Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Sunday, 20 July 2014
Claymation/Plasticine/Modelling Animation
Clay/Plasticine Animation is a material used in animation that allows the producer to form any character they are able to form with that clay. As clay can be moulded into different shapes easily and remain its position until its moulded again this allows the creator of the animation the ability to easily manipulate the movements of the clay. It means it is much easier as there is more flexibility with the material the creator is working with. This will allow them to be more creative with the styles they are using and means they can test out different object or characters that they want to be present during the animation, without any set backs of it not going back to its original clay form.
In most cases when using clay in an animation thin metal wire is also used along with it which allows the use of support in the clay to form structure in an object or character. It also means smaller parts of the clay will have more stick on larger parts of the clay, it is safer for smaller pieces to be moved around with metal wiring in the middle. The use of the thin metal wire allows the clay to become slightly more realistic and adds features to the clay that were not there before.
The problem when working with clay is that it is a material substance that needs to be kept contained so it does not dry up so quickly. If you are producing a stop motion animation with the use of clay , you are going to need that clay to remain flexible for the duration of filming. Depending on the type of clay being used this can be avoided. The quality of clay that is picked is extremely important as some will not dry out as quick and some will not dry out at all and can remained permeant fixtures and sculptures. A lot of people think using play-doh will be easier to work with, in some respects play-doh is an easier material to work with as it requires less effort to mould it into the form you want it at. However, play-doh is a substance that drys out extremely quickly which can effect the timing of the production and may mean you need to start all over again. Plasticine which is the highest quality of clay available is something used by top stop motion claymation animation film producers.
I have chosen this specific animation because it uses basic techniques and basic clay material, but it has been executed extremely well which shows how smooth the use of clay material can be.
Advertising
The use of animation in advertisement is very popular and commonly used. Normally it is not a fully animated advert but does include some animation footage and techniques in most adverts. A lot of the time animation is used in adverts to make a product that is being sold come to life to give it unique out of this world features that will make the product sell better. To make an object come to life obviously a form of animation is going to have to be used like stop motion. Back in early years no one ever thought to incorporate animation in with adverts until the first ever matchstick advertising animation was done, once this animation was produced many other companies followed as a form of advertising their products. Many popular brands began to follow the animation advertising trend, for example coke being one high brand. Animation in advertisement used to be done as it was a much cheaper form of advertising compared to hiring actors and actresses to star in a production. Now animation in advertising is one of the most expensive time consuming devices that can be used to sell a product. However, it is something that pays of in the end result. Animation advertising has defiantly grown over a lengthy time period and has gone from the use of stop motion in a match stick commercial to the use of CGI to produce the new Nike World Cup 6 minute long advert.
Music Video
Over the years every now and again animation gets incorporated in with a music video, and in most cases normally becomes a huge hit. The use of animation in music video is slightly different compared to it being used in cinema as a different effect and end result is trying to be created. Although the basics of animation techniques still remain the same. One video I looked at was arctic monkeys “Do I wanna Know”. Arctic monkeys produced an official video that is animation from start to finish. It is common for some music videos to have both animation and live action mixed together but it is rare that a music video will be produced with pure animation footage. The animation technique used to produce this video was mainly 2D animation, 2D two dimensional animation has existed since late 1800s. 2D means that the animation is completely flat. The early techniques of creating 2D animation included flip book, cel animation and rotoscoping. The difference between 2D and 3D animation is that 2D animation is flat where as 3D animation has depth. 2D hand drawn animation will usually be shown at 24 frames per second. The design of the arctic monkeys video came across and rather basic and simple but works very well and has been carried out very well. Although it was so basic it still received millions of views due to the use of animation throughout.
Here is a clip of the music video itself.
