Applying the principle ‘Solid Drawing’ from the 12 Principles of animation into 3-dimensional space requires an understanding of solid posing that conveys story and character without any movement. The following poses are referenced using images of real people.
Action Pose (Kicking Stance)
Taking the positioning and elements of weight from the reference image, I focused on the positioning of the feet. I tried to replicate the simplistic rig to the best of my ability. Manipulating camera angles, I angled it as a lower medium shot to try and convey the wait and action to engage with the audience.
With the reference image showing a jump in the absence of a solid force of gravity, I tried to emulate the gesture’s ‘lightness’ of the gesture, making the posting display more effeminate features to add a further sense of character.
In attempts to push the boundaries of standard action positions, I used a reference image of a psychically complex figure skating move and tried to gain a sense of the complexity of the sense of weight while keeping a strong ‘C’ line of action in the figures back.
cooperating an object into dynamic action posing, and looking at the key lines of action in the reference pictures, like the “C” line shape created in the form of the back. Also, taking into consideration the signs of weight in the feet, knees and hips to create a stance that has visible kinetic power behind them.
Emotional Pose (Sadness)
Trying to convey emotional expression through a character rig without a facial rig provides an exciting challenge and requires powerful body positions to convey the emotion intended. Creating the negative space in the arms makes clear posing in the emotional expression.
This pose is more subtle in its line of action. However, I tried to reduce the ‘stiffness’ by keeping the back in a ‘C’ line of action. I also tried to reduce the symmetry of the pose but standing the feet in the opposite directions to add a level of naturalism that does not make the weight distribution seem perfect in stance.
I tried to push the exaggeration on this one more extensively than the previous, giving its a slightly unrealistic sense of gravity. However, I think this adds clarity to the emotional expression of the body.
Creating a strong silhouette is an essential part of keyframing animation and is reminiscent of the initial thumbnailing process used in the early process of animation to convey strong performances. This helps gain a sense of strong lines of action without getting distracted by elements of character design such as hair and clothing and colour design to make sure the position is as strong as possible. Reflectively, some of these could have been pushed and exaggerated further, especially in the emotional poses, as the emotion needs to be very clear in the body without facial expression. It lacks in the ‘angry’ feeling and appears more like ‘relaxed’ pointing.
Commencing the first week of animation tasks was the bouncing ball, which is the quintessential exercise for an animator learning and adapting their skillset. In my first attempt (as seen below), the ball is bouncing onto a stationary spot, and I have tried to make it appear ‘realistic’ with elements of slight exaggeration in the squash and stretch. “The animator’s job is to synthesise movements and apply just the right amount of creative exaggeration to make the movement look natural within the cartoon medium” (Whitaker and Halas, 2009, p.27). Reflecting on improvement, however, the slight roll at the end seems slightly unnatural in movement, and the frames should be extended to produce a more natural roll in timing.
The Second ball bounce included a sideways movement that was tricky to stop convincingly and realistically. To achieve the smooth and circular ball arcs, I used a motion train to easily manipulate the height and distance of each bounce. To deepen a further understanding of this, I would work on perfecting the timing by studying real-life references of balls rolling to a natural stop in the future.
References
.WHITAKER, R and HAROLD, J. 2009. Timing for Animation. Amsterdam, Focal Publishing. Page 27.
In the Professional animation industry, there are numerous examples of expertly crafted animation which has a precise and conscientious use of the 12 principles of animation. Controversially to this, several demonstrate a lack of understanding of these principles, and it comes across in the production quality.
