The Development of Animation Industry and Methods

Introduction

In this assignment, I will be discussing the development of animation. I will do this by explaining how technological advancements throughout history have paved the way for new techniques to be founded that have shaped the way that we see animation to this day. The hypothesis I will be delving into is the idea that technology can enhance how creative a piece of work can be, but creativity must always come first for it to be successful.

Techniques

Traditional 2-D

Traditional 2-D animation was first used at the start of 20th century and is still used to this day. Although the technology has been built upon to increase realism or speed up production times, the concept is the same. The concept being that each frame should be drawn by hand, with each frame differing a tiny amount to give the illusion of a moving image. This concept is sometimes referred to as persistence of vision, which was first popularised by the ‘zoetrope’ made by William Horner. Techniques like rotoscoping and cel animation allowed traditional 2D animation to advance in terms of accuracy and realism.

Flick Book

Flick book animation is very simple, and can be used by almost everyone. This is one of the oldest animation method since the technology it requires is non-existent. This method is very time consuming, as creators must redraw a frame several times, sometimes over 100 or a 1000 per creation. It also requires a huge amount of skill for it to look professional. Also, it is very difficult for flick book animations to be mass produced due to the fact each page would have to be photocopied hundreds of times, consuming both time and money. Furthermore, the field is very limited as elements like sound can't be introduced, limiting its realism.

Cel Animation

Cel animation is a type of animation that consists of a 'cel' which is short for celluloid on which objects are drawn on for traditional animation. The process for cel animation is each drawing is inked and coloured onto cels, which are photographed and sequenced on top of a painted background. This technique means that the animation remains constant, something that was previously impossible as backgrounds had to be redrawn with each new frame, causing the background to partially change as the animation progressed.

Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping is a technique in animation which allows for greater continuity between frames when realism is required. Rotoscoping is a technique where animators trace over motion picture footage frame by frame. This allows for realistic interpretations of things like explosions and facial movement. This made animation much easier to do, and less time consuming. Consequentially, animation became much more popular since you didn't have to be so talented to make a realistic looking animation. This led to rushed and uncreative productions, examples of which will be explored further in the section, history of 2D animation.

Drawn on Film

This is when footage is produced directly onto film. This bypasses cel animation completely, as instead animators would use either blank (undeveloped) or black (developed) film and lay the film reel across a work surface with it fixed in place. The animator can then create their own image, frame by frame, onto their film. This process works with very small images, so a talented animator is required to pull it off. A great deal of precision is accuracy is needed to make the animation look good. Often, the images will appear scribbly and wobbly, an effect often associated with drawn on film animation. However, there are many advantages to using this process in that it is relatively cheap and cheaper in the regard that it doesn't require camera arrays, expensive cels or software. The technique also forces animators to be creative and original, with no two drawn on films animations being alike. Digital techniques: In the last 30 years, digital techniques have advanced so much that they have taken over the animation industry. With software like Adobe Animate, anybody can make an animation from their own home with relative ease and showcase them to the world. Stop motion (Claymation): Stop motion is a simple, yet effective, form of advertising that has been popularised by production companies like Aardman animations who have made productions including Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. These productions are beloved my many and prove that Claymation is a legitimate, good way of making productions. However, most production companies favour traditional digital techniques of animation, since it is very time consuming to sculpt the models required for Claymation productions.

History: Cave Paintings

The first evidence of narrative imagery dates back to cave paintings. Narrative imagery, simply put, is pictures everyone can understand. Narrative imagery can also be dated back the Roman times with specific pottery being patterned with narrative imagery. not only has narrative been said to be as far back as the cave paintings, but also sequential narrative imagery, which is when a series of pictures can be put together to tell a story An example of sequential narrative imagery was the Bayeux tapestry.

Birth of photography

There were little advancements in terms of sequential imagery throughout history until the birth of photography, which used technology to enhance the effect of narrative sequential imagery. This was because it allowed artists to produce more accurate, true to life imagery. An example of this is when, in 1878, Eardweard Muybridge discovered, using technology, that horses jump fully in the air when they run. He did this by taking a series of sequential photos of the horse and examining them. This was huge because, since then, horses have often been illustrated with all four legs in the air while running. This shows how technology enhances creativity, as it allows art to be more realistic which in turn means an artist can increase elements of fantasy. Muybridge was advancing on the work done by William Horner, who invented the Zoetrope around the time 1833-34. The zoetrope is a cylinder with holes in the side and a series of sequential images inside. When spun, the cylinder gives the effect of a moving image. This effect is called the persistence of vision. This effect would prove to be the basis of animation as we see it today, and it started with the zoetrope.

