HISTORY of Animation

VICTREE MEDIA 1

SUMMARY:

     Traditional animation, which began in the early 1900s, has evolved significantly since the first full-length animated 3D movie, Toy Story. Traditional animation methods include frame-by-frame animation, stop motion animation, Claymation, Paper Cut-out animation, Pixelation, Silhouette, Flipbook animation, Barrier-grid animation, Zoetrope, and Pinscreen animation. These techniques are often used in films like Disney's Twelve Princesses but are becoming increasingly popular due to their complexity and difficulty in mastering.

     Stop-motion animation is labor-intensive and difficult to master but is gradually being replaced by 3D animation. Flipbook animation is best for short narratives and amusement, while barrier-grid animation involves moving a striped overlay across an abstract drawing. Pinscreen animation is inexpensive and allows marketers to depict real-life scenarios.

     Realistic cartoons combine traditional cartoons with human actor-driven movies, while drawing on glass and sand animation are 2D image production method used for live-action and animated television. Traditional animations are often used in various media and marketing initiatives, and studios are now producing entirely 3D animated films, fusing motion capture animations with 3D visuals, adding 3D computer-generated components to live-action situations, and using virtual production methods.

     If you want to know in detail about the 12 types of animation, that were made without a computer, read them down below.

Introduction:

     Traditional animations originally began as sketches made by hand. In contrast, practically everything is now digital. Animated films were initially employed in the early 1900s if you go back in time. On August 17th, 1908, the first animation film, Fantasmagorie, was produced. This film was created by Emile Cohl. A 1-minute and 20-second film was produced after a process that lasted about five months and 700 drawings. To trace each frame and produce a unified animation, was done using an illuminated glass plate.

     The entire film industry was altered by this ground-breaking concept! Following our review of the fundamentals, let's explore the many forms of animation. The employment of animations is becoming very common in the present day!

     The best aspect is that animation is now widely available and is used in everything from media to marketing initiatives. These days, you can create stunning animations from the convenience of your computer thanks to Animate or OpenToonz [I am not sponsored by them but I like that OpenToonz is very close to animate]. Without further ado, let's look at the many animation types you may learn about.

    The first full-length animated 3D movie, Toy Story by Pixar, revolutionized the animation business. The first 3D animated M&M commercials from the 1990s showcase the use of these digitally created worlds and assets in shorter animations, but Toy Story gave rise to more realistic animations with realistic lighting, movement, and character emotions.

    Studios are now producing entirely 3D animated films, fusing motion capture animations with 3D visuals, adding 3D computer-generated components to live-action situations, and using virtual production methods. The photos are just for your understanding but make sure not to use any of them for commercials, nor will I use them.

     Now, the computer system has made it so much easier to animate, not just 3D but 2D animation as well. Back in Types of Animation, I mentioned, many different animating techniques there but I purposely missed out on those, that do not require a computer. If you have not read it before, you can click on the "Types of Animations" hyperlink. So in this period of teaching, I am going to talk about types of animation that were made when we had no computers or the computers were not the ones we see now. So, buckle up and let us go through those.

1) TRADITIONAL Animation

     Frame-by-frame animation, what kids call it, is referred to as "Cel" or "Traditional" animation. The way Disney's old twelve princesses were produced are examples of legendary films. To be able to be animated independently, each animated element is painted on a different layer of transparent paper (referred to as Cels). The people and any other moving things, such as, would be drawn on sheets of transparency paper that were placed on top of the background scene, which is stationary. They can then be animated without causing the background, other characters, or props to move at the same time. It's an animation style that is rarely utilized today due to its complexity and lengthy process.

     Talking about Cel animation, there is an impractical but not impossible way of doing animation. You can gather a bunch of drawings on different sheets of paper with different poses, and stick them to the wall in a sequence. After that, drive your car or ride your bike across and look to the left. This can be risky but it has been tried in subways and Pale Of Pears succeeded doing this form of animation in Minecraft.

2) STOP MOTION Animation

     Because it uses a sequence of subtly altered still images to create the illusion of movement, stop motion animation is quite similar to traditional animation. Stop motion uses photography and genuine objects are captured, which is the main distinction. Stop motion involves artists taking a photo of a scene or object, moving the objects just a little, and then taking another picture. Using each image as a frame in the animation, the artist goes through this process repeatedly until the scene is finished. A Flipbook with pictures might be a better analogy.

     Despite being labor-intensive, stop motion animation is organic and innately appealing, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming and difficult to master. While traditional animation can be a fantastic alternative for artists who wish to exercise total creative control, it also calls for a very high level of talent, and it is gradually being supplanted by 3D animation. The animator must choose the sort of animation that best suits them by weighing the pros and cons of each.

     A comparable method is Claymation. Although they are frequently made of Plasticine rather than actual clay, it is still a story with pliable characters. In addition, stop motion may be created using everyday objects and miniatures, as seen in the fantastic Lego or Chuckimation (Action figure) animations on YouTube that use Lego sets or toys to animate. Puppet animations use regular puppets instead of clay ones, usually also built upon some sort of skeletal rig.