Hotel Translyvania (2012)
Figure 1: Tartakovsky. 2012. Hotel Transylvania
The stylised animation of Hotel Transylvania flows wonderfully and is an excellent example of well-crafted exaggerated, comical timing. It demonstrates a great affinity for the cartoon’s old ‘Looney Tunes’ style with overexaggerated motions that follow physics that are unique to that world and bring it effectively into 3D Space. In figure 1, there is a clear demonstration of emotion, positioning and pose. ‘Dracula’ is posed in a curve around the other character, which displays a sense of power while simultaneously telling the audience the conversation is private, which demonstrates very effective staging and character expression. The facial expressions are exaggerative and clear, which allows each personality to shine through. Timing-wise, in figure 2, the character begins to fall at a languid and unnatural pace which works well comedically as it exemplifies the distance he has jumped from. Example: Hotel Transylvania – Pool Party Scene | Fandango Family – YouTube
Figure 2: Tartakovsky. 2012. Hotel Transylvania
Treasure Planet (2002)
Disney 2D animated Treasure planet shows an excellent demonstration of follow-through and overlapping action on ‘Jim Hawkins’ character design. Particularly in the opening sequence, the character is flying on a hoverboard, and various different forces are applied to him. The way his hair and clothing and earrings move in relation to the very rapid action is very well done, as they are being counteracted by several forces at once. Example: Treasure Planet – 12 Years Later (Blu-Ray) – YouTube
Fig. 3: Clements and Musker. 2002. Treasure Planet
Fig.4: Clements and Musker. 2002. Treasure Planet
Bratz Rock Angels (2005)
The entirety of the movie ‘Bratz Rock Angels’ has a questionable animation style. Given the context of these movies, the characters are ‘doll-like leaves lee-way for stiff, monotonous animation. However, rather than coming across in an intentional and well thought out process, the animation comes across as clunky, unpolished and at times verging on Uncanny. In reference to the 12 principles of animation, the animation’s timing appears to be very unnatural, following a more mechanical and ‘floaty’ CGI look which is achieved through minimal and badly placed keys in computer animation software. The lip synchronisation with the audio is also very out, making the animation look rushed and not well thought out. Example: Bratz Rock Angelz part 5 – YouTube
Fig 5: Fassett. 2005. Bratz: Rock Angelz
FoodFight! (2012)
While the conceptualisation and storyline of this movie have many very apparent issues in themselves, the animation for this film has significant issues; especially when considering the time frame and the budget this film had (being $65 million) (FoodFight! -Imdb, 2021). Due to issues in timing on the production, the animation style was changed from key animation to motion capture, which looks very rushed and appears to have not been cleaned up very well. This gives the characters very ‘jerky’ and contorted movements that look hazardous rather than enjoyable. In figure 6, you can see how the character’s wrist bends backwards rather unnaturally, and the movement itself is very unclean. The animation of ‘FoodFight!’ (Kasanoff,2012) seems to be an example of bad application of ‘appeal’ as the characters movements do not match the aesthetics of the film or the character designs and look particularly uncanny and grotesque despite the ‘cartoony’ style. Foodfight! Trailer – YouTube
Figure 6: Kasanoff. 2012. Foodfight!
Titanic: The Legend Goes On (2000)
This 2D animated version of ‘Titanic’ is in the top 10 worst animated movies on IMDB (Worst Animated Films of All Time – IMDb, 2018) and demonstrates some examples of bad staging. In figure 7, the character appears to be exiting down the corridor to the right side of the screen, however in the shot immediately after (shown in figure 8), the camera shows him leaving on the left side of the screen. This breaks the spatial continuity editing rule called the ‘180 Degree rule’. This invisible 180 Degree line directors use help to keep screen continuity to communicate the story to an audience so as not to confuse them (Edgar-Hunt, Marland and Rawle, 2010). While this can be broken to create a feeling of discombobulation, it appears to be a victim of poor storyboarding and shot layout in this specific instance. this, combined with the poor timing
Figure 7: Teti. 2000. Titanic: The Legend Goes On
Figure 8: Teti. 2000. Titanic: The Legend Goes On
List of Figures
Figure 1- TARTAKOVSKY, G (2012). [Screenshot]. Hotel Transylvania. United States, South Korea and Canada: Sony Pictures Animation, Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions.
Figure 2- TARTAKOVSKY, G (2012). [Screenshot]. Hotel Transylvania. United States, South Korea and Canada: Sony Pictures Animation, Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions.
Figure 3- CLEMENTS, R and J, MUSKER (2002). [Screenshot]. Treasure Planet. United States: Walt Disney Animation Studio.
Figure 4- CLEMENTS, R and J, MUSKER (2002). [Screenshot]. Treasure Planet. United States: Walt Disney Animation Studio.
Figure 5- FASSETT, M (2005). [Screenshot]. Bratz: Rock Angelz. United States: MGA Entertainment.
Figure 6- KASANOFF, L (2012).[Screenshot]. Foodfight!. United States: Lionsgate Family Entertainment, C47 Productions, Natural Image.