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

The next advancement came from Winsor McCay who created the first stop motion animation for mass audiences. Arguably, this legitimized animation for the mass audiences, showing that is was possible. Gertie was the first character created specifically for animation, with some arguing that it paved the way for characters like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Bambi. Steamboat Willie (1928): Disney and a company called Iwerks worked together to produce this feature in 1928. The reason this was such an advancement was because it was the first sound synchronised animation. This was huge, and showed the potential animation had.

Animation was able to synchronise sound into their productions before film. This is another example of how the advancements in technology have enhanced creativity. This is because the introduction of sound into animations makes them more accurate, allowing creators to make their productions more fantasy. Walt Disney himself explains this by saying “All cartoon characters and fables must be exaggeration, caricatures. It is the very nature of fantasy and fable.”[1] In 1914-1918, there was a massive advance in technology founded by Max Fleischer, rotoscoping. Rotoscoping was massive because it meant artists could essentially trace over real photos in order to make their animations. This drastically increased realism as it allowed things like timing and anatomy to be more accurate. rotoscoping allowed animators to make much more realistic images. However, it was still almost impossible to make humans look lifelike. Over the next hundred years, animators would try and animate humans as little as possible, with animals being preferred. The reason for this can be summarised perfectly by the famous animator Shamus Culhane using a quote from his book, 'Animation: from script to screen' 'The big problem that one has to face is the fact that everybody in the audience is going to be an expert on how humans move. This makes it pointless to attempt to use rotoscope or any other device to imitate human action.

I believe the answer lies somewhere in working out a mode of movement that is edited action, just the way that the animals in Bambi and the dwarfs in Snow White were. An audience will accept any convention, any point of view, as long as it is carried out consistently' This adds onto the idea that animators can be as creative as they want, and make whatever they want, no matter how unrealistic, as long as the animation is consistent and the small details are respected. Rotoscoping would prove to have many other negatives, especially during the next 50 years or so.

Snow White

Disney created the first cel animated, cinematic film in 1937, with Snow White and Seven Dwarfs. This further legitimized the idea of feature length animation films being monetized, which is something Disney capitalized on over the next 50 years allowing Disney to become the conglomerate they are today. Snow White was critically acclaimed and made a huge profit, and Disney wanted to make more animated features. However, cel animation was very time consuming. Rotoscoping offered a solution to this problem. However, there was some controversy that came with the advancements of 2D animation. Specifically, Ralph Bakshi received a huge amount of criticism for his work in the animation industry. Bakshi felt that animation had more potential than to be just for kids, he believed there was more to animation. Between 1969-72, Bakshi created 'Fritz the cat' which dealt with more 'mature' themes. This caused outrage among some who believed it to be distasteful and not in line with what animation represented. However, that wasn't the only Bakshi production that was surrounded by controversy, his feature With Apologies Coonskin (1973-75) challenged racial stereotypes and was criticised heavily for it.

The rise of rotoscoping greatly improved the quality of animation, and allowed animators to be more creative. However, it also meant productions were rushed and rotoscoping was overused. Another Bakshi production, Wizards (1977), overly used rotoscoping due to time constraints. Another one of his productions, Lord Of The Rings (1978), also had the same problem and in some cases footage of real actors were used with the solarised effect. It wasn't also Bakshi criticised for overuse of rotoscoping, Disney has also been seen to have recycled scenes in their movies. In the 1960's, Disney was huge due to their earlier work on Snow White and other productions. The fact Disney was so successful meant they released more productions. Between 1967 and 1977, Disney released 4 productions. Animation takes time, and Disney were under a busy schedule. In order to release their productions in time, Disney were forced to rely heavily on rotoscoping. This can be seen in their productions as there are countless examples of recycled scenes in Disney productions. Animation transformed as we know it in 1986, when John Lasseter made Luxo Jr. This short showcased a lamp moving, appearing alive. This effect is called anthropomorphism, which is when inanimate objects appear alive. The production made use of recent digital techniques an consequentially Luxo Jr. was the most realistic animation to date, which paved the way for companies like Pixar to work with Disney to produce films like Toy Story and Monsters Inc.

