SHORT HISTORY OF ANIMATION
The history of Animation is a graphic representation of drawings to show
movement within those drawings. It is a series of drawings that are linked together
and usually photographed by a camera. The drawings are slightly changed between
individualized frames so when they are played back in rapid succession (24 frames
per second) there appears to be seamless movement within the drawings.
Pioneers of animation include Winsor McCay of the United States and Emile
Cohl and Georges Melies of France. Some consider McCay's Sinking of the Lusitania
from 1918 as the first animated feature film.
Early animations, which started appearing before 1910, consisted of simple
drawings photographed one at a time. It was extremely labor intensive as there
were literally hundreds of drawings per minute of film. The development of
celluloid around 1913 quickly made animation easier to manage. Instead of
numerous drawings, the animator now could make a complex background and/or
foreground and sandwich moving characters in between several other pieces of
celluloid, which is transparent except for where drawings are painted on it. This
made it unnecessary to repeatedly draw the background as it remained static and
only the characters moved. It also created an illusion of depth, especially if
foreground elements were placed in the frames.
Walt Disney took animation to a new level. He was the first animator to add
sound to his movie cartoons with the premiere of Steamboat Willie in 1928. In
1937, he produced the first full length animated feature film, Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs.
With the introduction of computers, animation took on a whole new
meaning. Many feature films of today had animation incorporated into them for
special effects. A film like Star Wars by George Lucas would rely heavily on
computer animation for many of its special effects. Toy Story, produced by Walt
Disney Productions and Pixar Animation Studios, became the first full length feature
film animated entirely on computers when it was released in 1995.
With the advent of personal computers, it has now become possible for the
average person to create animations.
TYPES OF ANIMATION
The types of animation are cel, stop and computer animation. These three
types of animation are the primary keynote for animation effect.
Cel Animation
Cel animation refers to the traditional way of animation in a set of hand
drawings. In this process, various pictures are created which are slightly different
but progressive in nature, to depict certain actions. Coloring a background may be a
more difficult task than a single drawing, as it covers the whole picture. Background
requires shading and lighting and will be viewed for a longer duration. Then use
your camera to photograph these drawings. Today, cel animations are made more
attractive by using the drawings together with music, matching sound effects and
association of timing for every single effect. E.g. To display a cartoon show, 10-12
frames are played in rapid succession per second to give a representation of
movement in a cel animation.
Stop Animation
Stop animation or stop motion animation is a technique to make objects
move on their own. Here, a few images are drawn with some different positions and
photographed separately. Puppetry is one of the most used frame-to-frame
animation types. Some famous movies that are animated via stop motion effects are
King Kong, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and
The Lost World.
Computer Animation
Computer Animation is the latest technique that includes 2D and 3D
animation. These not only enhance the hand-drawn characters but also make them
appear real as compared to the above mentioned animations.
TYPES OF JOBS
Below are the different roles of professionals in the animation industry:
In-between animator – This is a beginner’s position in the animation industry where
you can learn almost all the basics of animation.
Modeller – A person having strong knowledge of form, volume and anatomy. They
make models for animation.
Background artist – The job is to paint the background of the characters in the
project.
Layout artist – Person who decides the lighting and camera angles and sketches the
background design for the animation.
Story Broad Artist – People with strong drawing skills are hired as storyboard
artists and their job is to visualise a series of events from one animation frame to
another.
Clean- up Artist – Assistant to the animator, whose work is to trace the animator’s
rough drawing and to check the accuracy and consistency of a design.
Scanner operator – Job is to scan the clean up artist’s drawings.
Compositor – Job is to bring all the different characters and backgrounds in to a
single animation frame.
Character animator – They bring characters to life and generally have knowledge of
traditional animation and stop-motion animation.
Special effect artist – Combine live-action footage with computer generated imagery.
Digital ink and paint artist – Their duty is to add colours to each frame.
Key frame animator – Primary job is to draws the pictures of a movement’s
beginning and end.
Lighting artist – Create variations of shade, colour intensity and shadows.
Image Editor – Bring together the various audio-visual components of an animation
film.
Rendering artist – Combine models, textures, animation, lighting and to produce the
correct blend in the form of individual frames of animation.
2-D Animator – They create a very high volume of separate drawings that define an
animated sequence.
Texture Artist – They create a surface to the 3-D modelled character, object or
environment.
Rigging artist – Take the modelled, textured 3-D character or object and set it up
with a skeletal system or joints, this helps the 3-D character to talk or move fluidly
and correctly.
3-D animator – Take the sculpted, textured and rigged 3-D model and put life into it.
This is done by putting in order the key frames in such a way that they appear to be
lifelike and in motion.
WHERE TO FIND JOBS AND FOR WHICH COMPANIES
Given below is the list of top companies in the field of Animation:
1. Pixar Animation in USA
2. Dreamworks Animation in USA
3. Walt Disney Animation studios in USA
4. Acheron design in Melbourne Australia
5 Acquire in Tokyo Japan
6. Arkane Studios in Lyon France
7. Atari in New York City New York
8. Artic Entertainment in Albstadt Germany
9. Blitz Games Studio in Leamington Spa England
10. Coded Illusions in Rotterdam Netherlands
HOW MUCH CAN YOU MAKE
Animation is a satisfying and lucrative profession and is attracting
youngsters in droves towards it. Professionals new to this industry generally work
in the capacity of junior animators in animation studios and production houses. The
starting pay package of these animators can be in a range or Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000
per month.
Within a span of three to five years you can become a senior animator and
command a monthly salary as much as Rs.30,000 to Rs.40,000. If you are really
creative and have been a part of some innovative projects you can bag a pay cheque
in excess of Rs.55,000.
I think a good animator needs to work hard, have a fun time creating it, be good with
drawing and have a good imagination with good ideas.
To train or study animation in Atlantic Canada you have to go to Centre of Arts &
Technology in Halifax or Fredericton and Memorial University in Newfoundland.
But in Canada, you can train and study in Centre of Arts & Technology in Toronto
and Quebec. Others are Humber College, Toronto Ont, The ART Institute of
Vancouver in Vancouver, Trillium College in various places in Ontario, CDI College in
Toronto, Ontario Institute of Audio recording Technology in London Ontario, Max
The MUTT Animation School in Toronto and Centre of Arts and Technology in
Kelowna BC.
CLAYMATION
The materials needed for Claymation are: clay, cardboard, the base of your
character might include Styrofoam, armature wire, and/or foil, rather than making it
fully out of clay and you can cover the support structure with clay. The wire,
Styrofoam, etc. would be the 'bones' of your project. If you aren't using clay, pipe
cleaners, paper cut outs, Lego figures, or toys can work for stop motion, and chicken
wire.
The process from setup to shooting and editing starts first by getting the
right lighting to be used for each shot. With patience, move clay inch by inch taking
photos then with editing put all the images together in right order and add sound
and music to export it.
The equipment that is required is camera, clay, cardboard.
The safety issue that is required for a Claymation are; don’t drop the
cameras, be careful of cameras, don’t fool around and don’t fool around with the
clay, and props.
My general storyline of a short Claymation would be a guy walking out of a
store, looks down and sees a money bag across the street. The guy doesn’t look
when crossing the street and gets hit by a truck.
I am working with Erin P, Jillian C.
The props and material that we are planning to use are clay, cardboard.
2 images