Animation Research Blog Part 2

A Concise History of Animation:

Definition of Animation:
'Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although there are other methods.'

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation)

Believe it or not there are actually examples of animation running way back in history, before the well known names popped up, Walt Disney, Miyazaki Hayao etc.

'Animation' in a sense reaches all the way back to paleolithic cave paintings, for example:

This is a cave painting from Bhimbetka, although appearing like a drawing it is a panel of early animation, these drawings are ordered and show the process of the cultural habits of the artist's everyday lives, in this case the process of 'Hunting'.
Other examples of early 'panel animation' include the 5000 year old Shahr-i Shokhta earthen bowl and egyptian murals inside tombs;

(Bowl from Iran)

(Egyptian mural: EGYPT - AUGUST 11: Egypt, Thebes (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1979) - Luxor. Sheikh 'Abd al-Qurna. Tomb of army general Tjenuny. Mural paintings. Warriors (Dynasty 18, Thutmose IV, 1397-1387 BC) Digital reconstruction (Photo by S. VANNINI/De Agostini/Getty Images) )

Still, Animation as a set of moving images without actually looking from image to image didn't come into existence until 180 AD, when the chinese invented the first animation device, the early zeotrope device. Then, in the 19th century came the Phenakistoscope, Praxinoscope and of course the renowned 'Flick Book'.

The early zeotrope device invented by the Chinese, was called the 'Magic Lantern':

(This is a modern reconstruction of the magic lantern device)

The device merges two images together to create the illusion of movement, the famous example being changing seasons.

The Phenakistoscope was a device which utilised a disc with slits on it, the disc would be spun with a mirror facing the image side and the viewer would look through the slits into the mirror, which would show the images in motion. An example is shown below:

(The Phenakistoscope)

(An example of the animation)

The Praxinoscope device used the same principles of reflection as the Phenakistoscope, only it used spinning cylinders instead of just a mirror, this made image quality greater:



(The Praxinoscope)

The zoetrope device, created in the 19th century by William George Horner, he named it the Daedalum ('Wheel of the Devil') was adapted from the Praxinoscope, the only difference being, the zoetrope doesn't require a mirror to view the animated images:



(The Zoetrope)

Contemporary animation has several branches to it:

1. Traditional
2. Stop Motion
3. Computer

Traditional Animation:

Traditional animation is animation which has been produced using traditional mediums (pen, pencil, paint...etc.) the most famous examples would be, Anime, Miyazaki and Disney.

(Property of Disney Studio's (Snow White), Studio Ghibli (My Neighbour Totoro) and Bandai (Wolf's Rain))

Stop Motion:

Stop Motion animation is when the director photographs each panel of an animation to create a moving film (Puppet, Clay, Cut-out, Silhouette.... etc.) famous examples would include, Tim Burton, Wallace and Gromit and Monty Python's animations.

(Property of Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Aardman (Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and Monty Python (The Holy Grail))

Computer Animation:

Computer animation is as it says, any animation produced through digital means using a computer (Flash,  Cel-shaded, Photo Realistic, Maya...etc.)

(Property of Appleseed Film Partners (Cel-shaded: Appleseed), Twentieth Century Fox (Photo Realistic: Ice Age) and New Line Cinema (Maya: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings)