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.