Figure 7- TETI,C (2000). [Screenshot]. Titanic: The Legend Goes On. Italy: Titanic Cartoons.
Figure 8- TETI,C (2000). [Screenshot]. Titanic: The Legend Goes On. Italy: Titanic Cartoons.
Bibliography
EDGAR-HUNT, R., MARLAND, J. and RAWLE, S., 2010. The language of film. 4th ed. AVA Academia, p.150.
Imdb.com. 2021. FoodFight! -Imdb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249516/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0> [Accessed 17 October 2021].
IMDb. 2018. Worst Animated Films of All Time – IMDb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/list/ls022726660/> [Accessed 17 October 2021].
Animation pioneers Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Working at Disney from its primitive years into the 1970s, created a set of rules for creating well-produced animation. This set of rules is titled the ’12 Principles of Animation’.
Squash and Stretch
Squash and stretch give emphasis to the weight and momentum of a movement. In a media form such as animation, the body can be pushed to unrealistic limits. However, it is essential to keep the volume of the exaggerated object the same. The intentional exaggeration of this principle can be applied contextually, depending on the type of animation style being created. For instance, this is exemplified in figure 1, a more’ Cartoony’ style animation where the character is stretched out to add comedic emphasis to the interaction of the characters, heightening the emotional displays from each of them. Contrasting with this, the subtle uses of squash and stretch in the film ‘Cinderella’ (1950) are portrayed in a more nuanced and ‘realistic way’; this is mainly present in particular facial expressions and movements of more ‘ridiculous’ characters such as the king. Highlighting squash and stretches importance in animation, Walt Stanchfield states how “The lack of it can make a scene seem lifeless. The overuse of it has not yet occurred” (Stanchfield and Hahn, 2009: 12).
Anticipation is in its basic form, is the preparation of the action. This principle adds an accentuation of energy build up in a movement that gives it a sense of realism and weight. For example, before starting a run, a character might dramatically lean back on one leg before going into a sprint (which is classically seen in older cartoons). In animation, this can really be pushed to extremities, the show a build-up of action in stylised and comical ways. An excellent example of this is shown in figure 4, where the animation is pushed to such extremities, the character falls off their chair.
Figure 3: Willaims. 2009
3. Staging
Staging is an essential part of animation as it concerns the overall placement, camera angle, movement and focus of a shot. Much like elements of ‘Mise-En-Scene’, which is “the contents of the frame and the way they are organised” (Gibbs, 2002:2), the staging helps progress the narrative. As shown in figure 5, the way the camera is placed, using the out of focus building to lead the eye into the right corner to the in-focus main character, helps frame the current action. When the camera pulls out of focus toward the peak of the building, his destination makes the subsequent action very clear as he turns towards it. Camera moves are not the only thing that makes effective staging; however, the background and environment play a big part in setting the scene and providing a lot of context and character. This is not without the inclusion of props and objects the characters interact with. Without effective staging, the story of the animation will not come across effectively, even if it displays beautiful animation. It is an essential aspect of any film.
Figure 5: Bird and Pinkava. 2009. Rataouillie.
4. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
Straight ahead and pose to pose animation describe the different methods of approaching an animated shot. Straight ahead is when a piece of animation is done from frame to frame without planning. Pose to pose is a more strategic, planned method of animating, where keyframes of the action are put in place. Straight ahead, while allowing more freedom of movement, can create somewhat inconsistent and proportional issues further into the animation; This method can be suitable for animating things such as fire and water due to its loose and non-consistent nature. Pose to pose makes the process of inbetweening easier when keeping control of portions and saving time, especially for staging as you know where it will start and where it will end. D ring this process, an animator will use Keys, extremes, and breakdown poses to map out the movement. However, during this process, some of the freedom of action can be lost and inevitable end up looking slightly more plain, and it can also be challenging to plan with a lot of external things to animate, such as hair. A good practice is not to try and mix both of these methodologies together, such as animating the character figure using pose to pose but animating secondary overlapping action such as tails, straight ahead.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Following the last principle, follow-through and overlapping action refer to the attachments, accessories and parts of the body that ‘drag’ behind the character. This could include hair, hats, tails and clothing that will react in a secondary way to the character they are seated upon. T e term ‘follow through’ refers to the movement an object will continue to make once a character has stopped. Overlapping action is about the parts that will be held back or delayed because of a movement (for example, if a character wearing a cape started running, there would be a delay in motion from when the character moves and when the cape moves). It is essential that during this process, “everything does not happen at the same time” (Williams, 2009:226), and there is a clear and natural offset of motion. As shown in Figure 6, the character proved to show precise follow-through and overlapping action in its lower jaw.
