistoscope - invented by Plateai and Von Stampfer in 1831, not collaboratively though. This is a circle with images on which appear to move as it rotates. 

Zoetrope - rotating cylinder with slits in which you can look through to view the animation, invented in 1834. 

Kineograph/flipbook - invented in 1868, first patented by John Barnes. 

Praxinoscope projection - Invented by Charles-Émile Reynaud. 

 

Key animations from history that influence contemporary animation. 

Georges Méliès - A Trip to the Moon, 1902

This animation has been referenced by the Mighty Boosh and Queen. It combines live action and stop motion techniques.

Émile Cohl - Fantasmagorie, 1908

Considered one of the first modern animations. Each frame is a negative photograph of a pencil drawing.

Windsor McCay - Gertie the Dinosaur, 1908

First time keyframes, registration marks and tracing paper were used in animation. 

The sinking of the Lusitania was the first animated documentary - it was serious and gave information. 

1928 - 1957 was the The Golden Age of Cartoons.

The age of Disney. 

Steamboat Willie, 1928 - Walt Disney

This was the first animation Disney Studios released and it had a fully synchronised soundtrack which hadn’t been done before. 

The Skeleton Dance from Disney was an animation made to fit to music which technically made it the first ever music video. 

Ladislaw Starewicz - The Tale of the Fox, 1930

This animation took 10 years to make and the animation is very involved and fluid considering the era it was made in. It shows animals being given human qualities. It has been adapted since to have antisemitic connotations which started the idea of animation being used as a form of propaganda. 

Max Fleischer - Dizzy Dishes, 1930

Creator of Betty Boop and Popeye.

Oskar Fischinger - Komposition in Blau, 1935

This is an abstract animation which fits to music. He worked for Disney but left because his work was being adapted to fit into their more pictorial style. 

Disney - Fantasia, 1941

The reveal of a ‘refeshed Mickey Mouse’. Again, it is animation fitting to various pieces of music. Its first release as a feature length film was a failure but re-releases were more successful. 

Animation as Porpaganda - this had been touched on before but the USA used Disney to produce propaganda in the war (Victory Through Air Power, 1943).

Animation tackled social issues such as racial integration in 1940s America - The Brotherhood of Man, 1945. 

Chuck Jones - Duck Amuck, 1953. 

The character Daffy Duck breaks the boundaries of being a cartoon by having a dialogue with the animator. 

1958 - 1985 was the Television Age. 

The television was rising in popularity and companies wanted large quantities of animation on a low budget which resulted in a change in production methods. 

Examples of the television age include, The Flintstones, Jason and the Argonauts, Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Watership Down. 

Osamu Tezuka - Astro Boy, 1963 (early anime)

Chuck Jones - The Dot and the Line, 1965

An example of modernist animation of a love strory between a dot and a line. 

Gordon Murray - Camberwick Green, 1966

Stop motion animation set inside a magic box.

Oliver Postgate - also produced stop motion animations such as The Clangers and Bagpuss. 

Steven Lisberger was way ahead of his time with Tron in 1982. It is a live action film with animation in it mimicking the much more advanced use of CGI and computers later in the century. 

1985 - Heading towards the digital age. 

Pixar (founded by John Lasseter and Steve Jobs in 1986) used 3D computer animation for their first release - Luxo Jr. 

Disney - Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 1988. 

One of the largest movie budgets of all time costing 70 million dollars. It combined animation and live action like never before. 

Steven Spielberg - Jurassic Park, 1993.

CGI and Animatronic were used for the dinosaurs in the film. 

John Lasseter’s Toy Story was the first ever feature film to be totally computer animated. 

Aardman - A Close Shave, 1995

Opposed Pixar’s 3D digital animation by going back to the more traditional animation approach. 

Gorillaz (James Hewlett) - Clint Eastwood

A virtual cartoon rock band both seen in 2D and 3D.  

Ari Folman - Waltz with Bashir, 2008

This animation was used to tell the story of soldiers serving with the Israeli Army in 1982. It is made from frame by frame drawings which appear jerk in the animation which reflects the awkward confusion, disorientation and horror of the subject. 

Research Proposal and Essay Plan

Suggested title of research project

• How have developments in technology during the digital age affected the way creative practitioners work?
• Have developments in technology during the digital age negatively affected the creative industry and creative practitioners more than we realise?
• To what extent have developments in technology during the digital age negatively affected the way creative practitioners work?

Significance
It seems that digital media is becoming increasingly popular for practitioners to use as it continues to develop and as a student aspiring to enter the design industry, I feel it is important to understand what effect the digital age is having on creative people. 

Primary and secondary sources

Fletcher, A. (2001) ‘The Art of Looking Sideways’, United Kingdom, Phaidon Press

Glaser, M. - ‘Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.’

