Animation 16.11.

16
Blue bits represent Unit 2 section 2. You have the option to get extra
grades for bits you have already done.
Use these notes from your seminar on history. Do not copy do it in
your own words.
Start essay with the brief.
Use early examples of cave paintings, early cave of El Castillo in spain.
Cave painting Wikipedia
Narratives telling stories.
These were first stories written down in pictures.
Sequential narrative history
e.g. Bayeux Tapestry
Future generations can recount history because could not read. (see
scriptwriting course and monks power.
Horse in Motion Muybridge horse 1878 Edweard Muybridge.
Point in time where tech allowed us to tell stories in another way.
Horse running challenging what we thought we knew. Sequential images
give us information.
Edweard Muybridge worked for Leyland Stanford who was very rich. He
created Stanford University. Asked E.M. to take pics of horses but he
shoots his wife. LS puts together a team of lawyers to say it was
temporary insanity and gets him off.
Historical and contextual studies. Walter Benjamin early exponent of
photography.
What was going on around in world when something happened.
Look up; Zoetrope, Praxinoscope, Phenaristoscope. Take sequential
images and put together to depict movement.
Persistence of vision: human eye creates movement out of still photos.
Gertie the Dinosaur
1914 Windsor McCay he worked out the animation interacted with it.
Interesting point; Gertie is 1 of the first keyframe animations and
therefore why we animate as opposed to film it. No limits to your
imagination. Filming does. Gertie is a very good example of this.
Creation and Exploration of Cell Animation

Animation 16.11.16
Snow White drawn on transparent sheet of paper Cellar acetate is
old fashioned 1937 Disney.
Gertie every single frame needed to be drawn each time. Disadvantage.
Snow White didnt.
Animate progs. Dont have to redraws background cheaper quicker or
both and therefore can make longer films.
First feature length cell animation.
Disadvantage material cellular acetate was costly and flammable.
Rotoscoping
1914-17 Max Fleischer.
Stayed with us for long time. We want to do this fantastical (fantasy)
Eg Bugs Bunny needs to walk properly as a rabitt.
Rotoscoping is tracing over video footage.
Early form of motion capture.
Lots come out well but when it goes wrong the transition between
creativity and commercial reality blurs.
Ralph Bakushi
Lord of the Rings animation.
Overdid the rotoscoping. Commercial decision got in the way Wizards
of 1977.
Steamboat will Walt Disney 1928
1st time people inc. synchronised squad. Audio correctoy aligned is
important.
Modelling. Clay Making Stock Motion Animation
Feathers McGraw (Wallace and Gromit)
Suspension of disbelief
Where would a penguin keep a gun. The surreal, the absurd the
peculiar Englishness of it.
Wrong trousers 1993 Ardman
Pros: Can look very photo real. Lighting, sets, human tactile 3D.
Cons: Incredibly time consuming and expensive. Lighting has to be
perfect.
CGI Animation

Animation 16.11.16
Luxor Jr. website 1986 John Lassiter.
Why is Luxor Jr. important.
Narrative
Emotional acting gives personality. Anthropomorphising
Treating inanimate objects like humans giving them human
characteristics.
Toy story 1995 Pixar does this. Stayed away from humans stayed with
toys.
Beowulf 2007 Animation
Very old narrative
Eg. Does he look real as an angry person. Experiencing the Uncanny
valley.This is a graph you can plot. How believable a character looks
versus how much the audience appeal is. How well you believe in the
character.
We stop believing and the uncanny valley occurs.
Scott Eaton Brilliant Anatomy
Uncanny Valley stems from human nature we abhor dead bodies. The
uncanny valley is this we are instinctively programmed to dislike.
We therefore couldnt navigate the uncanny valley prior to this.
Avatar 2009
Got round the u.v.
Believability is in their acting then make the character v unbelievable.
So we dont compare to real humans.
This is an example of creativity working around technical limitation.
Skin tone wrinkles etc.
Motion capture and Performance Capture
Both continue balance between believability and fantasy. Needs basic
anatomical structure of human beings
Capture in xyz space of movement; a suit.
Represents an evolution in the technology in particular the facial acting.
NB Andy Serkis very important.
NB Get Quotes

Animation 16.11.16
Blurring of the lines/disciplines
Animation technology used in film. But also to a huge degree in games.
Performance capture. Stephen Ogg
GTA5 playing Trevor Phillips
Good eg of Merging/blurring of disciplines
Animation-Film-Games
Brief cinematic for a game not film. Eyes doing a lot of work. 20% up
the uncanny valley? Is it more real.
Made by CD Project red.
Company v. small, creative people not influenced a lot by business
decisions.
Conclusion
Interdependence of creativity and technology.
Technology first does this interfere with creativity?
Creativity first better production better animation?
Technology should save creativity. Good animation blends technology.
Supportive