     Paper cut-out animation is a different kind of stop motion. Characters are constructed with paper forms in this design. To create a possible figure, they may be pinned together at the joints, or individual components may be fixed in place to allow for exchange. Like a stop motion puppet, they are then moved and captured in individual frames. That was the original animation style for South Park. Pixelation is a different, extremely rare form of stop motion. It uses real people as a subject and a real environment to create unreal videos. It uses the stop motion method of taking a still image, moving things around, and then another picture. Every single one of them must be shot straight ahead, which entails starting in frame 1 and continuing in frame 1 until the scene's conclusion. It is quite challenging to correct an error on one frame without having to start over. Like in 2D animation, you cannot just redraw that frame. Because of this, this style of animation is very demanding in terms of patience. Silhouette uses cardboard or some kind of flat material, but the objects are all dark and black, and the shot is illustrated with silhouettes only.

3) TIM BURTON's STYLE Animation

    It is simple to recognize and appreciate Tim Burton's Style. Created in 1984, his debut film was not released until 1988. Now, even if you are not involved in video creation, you can recognize Time Burton's distinctive aesthetic. With their characters, other filmmakers and animators increasingly produce videos similarly. Dark color, a deliberate juxtaposition of light and shadow, and protagonists with large eyes, slender limbs, and angular features are some of this style's defining characteristics. It appears as follows:
 

     In terms of using this style for video marketing, it might be a pretty original strategy ideal for a thematic company. Using it in a film to promote a haunted house or an escape room as an illustration.

4) FLIPBOOK Animation

     Each story piece is illustrated separately on different notebook pages in one of the original ways. As soon as the drawing is complete, the pages immediately spin, creating a "manual video" due to the rapid frame change.

     A Praxinoscope or Zoetrope is a tool used to demonstrate moving visuals, and flipbook animation is generally an echo of this tool. This is one of the most common ways to animate and it is what every animator starts with. For instance, making animation on your copies, or the back of your books. Although flipbook animation is best for short narratives and the amusement of the target audience, it is not suited for marketing as such.

5) Stereography/Kinegram/Picket-Fence/BARRIER-GRID Animation

     One more animation without a computer or a camera is in which a striped transparent overlay is moved across a glitchy abstract drawing to create barrier-grid animation, also known as Picket-fence animation, Kinegram animation or Stereography. The surprising thing is it is not an abstract at all, if you know a thing or two about animation and if you focus, you can see that each lines are placed very purposefully. So with the right base drawings, you can make all types of animation that do not hurt our eyes to look at. This style of animation too was shown in Mob Psycho 100 2nd opening.

6) PRAXINOSCOPE/ZOETROPE Animation

     This particular animation technique was first mentioned in 180 BC {Before Christ}! This technology is based on a gadget known as a Zoetrope. It is a specific kind of cover-less drum with slots where a ribbon with illustrations is placed inside. Drawings create a continuous animation while the drum rotates according to the persistent vision phenomenon. So before we had cameras or computers, this animation worked when one person would rotate the round table where the figures were kept on, and the other person would turn the light on and off.

     Due to the need for an actual Zoetrope, this strategy is rarely employed in marketing. Disneyland in California, however, allows you to see how it was put into practice. Fun fact number 1, the rotating image in the Mob Psycho 100 2nd opening is a Zoetrope. Although my first digital animation was on Powerpoint and often I mention making Flipbooks in the back of my journals, this was the first animation that I tried. The reason I do not consider this is because at that time I did not know that it was a part of animation [Why did I not know this? I do not know], and I just saw it and followed from a show on Pogo, titled "M.A.D {Music Arts and Dance}".

7) DRAW-ON-FILM Animation

    Draw-on-film animation is a method of producing animations today appears either too archaic or too novel. In essence, animation frames are made directly on movie film, which may or may not already have some form of sketch on it. It was 1912 when this fashion was first mentioned. Because it doesn't require a camera or complicated software, this method of making animations is still quite inexpensive. Let's examine the outcome. Caroline Leaf, who was previously mentioned in the previous paragraph, is the author of this.

8) PINSCREEN Animation

     This one is unique. You'll require a vertical soft screen, lots of needles, and Pinscreen Animation to be able to make it. When squeezed, the needles extend outward and take on the form of the object, resulting in an intriguing play of shadows that enables you to create a voluminous image.

9) LIVE ACTION Mixed with ANIMATION

     When live-action and animated videos are both available, why choose? With the use of animation placed on top of live-action videos, marketers are now able to depict real-life scenarios and intensify them. Well-known businesses have successfully used the advantages of both well-liked strategies to develop distinctive looks and gripping stories.

10) REALISTIC Animation

     A realistic cartoon is a form of animation that sits somewhere between a traditional cartoon and a human actor-driven movie. In other words, this is either an effort to "implant" real heroes into a cartoon setting or "humanize" cartoon heroes.

11) PAINT-ON-GLASS Animation

     Paint-on-glass animation is a very complex animation technique, and this is one of the reasons why it’s unfortunately not very popular. Drawing on glass as an animation method was invented in 1976 by the Canadian animator Carolyn Leaf. Her short animated film “Street” using this technique was nominated for an Oscar.

     The peculiarity of this style is that each frame is created directly in front of the camera using glass and oil paints. Each frame is a real animated picture, the creation of impressionist artists, and lives only a fraction of a second before being replaced by the next frame.

12) SAND Animation

     Sand animation is a form of animation that can be used to produce both live-action and animated television. The process, which involves pouring sand onto a bright surface to produce a 2D image, is conceptually extremely straightforward but technically rather challenging. The same methodology may also be used to draw it. Invented in 1969, the concept.

 

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