Heller, S. (2003) ‘The End of Illustration?’ [Internet] Massachusetts, Illustrators’ Partnership of America. Available from: <http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00073> [Accessed 29 October 2014]

Lanier, J. (2011) ‘You Are Not A Gadget’, London, Penguin

Zeegen, L. (2012) ‘The Fundamentals of Illustration’, Switzerland, AVA Publishing

Skype session with Jack Teagle and Donya Todd (unsure how to reference this)

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/october/made-you-look

Methods

To research this topic from a range of sources arguing the point I have proposed in my question but also exploring the opposing view. I will investigate ‘to what extent’ I agree with my question through my analysis of quotes and images giving an opinion on this topic. When looking at how methods of communication have been affected by technology, I will analyse the responses illustrators gave in the book ‘Illustration Next’ when they were asked how the communication part of their collaboration task went. I feel this will give me a good idea of general methods they used and what they found most effective. 

Limitations

• Although I want to investigate the effect that technology is having on how creatives interact and communicate, I don’t want this to cross over too much into a sociological inquiry as I feel the content will start to become irrelevant to my topic. 
• I also don’t want to go off track by just explaining the developments in technology and not exploring their effect on practitioners and the industry. 
• I want to avoid the idea of technology addiction as this will start to become less specific to the creative industry.

Essay plan

Introduction (300 words)

• My thoughts at the beginning of the investigation 
• Outline what I am going to be discussing in the essay
• Although the developments in technology are clearly advancing the creative industry, are we overlooking the negative side effects of these progressions?

Main Body (2400 words)

Present research into technological developments with a particular focus on 2D design, what they allow us to do and has this advanced the discipline of illustration? (300 words)

• The Impact of Technology on Creativity in Design: An Enhancement? by Nathalie Bonnardel and Franck Zenasni
• ‘The computer has opened illustration up to a full range of digital possibilities and placed it on a level with other disciplines.’  (Zeegen, 2012 : 44)
• ‘If it is the pencil that wields the power, then it is the computer that harnesses that power and enables an illustrator to transform the pencil mark into a seemingly never ending array of new marks.’ (Zeegen, 2012 : 44)

Should the discipline feel threatened? Is technology damaging the notion of hand crafted work? (500 words)

• ‘PhotoShop has certainly not replaced illustrators altogether (and many fine illustrators employ PhotoShop as a tool), but this tool is far more threatening than any previous technological development in the history of illustration’ (Heller, 2003)
• Pawel Kyuczynski illustration: Fig.1                                                                                 Kuczynski, P (2007) [illustration] Available from <http://www.boredpanda.com/satirical-illustrations-pawel-kuczynski/?image_id=satirical-art-pawel-kuczynski-13.jpg> [Accessed 29 October 2014]

Does digitally created work have less value? Is a physical artefact favoured more? (300 words)

• http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/october/made-you-look
• "Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking." - Milton Glaser
• http://blog.psprint.com/printing/print-design-before-computers/

Does it matter what process you use, is it not more about concept? (100 words)

• Michelangelo: ’One paints with one’s head, not one’s hands.’  p357

Do illustrators feel pressured to use digital media? Is it expected of them? (300 words)
Donya Todd: It is unlikely whether you would get a job if you are not competent using Photoshop. But your images could still all be hand drawn and just scanned in a touched up before sending them off. 

‘Passive’ (fig.3) analysis linking paragraph above and below (200 words)

Self-promotion: do people have a reliance on technology (social media, their blog, work appearing on the internet, emails to companies) to get their work noticed? (300 words)
Big heads - Jack Teagle and Donya Todd

• cutting out the middle man
• illustrators are less reliant on large corporations to publicise their work

Communication and collaboration: it is easier to get in contact with people across the world but does this make work less personal? Could they be missing out on things by not meeting in person? (400 words)

• http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/october/made-you-look
• Donya Todd: The internet can sometimes take the meaning and personal touch out of a small scale, local project.
• Illustration Next - Ana Benaroya (asking illustrators about the ways in which they collaborated and how they found it - comments on communicating via the internet as oppose to face to face)
• ‘a postpersonal world’ (Lanier, 2011 : 69)

Conclusion (300 words)

• Summarise all arguments. 
• Has my opinion changed in light of my research?

Lecture Notes - The Photograph as a Document

Documentation photography is a type of truth, so people tend to trust it. 

William Edward Kilburn ‘The Great Chartist Meeting At The Common’ 1848

This photo was taken within 10 years of the second invention of photography, it is a very early example of using photography as evidence. It documents a social movement (Chartist movement) amongst the Victorian working classes. By taking a photograph, the event is highlighted as a significant moment in history to be remembered. The photographer seems to be just another person in the crowd, he isn’t acknowledged in any way and nobody seems to know he is taking the photograph so we presume this is a natural, un-staged view of what was actually happening. 