Figure 6: Willaims. 2 09
6. Slow in and Slow out
This principle is about the natural speed of action. Most actions generally start slow, gain momentum and then end by slowing down once more. This means more drawings and frames are needed at the start of the animation and the end of the animation to get the desired, ‘naturalistic’ effect. This aids the realistic innate look of a movement to the human eye, making the animation thoroughly more convincing and life-like to a viewer.
7. Arcs
The arc is much more aesthetically pleasing to the human eye in terms of motion. Natural movements move in arcs, whereas mechanical objects move linearly. Most actions perceived with arcs flow in a much more satisfying way that adds appeal and fluidity to a piece of animation. Looking a Figure 7, I have created a bouncing ball animation that, in motion, follows several cascading arcs, heightening the realism and sense of gravity. Contrasting with this, in figure 8, the ‘square’ elements of action make it appear more like the mechanical movement of a roller-coaster.
Secondary action supports the primary action by adding more depth and character to the movement. An excellent example of this would be a character walk, but they are clicking and whistling to music simultaneously. Another could be a character reading a book; making their eyes droop and close makes them seem bored and adds dimensionality to the character. Figure 9 highlights a quality example of secondary action in the character ‘Figaro’, who snuggles down to bed, imitating his owner and showing a personality of a ‘copycat’ while also expressing a smugness to him. This simple gesture reveals a lot about his character.
Fig 9:Ferguson, Hee and Jackson. 1 40. Pinocchio
9. Timing
Timing is one of the most essential aspects of animation, the character and overall essence of a piece can be affected by the number of frames used. A recent example of stylised timing could be “spider-man: into the spider-verse”, which was animated on every second frame to give an intentional, jerky and slightly less smooth look to replicate the posing in comic books (Fig.6) (Synder, 2019).
Fig 10: Persichetti, Ramsey and Rothman. 2018. S ider-Man Into the Spider-Verse.
10. Exaggeration
Within the medium of animation, poses, movements, design aspects, and facial expressions/actions can be pushed to extreme levels unachievable in real life. Despite becoming something that may appear distorted in a real-life scenario, animation seems to add a level of realism as it makes character movements and intentions clearer to a viewer. In figure 11, The character ‘Tom’ has been drawn in an extreme shape to create a comic effect of being shoved (rather impossibly) into a can. This technique that animation wonderfully exploits, particularly in cartoons that express violence in a farcical way that tones down the disturbing aspect of pain; this opens up the target audience.
Fig 11: Jones and Noble. 1 67. Cannery Rodent
11. Solid Drawing
Solid drawing refers to drawing characters within the 3D space, with perceived balance and weight. T techniques that aid this are perspective lines and grids, as they help understand exactly where a character is standing in 3-dimensional space. Character design can also become easier to grasp in this setting when broken down into simplistic shapes like circles and squares. These all contribute to furthering the ‘realism’ of animation; however, its use depends on the context of the style and direction.
12. Appeal
The appeal of an animated character is more than the design aspects, It is more importantly about how a character moves in the context of its design. For example, if there is a cute bumble bee character, they might incorporate a lot of squash and stretch and move in an endearing cartoony way that suits its aesthetic charm. Contradictory to this, a hyperreal rendered character will most likely be animated in a proficiently realistic manner (and technologies such as motion capture may be used to achieve this) to fit the semblance of the design. Ultimately, this will improve the character’s likeability or believability and become an overall better piece of animated work.
List of figures
Figure 1- TASHLIN, F (1944). [Screenshot]. The Stupid Cupid. United States: Warner Brothers.
Figure 2- GERONIMI, C, JACKSON, W and H, LUSKE (1950). [Screenshot]Cinderella. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
Figure 3- WILLIAMS, R. (2009). The Animators Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. P.214.