Motion Capture and Performance Capture

This leap made techniques like motion and performance possible. Motion consists of movement of the body. It involves a suit with silver balls which allow recording of the z-axis which allows running and movement to be recorded. This allowed the game and film industry to converge in terms of how they were produced. Performance capture regards acting done on the face, examples of where this technique have been used are for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically used for actor Andy Serkis for his portrayal of Gollum. The director of these films, Peter Jackson, knew that technology wasn't advanced enough in 2001 to successfully pull off performance capture. It's for this reason he stuck for motion capture for Gollum in Fellowship Of The Ring. In 2002, when technology had advanced, Jackson used performance capture to depict Gollum. Some argue that performance capture represents a new age for performers, with some going so far as to say in the future the majority of films will use performance capture. Serkis himself said 'Performance capture is a tool that young actors will need in the next 10, 20 years.' [2] However, performance acting is a very new thing, and many people don't fully understand it, with some thinking it is easier than traditional acting. Andy Serkis also stated 'Everybody thinks performance capture is about thrashing around and doing lots of movement, but it's actually about being able to contain and think and be believed in a close-up, as much as anything else'. Serkis is an incredibly creative performer who uses the advancements in technology to further enhance his creativity.

Beawolf (2007) was a film directed by Robert Zemikis which strived to create a feature length motion capture film. However, the technology wasn't advanced enough for it to look lifelike, which was the direction it wanted to take. This meant it slipped into a territory known as the 'uncanny valley'. This term is described when humanoid objects look almost exactly like humans, giving the feeling of eeriness. Blogger, Andrew Bloom explained it as “creepier and more unsettling than anything the film actually intended to be scary. The uncanny valley is ever present, with characters who are too exaggerated to seem like real human beings, and too realistic to have the outsized plausibility of a cartoon character. In fact, many of the film’s characters look like animatronic robots wearing stretched-out human skins, with movements that feel like the unnerved twitches of an electrified corpse.” However, Beawolf wasn't the only example of a film that got trapped in the uncanny valley. The 2000's represented a time of huge technological advancements, especially in the animation industry. This resulted in many companies wanting to make use of this. Specifically, Warner Bros who produced The Polar Express in 2004. This backfired as many viewers felt unnerved by the look of the film, specifically the characters eyes were described as looking lifeless and empty.

James Cameron's Avatar (2009)

This film came up with a creative solution to this restraint that technology was providing. This was by making the characters alien, bypassing the human element. The movie was a massive success and the avatar characters are still acclaimed and considered realistic to this day. Another example is CD PROJECTS RED's Witcher 3(2015) which also bypassed the uncanny valley. Today, there are several successful TV shows that utilise the benefits of animations. Animations allow stories to be told that would be almost impossible, or at least very expensive, to make. TV shows like the Simpsons were the first to catch on to this. They used the benefits of animation to tell jokes that other jokes couldn't. Arguably, that is why it is to successful today. Other shows include Family Guy, Rick and Morty and South Park.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the advancements in technology over the last 100 years has changed the way animation. Due to these advancements, animations today are lifelike and can tell a whole range of stories. Not only that, but they can be mass produced in a quick time. The Simpsons and Family Guy both have over 600 episodes with them both making more each day. This is great with regards to the consumer, as it gives them a huge amount of choice of genre and style among other variables. In the future, animations will only get more and more lifelike as well as faster to produce. Shows like Rick and Morty prove that there is still a massive market for animation in the modern day world, and many companies will try and recreate this success leading to even more productions for consumers to watch. The advancements in technology not only mean big companies and consumers can benefit, but so can skilled creators. With the tools that technology have provided, any creative animators can make a feature and post it online for the world to see. Arguably the reason shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons are so successful is their disregard of modern technology like rotoscoping. These shows have instead relied of creativity to push their ideas forward, with technology just acting as a medium to allow them to do this.