Grahame Clarke (on photography as documentation).

‘In many contexts the notion of a literal and objective record of ‘history’ is a limited illusion. It ignores the entire cultural and social background against which the image was taken, just as it renders the photographer neutral, passive and invisible recorder of the scene.’

Jacob Riis, 1890 - How The Other Half Live

This is a study of New York which revealed issues of ethnicity and poverty supposedly for the purpose of social reform but he actually made a lot of money from it. The stories behind some of his photographs reveal the set up nature of them which makes you think whether photography can be a reliable source of factual documentation. For example, in the photograph below, the boys were paid in cigarettes to set up a mugging for the purpose of the photograph. Although this might be a representation of what was happening regularly, the photo didn’t capture the actual act, just a staged version. Can this photo still be classed as documentation? 

Contrasting this is a photograph by Lewis Hine who referred to himself as a sociological photographer and he didn’t exploit people’s situations for the purpose of his work. His photographs recognise each persons individuality and they retain their dignity and honour. His photography of child labourers did not play on their situation, but still sparked reform and eventual changes in the law. 

Duffer Boy, 1909

FSA - Farm Security Administration

Aimed to increase awareness of the issue of migrants. It was a response to the depression (result of the Wall Street crash - 1929) where 11 million were unemployed and people were migrating to California to look for jobs.

This photograph by Dorothea Lange portrays the nobility in poverty. She did not know any details about the people in the image, no names or backgrounds which shows how she was looking for photographs rather than stories. 

Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother, 1939

Walker Evans focussed on objects rather than people to show his perception of America. 

Coca cola shack, 1935

Ordinary lives are documented as a way of capturing and remembering tradition and the class system in England. 

Bill Brandt - Northumberland Miner at his Evening Meal , 1937

The Magnum Group was founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Capa in 1947. Their aims were to document the social problems of the world. Cartier-Bresson was influence by surrealism. 

The decisive moment - capturing a specify moment in time means that this even somehow has more value and will be remembered more so than any other passing moment which can be forgotten about. 

By refusing to manipulate, crop, edit or stage photographs, the photographer is providing the honest truth of what was happening at that point in time. 

Documentary and War

Studies into this photograph have shown that it was not taken where it had been claimed to have been taken. Apparently, the real location of this image had no military action so the image must have been staged. 

Robert Capa - The Falling Soldier, 1936

George Roger has not exploited the people in the scene he is viewing. He has resisted overdramatising the horror before him and had maintained a sensitive a approach by keeping a respectful distance. 

George Roger - Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, 1945

Is it right to be photographing people of the last few seconds of their lives? Does this not strip them of their rights and dignity and exploit them even more than what they have experienced already? Robert Haeberle shouts ‘hold it!’ before they are shot to capture the terror on their faces. 

Robert Haeberle - People About to be Shot, 1969

Advertising - Lecture Notes

Is advertising prostitution?

It is considered:

• A capitalist tool used to change value in society
• Influential in changing our opinions of what we need and want

There is no short term effect specific to a single product, but it changes the way we think over a long period of time. 

Advertising can often be sexist by using people as cultural stereotypes of their gender.

An example of 1950s illustration shows women being portrayed as the less intelligent gender. 

A more modern piece shows women as a weaker gender and how peoples opinions of what women shouldn’t do pushes them down in society. 

Does sex sell?

Advertisements are often over sexualised to grab the attention of a certain audience and provide unrealistic aspirations for consumers. 

Others provide a humorous approach to this advertising mechanism. 

Pros to advertising

It drives global economies

It drives creativity 

• 1st wave - creating utopia
• 2nd wave - persuasive communication to fulfil dreams

Advertising and art feed each others development - advertising in itself is a powerful art form. Here is a very literal example of advertising taking inspiration from Dali's 'The Persistence of Memory.' 

It shapes popular culture by playing on trends and creating new ones.  

It provides entertainment.

It provides enlightenment and inspiration. This advert draws attention to a detail which makes you realise that priorities are totally wrong.

It reflects values, hopes and dreams. 

Challenges you to do something and makes you think you are capable of doing things you never thought you could.

Questions social norms and attitudes and pushes boundaries to get a message across. 

Raises social awareness, for example this piece highlights the issue of testing cosmetic products on animals. 

I did not attend this lecture due to a clash in my timetable, however, looking through the slides I am trying to understand what the lecture was about. In light of looking at this, I can see that there are many advantages to advertising as it has the power to change public perception and raise awareness of important topics. However, advertising does become more of a controversial topic when it uses selling techniques that could be considered inappropriate or offensive. I agree that a lot of adverts nowadays are over sexualised which isn't necessary or relevant to the products being advertised but I understand that advertisers need to keep pushing boundaries in society to get their message noticed. 