Figure 4- WILLIAMS, R. (2009). The Animators Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. P.282
Figure 5- BIRD, B and PINKAVA, J (2007). Ratatouille. [Screenshot]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
Figure 6- WILLIAMS, R. (2009). The Animators Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. P.226
Figure 9- FERGUSON, N ,HEE, T and W, JACKSON (1940). Pinocchio. [Screenshot]. California: Walt Disney Animation Studio.
Figure 10- PERSICHETTI, B, RAMSEY, P and ROTHMAN, R (2018). [Screenshot]. Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse. New York City: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment.
Figure 11- JONES, C and NOBLE, M (1967). [Screenshot]. Cannery Rodent. United States: MGM Animation/ Visual Arts.
Bibliography
GIBBS, J., 2002. Mise-En-Scene Film Style and Interpretation. London: Wallflower Press, p.5.
STANCHFIELD, W. and HAHN, D., 2009. Drawn to life. Amsterdam: Focal Press/Elsevier, p.12.
SYNDER, C., 2019. How Oscar-winning ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ changed comic book movies forever. [online] Business Insider. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com/spiderman-spider-man-into-spider-verse-animated-frame-rate-marvel-stan-lee-2019-2?r=US&IR=T> [Accessed 17 October 2021].
WILLIAMS, R., 2009. The animator’s survival kit. London: Faber and Faber, p.214- P.282.
The moving picture in its adolescence can be accredited to inventions such as the ‘Magic lantern’ created in 1609 which is, in essence, a machine that projects images on sheets of glass (or ‘Slides’) which light is then directed into through a concave mirror (Magic lantern – Wikipedia, 2021). However, the initial creation of the projected image could be traced back at least 2,000 years ago, around the time fire was discovered and humans would entertain in the form of shadow puppetry (fig.2) (A history of the Magic Lantern – The Magic Lantern Society, 2021).There are also ancient pieces of pottery which depict understanding of the succession of movement in image form, from as early as the bronze age (fig. 1) (history of animation, 2021).
Fig. 1
While inventions such as the ‘magic lantern’ could create a succession of images that could replicate the illusion of movement, an invention called the ‘Thaumatrope’ was invented in 1825 by John Ayrton Paris, and was one of the initial devices that created the illusion of consistent movement to the eye, technically making it one of the first forms of animation and moving image (Thaumatropes – Museum of the History of Science, 2021). This was essentially a disk with two images on either side attached to string, then twirled around rapidly giving the illusion that the two images are combining and producing movement. However, the earliest inventions that show more fluidity in the succession of images are the phenakistoscope and the Zoetrope. The phenakistoscope, invented in 1832, was a ‘slitted disk with sequential images mounted on a handle’ which once it was spun, would create the illusion of movement (The phenakistoscope Optical Toy Pre-Cinema Animation, 2018). In 1834, the ‘Zoetrope’ (fig.2) was first introduced, which is a spinning cylinder with a ring of sequential images on the interior that, once spun gave the illusion of movement.
Fig.2
Moving into 1872, Eadweard Muybridge was enticed to settle a bet- at any point in the horse’s gallop, do all 4 legs leave the ground simultaneously? This bet was eventually settled in 1877 when Muybridge set up ‘a system of 12 separate cameras spaced 21 inches apart, and each camera was triggered by a tripwire which was triggered when the horse stepped on it’ (BBC Paul Merton’s Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema, 2015). The fast succession of these images, much like the zoetrope, created the appearance of movement, however the main difference being the inclusion of cameras. This can be said to be the basis of film.
In 1891 the famous American inventor Thomas Edison finalised his ‘kinetoscope’, which was one of the first devices that were designed to show moving image. This invention had a short commercial life that only spanned from 1894 to 1900, and could only shoot 30-36 frames per second, which lasted less than 20 seconds (Abel, 2005). In the year 1872, the ’praxinoscope’ was created by Charles Emile Raynaud which, much like its predecessor of the Zoetrope, displays sequential images on the interior of a cylinder. The defining difference being the placement of a mirror so the onlooker can perceive the movement with ease (Praxinoscope – Museum of the History of Science, 2021). In 1892, Raynaud projected what can be claimed as the first publicly displayed animated film on his praxinoscope (BBC Paul Merton’s Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema, 2015).
The creation of Cinema began in 1895, and on the 28th of December that very year, the Lumiere brothers demonstrated their invention the ‘Cinematograph’ (figure 3). Taking inspiration from Edison’s ‘Kinetoscope’ however improving upon this they implemented projection as a key element of their invention, enabling more than one person to view the image sequence at once (Karwatka, 2007). This can be viewed upon as the very start of cinema as we know it now.
Fig.3
Similar, notable work in the early years of the projected film can also be accredited to pioneers such as Robert W Paul and Birt Acres, who invented the first British 35 mm camera in 1895. In Germany, Max and Emile Skladowsky invented the ‘bioscope’ and publicly displayed it 2 months prior to the Lumiere screening; However, this ultimately did not technically uphold in comparison (BBC Paul Merton’s Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema, 2015). An important figure that arose from the public demonstrations of the ‘Cinematograph’ was stage magician George Melies. His great understanding of magic served well in his creativity in camera manipulation, allowing to produce early instances of ‘double exposure’ (fig.4) to appear in multiple places as once (BBC Paul Merton’s Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema, 2015). Melies talents ran parallel with those of George Albert Smith who, in similar fashion was a stage hypnotist and manipulated the camera in ways that pioneered the practises we have today. Smith created a camera that allowed lenses to be put in place and could easily reverse motion, and this later became and essential building block of editing (BBC Paul Merton’s Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema, 2015). Pioneer James Williamson in 1901 created a film called ‘The Big Swallow’ which displays some well-crafted early signs of editing and shot transition.
Fig.4 (The Man with the Rubber Head. 1901. Meilies)
With rapid development of the early camera, animation started to progress in revolutionary directions too. The 1906 film “Humours phases of funny faces” can be classes as the first official animated picture recorded on standard picture film (BBC Paul Mertons Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema, 2015). This featured hand drawn animation on a blackboard (Fig.5) . In similar fashion Emil Cohl’s ‘Fantasmagoire’ in 1908, one of the earliest animated films drawn black lines on paper and inverted to give the ‘blackboard’ aesthetic to the film. In 1911, comic artist and animation ‘Windsor Mccay’ created his first animation ‘Little nemo’ which stood out for this time period due to the expressive motions displayed by the characters based on his comic strips (Winsor McCay: Little Nemo (1911), 2020). Natheless, it was not until ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’ (1914) that the portrayal of true character really started to come across, and can be seen as a defining moment in the development of character animation (History Of Animation Documentary, 2014).
Fig. 5 (Humours Phases of Funny Faces. 1906. James Staurt Blackton)
The 1920’s are a pivotal moment in the history of animation, and rapidly increases to the ‘Golden Age’ of animation, which spanned from 1928 to the 1960’s. It is essential to initially note the pioneering efforts of the Fleischer brothers, notability the invention of the ‘Rotoscope’ in 1919 which drastically improved the fluidity of animation created during this time (Cement, 1998). There was a major rivalry between east coast ‘out of Inkwell films Inc’ and west coast studio ‘Disney’; both the studios having distinct opposing styles which clearly reflect the kind of environments they were situated. Disney’s shorts at this time had a much more’ sunny’ and optimistic feel to them, reflecting the livelihood of the west, whereas the Fleischer cartoons had a roughness that reflected the 1920’s New York (Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story, 2020). While it is often mentioned that ‘Steamboat Willie’ (1928) was the first animation to include sound, it can be traced to the 1926 Fleischer production of ‘KOKO Song Car Tunes’ (Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes | Pack Up Your Troubles | 1926, 2020). The 1929 Wall Street Crash proved to only boost the consumption of animation in theatres, giving people a sense of escapism. This then lead onto the significant impact of the 1937 Disney production of ‘Snow White’, which is considered to be the first fully coloured feature animation and did astronomically well at the box office, changing the course of animation (History Of Animation Documentary, 2014). In technicalities, it is vital to mention that Fleischer produced “Popeye meets Sinbad” in 1936 before Snow white, which was fully coloured and sold as a ‘feature animation’ to theatres; this however was only around 18 minutes long (Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story, 2020). The 1930’s are also notable for the inclusion of stop motion characters such as ‘King Kong’, and also the inclusion of Claymation monsters with live action film which further develops the animated character (A History of CGI Characters, 2016). Spanning from the 1930’s to 1969, ‘The Looney Tunes’ created by Warner bros, rose to popularity also, and by 1970 animation started to branch out into advertising as well an animated shorts and films.