Channel Ident
A channel ident is a small clip normally varying from 15-30 seconds that is shown jut before a programme is aired via broadcast or webcast. Channel indents are in place to represent the channel that a specific programme is being shown on. So for example channel 4 will show their ident and whilst the clip is playing a voice over will come on and introduce the Tv programme that is coming up in the next 30 seconds. Some indents even relate the style of the programme into the style of the ident. An example of when this has been done is through channel 5 ident using the theme of big brother the programme. A lot of popular TV indents like channel 4, channel 5, itv and BBC use different animation devices to produce the footage. I found a useful website that displays different channel idents that have been shown over the years and the different techniques used to create them
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| Channel 4 ident |
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| Channel 4 ident |
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| BBC one ident |
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| Channel 5 ident incorporating the TV programmes theme into the ident |
Channel 4 animation indents
Frames Per Second/Frame Rates
Animation and film motion works by creating the illusion of movement. A sequence of still images is projected normally at a speed of 24 pictures per second (called frames) each picture is slightly different. In animation more detailed movements require a greater number of frames, these type of techniques can be seen in flip book animation. Frame rates are images played back per second. so the more images there is the more frames there is going to be. The average frame rate is normally 24 per second.
Stop Motion
Stop motion is a technique that makes a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object id moved between individually photographed frames which is then played back at a fps rate of usually 24 or more. Dolls with moveable joints of clay figures are often used for the ease of repositioning. Stop motion is still used across a range of media platforms although 3D computer animation is preferred. One of the innovators of stop motion in cinemas was american Ray Harryhawsen who created animation from the 1950’s to the 90’s.
Stop motion is a very time consuming process and isnt for everybody. it is not the smoothest movement that gets created and can be jolty but if done properly it can look very succesful. the idea of stop motion is to have an object of some sort placed on the screen and every single time you move it slightly you take a shot of the frame. The slower you move the object the more of a smooth video you will have if you move it large distances it will look jolty. It is not a form of animation that is supposed to look that realistic. it is meant to have an animation look to it. It looks very cartoon like or as if it has been drawn.
Persistence Of Vision
persistence of vision is a sequence of still images that is normally projected at a speed of 24 pictures per second which are called frames per second. not all of the pictures are the same they are all slightly different but they are still still images even though it may look like they are moving images which is what it is meant to do is is meant to give you the idea that the image is infact moving. it appears to us that is is when it is not. your eyes will see a series of images which is then processed by the brain to create one moving image.
Small flip book animation showing persistence of vision
Flip book animation is simply a still image that is drawn many times to then create a story or a moving image. It is very time consuming. The link below and above shows how flip book animation works and how it is also connected with persistence of vision. Flip book animation is not nescacerily used for a wide range of things like other forms of animation would be, but it does show how basic and time consuming animation can be.
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations are a company who have a website link directing you to a page with vast information on work they have produced and work they have been involved in. I went onto the website and researched into the work they have done as well as the individuals who made it possible. I can see that there are many top end film animation producers who have all worked together to produce popular animation films. One animation film that has been a huge success was wallis and Gromit which they had huge involvement in.
Tim Burton
Tim Burton was a very popular individual in the filming industry and is known for specialising in Stop motion animation, which was always a passion of his as a child. Tim Burton became more and more recognised in the animation film industry and was given a huge opportunity to work on disney films. Whilst this was happening he also worked on small projects on the side like Vincent Price tribute Vincent, which was a short film of his.
The Brothers Quay
The Quay brothers are a filmmaking duo who have been making films since early on. However, they didn't really start to take an interest in animation film making in particular until slightly later on in their careers. Once they discovered animation through the inspiration of Eastern Euarpean animated films they found that they where able to put together and produce an animation film with the greatest attention to detail taking in considerations of set up, texture and colour. Street of Crocodiles is one of their more well know animation production that they produced which was found to be extremely popular.
Jan Svankmajer
Jan Svankmajer is a self labelled animation filmmaker. He gained his knowledge through studying at two different institutes which where the Industrial Arts and the Marionette Faculty at the academy of fine arts. His true passion lied in film making which he had a real raw talent for and his key focus was different forms of animation which he gradually showed his talent for through various films he produced. Jan normally used basic materials like clay, stationary etc to involve in his animation films.
Ray HarryHausen
Ray HarryHausen was know for having vast knowledge on visual special effects, he was also a procucer. Ray HarryHausen began his research into visual effects later on in his life when he first saw the film King Kong. He admired the film so much and the effects that had been used to create such a film and movement within the film. He did all the research he could to understand how these effects where being used which resulted in him eventually contacting Willis H O,Brien who’s key focus area was also special effects and stop motion. Willis O’ Brien really appreciated his interest and decided to become Ray HarryHausens mentor.