Chronologies: Communication and Mass Media

Mass media: a means of pubic communication reaching a large audience in a short amount of time either through broadcast media (television and radio), print media (newspapers and pamphlets), or outdoor media (billboards and signs)

Areas to consider in relation to communication: fine art, advertising, capitalist tool, political tool, postmodernism, social conscience. 

Cave paintings - documenting life around them, communicating a message about how they live

Giotto di Bondone, c. 1305

People were largely illiterate so this was a method of communicating the bible stories. Elements of visual literacy are clear, for example, good people have halos. 

William Addison Dwiggins coined the term ‘Graphic Design’, pointing out that it is a designer’s duty to clearly present a message. Important statements must be clear and minor posts still not overlooked. ‘This calls for an exercise of common sense and a faculty for analysis rather than for art.’

‘Whatever the information transmitted, it must, ethically and culturally, reflect its responsibility to society.’ - Josef Muller-Brockman

Is the graphic design discipline being held back by preconceptions of ‘publicity’ and ‘promotion’ and is this damaging and undermining the self image of a graphic designer?

'Advertising is hypnotically invasive. Graphic design makes no such claim.’ - Heller, 1995

We must question where the line is drawn between fine art and advertising or if there is even a line at all. 

Toulouse-Lautrec - early advertising

Is this advertising? Is it visually communicating anything or is it a fine art piece with the addition of text? Would the image alone contain enough information to communicate by itself?

Savile Lumley (British war propaganda) - traditional approach reflecting the life of British families. Subtle patterns used to representing royalty and british heritage hinting that you should be proud to be representing your country in the Great War. 

Julius Gipkens (German war propaganda) - abstract and new. Although Hitler was very tradition in his taste in art, these posters represent a change and a new era. 

Bauhaus movement was influential on Graphic design but Hitler shut it down because he wanted a traditional art for the Reich. 

Post war period: consuming products, rebuilding communities and societies, Festival of Britain, development of popular culture. 

Paul Rand, advert for Jacqueline Cochran, 1946

Layout, minimalism, interesting placing of type, negative space. 

Ken Garland, First Things First Manifesto, 1964

Do something ethical and worthwhile with your skill and imagination in visual communication. People have ‘flogged their skill’ to sell mundane products when it could be used in ‘other media through which we promote our trade, our education out culture and our greater awareness of the world.’ 

Hipgnosis, 10CC, Deceptive Bends sleeve design, 1977

Indulgent image to fit with indulgent music. 

Jamie Ried, Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks, Sleeve design, 1977

Direct and to the point, this was a shock to society. This shows how society has moved on to nowadays because this language is used more commonly. 

David Carson, Ray Gun, double page spread

Pushing boundaries of layout and type.

Mark Farrow, Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space, CD packaging, 1997

CDs were stored in pill-like packages. If opened, they decreased in value, does this make it a piece of fine art if it is not being used for its proposed purpose?

By having an exhibition of communicative work, who are you communicating to? Are people visiting your exhibition to be spoken to or are they there to admire the craft and thought behind the imagery? Does this kind of work belong in a gallery or in the outside world where it can speak to people and affect them?

Illustration Lecture Notes

Pictures at work / Illustration in action / Emotional experience in image

What is illustration?

• ‘illumination’ shining light on something and making it clear
• It is not illustration unless it has a function and meaning/message

Aesthetics can communicate as well as content (the aesthetic of the media and the way it has been applied) For example, Jillian Tamaki has used her media very sensitively, emphasising the fragility of these creatures as she tackles the issue of trafficking animals for a piece in the National Geographic magazine. 

A bolder approach to image making has been used for these signs by Lance Wyman for the US National Zoo Washington, they are direct and to the point. 

'Strategic image making, used within the context of visual communication to convey meaning or concept.’

Illustration is a result of the overlap of context, image and concept. 

Illustration communicates with a specific tone of voice. 

Malika Favre for Vogue Japan 

Elegant, glamorous, sexy, sleek - things that readers of Vogue aspire to be like. 

Mouk by Marc Boutevant

Charming, playful and colourful appealing to children and imaginative minds. 

Michael Gillette for Penguin Books / James Bond

Nostalgic and contemporary, they echo imagery from the 60s and 70s - the time period where the James Bond movies were begin released.

Drew Millward for Gallows

Intense, insane, busy, energetic and anarchic - fitting in with the genre of the band. 

Illustration can communicate an explicit message whilst also conveying subtle and abstract ideas through visual aesthetic and functional visual symbols. 

Illustration is a job

BUT… don’t wait to be hired or commissioned, collaborate with others, start projects and produce your own work. Illustration has never been so exciting. 

Illustration can communicate an idea or notion like no other medium…

Functional

Message

Emotional impact

John O’Reilly QUOTE

John O'Reilly - Varoom, Autumn 2014

Illustrators are the people filling in the gaps, they are producing something that never previously existed. They create.