How To Make Animation From Scratch

Transcription

1 The Animated Film Key Concepts

2 What is an animated film? Different from live action at the production stage Live action = an ongoing action is shot in real time Animated film = images are shot one frame at a time Between the exposure of each frame, the animator changes the subject being photographed When projected, the images create the illusion of movement

3 ANYTHING can be ANIMATED Using two-dimensional drawings three-dimensional objects information stored in a computer Animation lends itself beautifully to experimental film

4 Types of traditional animation Drawings Cut outs Three dimensional objects using clay/plasticine puppets pixillation Uses the technique of stop-motion

5 Animation of drawings The oldest type of animation. Began with drawings of cartoon images that were then photographed Drawings are done on rectangular sheets of celluloid called CELS Assembly line labor: drawing, coloring, photographing Full animation vs. Limited animation Some filmmakers draw directly on the film Stan Brakhage & Norman McLaren

6 Animation of cut-outs Works with two-dimensional images Uses flat materials, e.g. paper, to make puppets with movable joints Animators can manipulate cut-out images frame by frame to create a moving collage. Can combine flat shapes of paper or other materials to create pictures or patterns, e.g. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut computer animation mimics this rudimentary form of animation

7 Animation of objects & the technique of stop motion Animation of objects falls into three closely related categories: clay, model & pixilation. All three use the technique of stop motion, or stop frame. This technique makes a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence

8 Animation of objects: Claymation Clay animation, or claymation. The animator bends, twists or stretches the models slightly between exposures. Grown in popularity since the mid-1970s Nick Park directed the Wallace and Gromit shorts, Chicken Run w/peter Lord, made with this technique

9 Animation of objects: Puppets Employs figures with bendable wires or joints Original master of puppets Ladislav Starevich w/realistic insect models in the 1910s Most famous puppet, the giant gorilla of King Kong (1933) Recent films using puppet animation: The Nightmare before Christmas 1993 Corpse Bride 2005 Coraline 2009 Fantastic Mr. Fox 2009 Frankenweenie 2012

10 Animation of live actors: Pixilation Frame-by-frame manipulation of people & ordinary objects The actor freezes in a pose for the exposure of one frame, then moves slightly & freezes again for another frame, & so on. (The actor is like a living stop motion puppet) The result is a jerky, unnatural motion quite different from ordinary performance. NormanMcLaren Neighbours, A Chairy Tale

11 Combining live-action & traditional animation 1920s Disney series Alice in Cartoonland Gene Kelly & Jerry the Mouse in Anchors Aweigh 1945 Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988

12 Types of computer animation Computer imaging has REVOLUTIONIZED animation Software can quickly generate the thousands of mages that will supply the illusion of movement Software enables filmmakers to create images of things that could not be filmed in the real world

13 Computer animation: CGI Computer-generated imagery, or CGI, was used occasionally for special effects in 1970s and 80s Star Wars 1977 In 1990s Industrial Light & Magic and Pixar developed powerful computers and complex programs for creating animated imagery. Images generated in computers were transferred to film, filmed directly off a high-resolution monitor or imprinted with laser onto each frame.

14 Computer animation breakthrough: Toy Story 1995 by Pixar First animated feature created entirely via computer Presented a compelling three-dimensional world peopled by figures that resembled plasticine models. Pixar s programs improved the renditon of fur Monsters, Inc 2001 water Finding Nemo 2003 metal Cars 2006

15 2D & 3D computer animation Toy Story s illusion of solid, sculptural cartoon figures helped establish the conventions of 3D computer animation 3D computer animation is different from the projection of stereoscopic 3D By contrast, 2D computer animation uses digital imaging to simulate the look of traditional cel animation The Prince of Egypt 1998 My Dog Tulip 2009

16 Does the computer generate the film? The computer software can work only with what the filmmaker puts into it. The input can be a scanned image a three-dimensional model a drawing from a digital tablet a wire frame image motion capture

17 Combining traditional & computer animation The kinds of films made with computer animation are similar to the traditional ones 3D animation frequently resembles puppet films A Bug s Life The Tale of Three Brothers, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 imitates the look of the traditional silhouette film Hayao Miyazaki combines anlaog and digital imaging, drawing thepictures but using a paint program

18 Traditional & computer animation Traditional animation extremely labor-intensive & costly. Only Disney studio could regularly turn out full-length animated features. Computer animation dramatically lowered the cost & has led to an explosion of feature-length cartoons. Nowadays a small team can make professional-level features that play in theaters and at festival. Persepolis My Dog Tulip Thanks to digital technology, animation has moved into the mainstream of commercial filmmaking

19 Source: Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, 10 edition, Chapter 10: Documentary, experimental cinema and animation