Animation NC II

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[Animation]

Module 5: Animation
Course Learning Outcomes:
1. Discuss the brief introduction to animation
2. Discuss the history of animation
3. Identify the materials used to create traditional and digital animation.

INTRODUCTION

Animation is a process where pictures and images are shown in a rapid

order or sequence to create the illusion of movement. These pictures and
images can be hand drawn, made on a computer, or photographs of 3D
objects. We sometimes think of animation as cartoons. ... People who make
animations are called animators.

HISTORY
Animation has been around since before the dawn of cinema by way of the
Thaumatrope, Zoetrope, and Phénakisticope. Soon after Théâtre Optique,
Stop-Motion, Kinetoscope, and hand-drawn animation came bursting onto
the scene as favoured methods by many cinematic pioneers and directors
including the Lumière Brothers, Georges Méliès, J. Stuart Blackton, and
Walt Disney.
1900 – The Enchanted Drawing

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We kick things off with a silent film by J. Stuart Blackton, who some call the
father of animation. His silent film shot in Thomas Edison’s Black Moria stu-
dio in New Jersey is credited as the first animated sequence on film ever.
An actor essentially does a bit of prop work and a cartoon man drawn on an
easel occasionally changes expression thanks to some basic stop motion
photography. Nothing fancy, but enough to capture the imagination of its
viewers and other’s looking to run with this new and exciting visual enter-
tainment medium.

1906 – Humorous Phases of Funny Faces

Without any live action actor this time, J. Stuart Blackton returns with this,
the first animation recorded on standard picture film. Humorous Phases be-
gins with an artist drawing portraits on a blackboard in chalk, before they
begin to animate and interact with each other.
It may be primitive, but this film would have blown your monocle clean off
your face if you hadn’t seen a drawing come to life before!

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1908 – Fantasmagorie

French Charicaturist Émile Cohl steps into the ring now, producing the first
fully animated cartoon with no live-action whatsoever. Made from 700 draw-
ings, each double-exposed, this 2 minute long film is the earliest example of
what became known as traditional animation.
With his characters morphing and transforming throughout, Cohl wanted to
really demonstrate the fantastical, reality-defying possibilities of animation
with his production.

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1914 – Gertie the Dinosaur

Whilst Gertie was perhaps the first animated character to gain notoriety,
Windsor McCay’s animated dinosaur film is worth a mention because it is
the first animation to make use of key framing, inbetweening, registration
marks and animation loops. These all became part of standard industry
practice for traditional animation production for decades to come.

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 Animation NC II
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[Animation]

1919 – Felix the Cat

Felix was the leading character of a series of short cartoons created by Otto
Messmer and became the first real ‘star’ of the animated silent film era.
He was a bit of a pop culture icon as well, having dolls, toys, watches, ce-
ramics, postcards and more made in his image.
1922 – Steamboat Willie

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[Animation]

We all know this one! Steamboat is often mistakenly thought to be Mickey

Mouse’s debut, when in fact, this wasn’t his first outing. It was, however, the
first animated film to both popularise Mickey and to be fully scored.
Yeah that doesn’t sound as impressive, but it’s still an iconic moment in ani-
mation history with some of the most recognisable visuals of any animation
ever.
1930 – Dizzy Dishes

This animated cartoon about an incompetent chef gets a mention because

it’s the first cartoon in which Betty Boop appears. Although not as we know
her… Back then, she was some kind of terrifying dog-human hybrid. Sorry
for the nightmares.
1932 – Flowers and Trees

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This is part of Disney’s Silly Symphonies series, and was the first film to win
an Academy Award for Best Animated Short.
The keen-eyed amongst you will notice that we’ve left the black and white
era behind us! Flowers and Trees was also the first animated film shot with
a three-strip Technicolor camera, a process so costly that it almost ruined
Disney financially. Luckily the cartoon was a smash hit – phew!
1933 – King Kong

Widely considered to be one of the greatest films of all time – King Kong
earns its spot in the history of evolution for including the most advanced and
convincing stop motion animated characters yet seen.