Willis O’ Brien
Willis O’ Brien was one of the most well know and respected pioneers and developers of media products in the industry. He was know for the creation and development of stop motion animation and motion picture, he was also highly skilled and had great knowledge in the area of visual effects. All of these skills he had where put to good use on the King Kong film as well as The Lost World. He used his knowledge of stop motion and special effects to work on segments of those two films.
Edward Muybridge Edison - Kinetoscope
Edward Muybridge Edison was a very popular pioneer creating more than devices focusing around film, cinematography etc. Although one of his very famous inventions was the kinetoscope. The idea of the kinetoscope was to allow a single person to view a piece of images using the illusion of motion effect. They where able to view it through a small hole in the device which allowed that person to see a sequence of images by playing a piece of film over a light source
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| How the device was used through the peep hole |
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| The concept of how it worked |
Emile Reynaud - Praxinoscope
The praxinoscope is a device extremely similar to the zoetrope invented in the year of 1977 shortly after the zoetrope, it is said that this animation device is an improvement on some of the aspects and features that are included on the zoetrope. Emile Reynaud took his inspiration from the zoetrope device and worked onwards form that pioneering the praxinoscope. The idea of the praxinoscope was that a strip of pictures where attached around the inside surface on a spinning cylinder, one advancement that was made on this device compared to the zoetrope was the there was a circle of mirrors on the inside which replaced the narrow viewing slits. This was put in done so the pictures appeared to people as still when the wheel was turning. This resulted in whoever looked into the mirror to see an illusion of motion. The quality of the praxinoscope was said the be higher than the zoetrope with many changes being made it was a better end result.
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| As you can see there are visible improvements from a zoetrope |
William Horner - Zoetrope
William Horner was an individual who had an understanding of animation and was also aware of other animation products out there like the phenakistocope, as a mathematician he decided to create his own invention which resulted in it being the zoetrope. He came up with this idea in 1833 taking his inspiration from the phenakistocope.
A zoetrope is an early device. It is a cylinder with slits in the side and a succession of images that can be viewed through the slits. When the zoetrope spins the speed produces the illusion of motion. zoetrope is an object that was used very early on. although it might seem complicated it is a very basic piece of equipment. The idea is to create the illusion that the pictures are moving creating a story, where it is actually a sequence of still images. It is a fairly basic design of a circle 3d cyclnder with slits on the outer side of it and the sequence of images in the inner side of it.
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| Example of what a zoetrope looked like and how it was used |
Belgian Joseph Plateau - Phenakistocope
Belgian Joseph Plateau was the first man to finalise the idea of a phenakistocope, after many other researchers carrying out tests to understand the idea of a phenakistocope it was Joseph who made it a solid idea in 1829. He then furthered his research into this and made it finalised in 1841 into a solid animation creation. He spent around 10 years planning out all of his research into making it a possibility.
A phenakistocope was a device used in animation film to create forms of animation. The idea of this object was to create an illusion of motion he managed to achieve this by using a spinning disk which created persistence of vision, the two disks where placed on one axis to create this process.
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| An example of what a phenakistocope would look like |
Cinema
Over the years animation has gradually improved taking into account how realistic it is, the quality and overall smooth flow of the movement on screen. It is said that the very first full length movie animation to be aired in cinema was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this was a full film not a short film. However, short animation films started back in 1906 and continued the build up until snow white and the seven draws was produced. Once that had been aired in cinema it was a starting point for all full length animation films, since then many more began to be created. It was not until around 1990 when animation technology started to be explored and animation industries where using technology like computers and motion capture to produce higher quality films. When the used of animation technology had been explored and discovered animations improved tremendously and became very popular. Walt Disney are especially know for producing the highest most popular animation films. I visited their website and had a look at some films that had been produced by them.
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| Winnie the Pooh 2011 |
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| Tangled 2010 |
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| 2009 The Princess and the Frog 2008 Bolt |
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| 2002 Lilo and Stitch |
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| Some individuals from the walt disney animation team |
As you can see each individual holds a different role and responsibility and an individual position that they specialise in. It is important when making an animation you understand what roles need to be covered for the animation to fully come together. There is so many parts to an animation that it would be hard to work on your own.
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