The 1980’s paved way for the introduction of computer generated animation, starting in 1985 when the first computer generated character was brought to the screen titled the “Stain glass knight” who features in ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’ (A History of CGI Characters, 2016).By 1986, Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter form one of the biggest companies known in the animation world ‘Pixar’. This company fully start to form the CGI animated film and are pioneers in the area. After a series of shorts such as ‘Luxo Jr’ in 1986, the company go on to make the first ever fully computer animated film ‘Toy story’ in 1995 which won the ‘special achievement award’ in 1996 as before this there was not an animated feature film category (Toy Story – IMDb, 2021). The late 1980’s to the 1990’s was a big moment for the development of visual effects. In 1989, industrial light an magic completed a 75 second clip of a computer animated ‘water tentacle’ features in ‘The Abyss’ (1989) , taking 6 months to complete (A History of CGI Characters, 2016). This went on to win an academy award for best visual effects later on, and using techniques went on to improve this effect in ‘Terminator Two; Judgment day’ (1991) for the ‘liquid metal cyborg’ (A History of CGI Characters, 2016). Jurassic park (1993) revolutionised computer graphics, creating ‘photoreal’ dinosaurs which has skeletal systems, muscles and skin textures in place (A History of CGI Characters, 2016).1996-1999 demonstrate a well-crafted integration of CGI animated creatures into live action film, such as ‘Dragon heart’ (1996) and ‘Star wars’ the phantom menace’ (1999) A key technological aspect of visual effects that was developing at this time was the use of motion capture. During this period, Robert Zemeckis’s company “Image movers digital” were making technical advancements to the motion capture technology and its relationship to animated film, in productions such as ‘The Polar Express’ (2004) and ‘Beowulf’ (2007). Nonetheless, it was the 2002 Production of ‘The Lord of the Rings; the Two Towers’ that initially presented the true potential of this form of animation with the CGI character ‘Golem’ (Digital presentation of Andy Serkis’s movement), and truly show the capabilities of early facial motion capture (Tinwell, 2014) (figure 6).
Fig.6
Notable films, progressing into the early 2000’s include that of ‘Final Fantasy’(2001), the first hyperreal fully computer generated animation (which was unsuccessful potentially due to its relationship to the uncanny valley). The 2003 ‘Matrix reloaded’ sequel who implemented a process called ‘universal capture’ (A History of CGI Characters, 2016). The 2006 ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ which illustrated immense advancements in computer generated imagery with the character ‘Davy Jones’. ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ‘(2008), which administered fantastic digital aging techniques that allowed Brad Pitt’s face to be aged, de-aged and places onto various actors. And the most notable of all these is the 2009 ‘Avatar’ which is one of the highest grossing films of all time, and displayed some of the most important technological advancements in motion capture, rendering, visual effects and the computer generated industry as a whole that still appear impressive in the present day (Avatar-IMDB , 2021).
This brings us to the 2010’s, where ground-breaking technological advancements have occurred, and Computer-generated imagery has become the industry dominant for animation and Visual effects. A few notable films span from Tangled (2010) (Tangled-IMDB, 2021) , which after a 6-year development cost $260 million (the most expensive film at the time), to ‘Alita Battle Angel’(2019) which showcases excellent integration of CGI Characters and live action footage. Now into the early 2020’s, The development of film, animation and visual effects can only progress technologically and aesthetically to further and more advanced ideals that will bring entertainment to a new level.
BLACKTON, James Stuart. 1906.Humours Phases of Funny Faces
CAMERON, James. 2009. Avatar
CAMERON, James. 1989. The Abyss
CAMERON, James. 1991. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
COHEN, Robert. 1998. DragonHeart
COHL, Emile. 1908. A Fantasy (Fantasmagoire)
COOPER, Merian C and Ernest B, Schoedsack. 1933. King Kong
DISNEY, Walt and Ub IWERKS. 1928. Steamboat Willie
FINCHER, David. 2008. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
FLEISCHER, David and William BOWSKY. 1936. Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor
FLEISCHER. 1926. Pack Up Your Troubles
GRENO, Nathan and Byron HOWARD. 2010. Tangled
HAND, David, COTTREL David and Wilfred JACKSON. 1937. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
JACKSON, Peter. 2002. The Lord Of the Rings: the Two Towers
LASSETER, John. 1995. Toy Story
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