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 Animation NC II
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[Animation]

1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Probably the first animation on this timeline that still holds up nowadays,
which speaks volumes of its polish, Snow White was the first ever full length
animated feature film.
The labour-intensive yet visually stunning production perhaps makes this
the work that cemented Walt Disney as one of the world’s most innovative
storytellers.
1960 – The Flintstones

This palaeolithic Hanna-Barbera cartoon was the first ever prime-time ani-
mated show.
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Amongst its long list of accolades and achievements, did you know that
Fred and Wilma were also the first married couple to ever be shown in bed
together on TV? Remember that one, might come up in a pub quiz one day!
1961 – One Hundred and One Dalmatians

This one is on the animation timeline because it was the first full feature ani-
mated film Disney made using xerography.
This is a process that eliminates hand-inking the outlines of the characters
on each cel. Instead, the drawings were printed directly onto the cels, sav-
ing a massive amount of time and labour. Keep an eye out for the clear,
bold lines in Dalmatians – a direct result of this process.
1985 – The Adventures of Mark Twain

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Another first, this Will Vinton production about Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer,
Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher was the first ever feature length stop motion
claymation film
It paved the way for studios like Aardman and Laika to take this process and
run with it.
1988 – Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The first feature film to have live-action and cartoon characters share the
same screen – we’ve come a long way since The Enchanted Drawing!
Roger Rabbit is also a major milestone in animated history because of the
sheer number of characters and assets from different studios that made an
appearance. Where else can you get Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse in the
same scene?!

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 Animation NC II
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[Animation]

1993 – Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park mixed animatronics, stop-motion and CGI to create the most
photo-realistic animated creatures ever before seen on screen.
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual-effects studio behind these prehis-
toric creations, took a year to create just 4 minutes of computer generated
dinos.
1995 – Toy Story

Just 2 years after Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, Pixar came out with the first en-
tirely computer generated feature film. It had full model articulation and mo-
tion-control coding to bring Andy’s toys to life, a real breakthrough in 3D ani-
mation which secured Pixar’s position as the studio to beat.
Toy Story was also the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award
for best original screenplay, showing how animation was beginning to be
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recognised and respected as entertainment, rather than just for animation-

related accolades.
2002 – Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The second instalment of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is re-
markable for many reasons, not least of which is the motion capture and
CGI work that went into creating Gollum.
Whilst the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park were highly accomplished elements
that looked right at home alongside live-action stars, Gollum was the first
real character that showed the world what motion capture and CGI was ca-
pable of. A fully computer generated character could appear alongside ac-
tors and it looked amazing.
Check out our pieces on Andy Serkis and mocap for more technical info and
trivia about Gollum and motion capture!

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2009 – Avatar

Moving from LotR’s CGI characters in real world settings, the next milestone
in animation history came from James Cameron’s Avatar featuring real ac-
tors in completely computer generated worlds
Avatar blew audiences away with its advanced CGI and motion capture
techniques, bringing the lush, alien world of Pandora to life in both 2 and 3
dimensions.
2012 – ParaNorman

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Stop motion has come a long way! Us Brits, having grown up with the likes
of Pingu, Bagpuss, The Magic Roundabout, Wallace and Gromit, and Crea-
ture Comforts on our screens, tend to have an especially soft spot for the
medium as well.
ParaNorman by studio LAIKA represents some of the most advanced stop-
motion and modelling techniques in animation to date. It was the first to
make use of mass 3D printing for its models – creating over 31,000 individ-
ual face parts during production.
This technique is why the puppets in ParaNorman are so expressive and
versatile – over 250 unique faces were used for one character to create a
single shot lasting only 27 seconds. These groundbreaking stop motion
techniques are enough to make viewers question if it’s even models at all!

MATERIALS, TOOLS AND EQUIPMENTS

1. Pencil - Is used to rough out first key drawings. HB or B pencil is

needed for clean drawings, while colored pencil is used for roughing
out the animation.
2. Clutch pencil - Is used for clean-up drawings. Often used by the anima-
tors, because it does not have to be continuously sharpened.
3. Sharpener - Is used to sharpen a pencil’s lead by shaving away its
wood surface.
4. Eraser - Is used to remove pencil markings on the paper. It is important
for an animator to have an eraser to rub out lead cleanly.
5. Brush - Is used to get rid of any carbon dust or eraser pieces.
6. Masking tape - Is used to secure animation papers or for taping down
the peg bar.
7. Animation paper - Usually comes in field sizes, either 12 x 15. How-
ever, A4 size is commonly used.
8. Animation light box - It is used to clearly through all the layers of draw-
ings.
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9. Scanner - Is used to record and store images that will be imported to

the computer.
10. Drawing tablet - Is used for digital coloring and drawing.
11. Personal computer - Is used in animation for line testing.

References and Supplementary Materials

Links
1. https://sites.google.com/site/whyteachanimation/introduction-
to-animation
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation
3. https://esff.ca/brief-history-animation/
4. https://www.fudgeanimation.com/2018/11/the-evolution-of-
animation-a-timeline/
5. https://www.slideshare.net/conniemariemagno/tools-and-
equipment-for-hand-drawn-animation?from_action=save

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