People often begin their relationship to film with animation, whether watching cartoons like ”SpongeBob SquarePants” or animated movies like “Cars.” Sadly, it seems that people are reluctant to take animation seriously as they age, despite a wealth of animated content curated for adults, and the care and time that goes into creating moving paintings.
Animators make expressive forms come to life through what can be described as magic. So, what is that magic and what’s the history of animation?
Animation doesn’t capture the real world through pictures, but instead, seeks to paint representations of our real world through paintings.
Using the various forms of animation, artists can tell a story through traditional animation, 2D and 3D animation, stop motion, anime or computer animation.
Animation began not with a computer, but with a hand-painted 500-image roll from 1892 called “Pauvre Pierrot” directed by Émile Reynaud. The first animation using traditional animation techniques was Émile Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie” from 1908.
Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is noted as the first animated feature film that began with storyboarding, voice recording and a soundtrack. Then, artists’ hand-drawn frames and a series of animators would work tirelessly to create the world and animate the characters. Finally, the camera was set up, and they recorded the moving paintings.
The movement was a challenge for animators to figure out. Animator Max Fleischer invented a technique that he coined called rotoscoping, which projected a live-action image onto a board, allowing animators to paint over a frame and replicate real movement. Rotoscoping has been used today in storytelling, most notably in Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life.” The technique has also further been improved to work with motion-tracking technology, allowing for actors to perform movement, and animators to go in and create the animation from the actor’s movement.
Stop motion is another form of animation that takes a uniquely patient approach to telling stories. The first example of stop motion animation came in 1906 by J. Stuart Blackton in his “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces.” Stop motion has been immensely popular since the dawn of animation, from the 1933 “King Kong” to the eccentric stop motion work of Wes Anderson. Chico State student and animator, Ian Joseph Greene, has often opted to incorporate stop motion animation in his short films, giving them a comedic and unraveling feel.
Anime has leaped into the forefront of animation in the United States, rivaling U.S. animation. Anime’s origins come from Japan and emphasizes meticulous detail and vivid imagery. Anime often takes a different editing approach and regularly has a three-framed motion to spend more time on each moment. The camera tends to be more lively, and the world is usually more encompassing, every brushstroke on the frame crafted for your eyes.
2D animation is what many of us may look toward when we think of animation. Whether you grew up watching “Gravity Falls” or now watch “Family Guy,” it’s all 2D animation. Hand-painted frames with modern technology allow animators to create memorable, and lovable, characters and worlds on a 2D surface.
Computer animation has taken the U.S. animation industry by storm. Computer animation simulates a world to create sets, alter lighting, maintain consistency and experiment more deeply with their work. Technology is unfailingly advancing in computer animation, leading to new advancements in unexplored ways to tell stories.
Often animation is limited by today’s technology, so many studios are leaders in innovative techniques and technologies in animation.
Pixar shook the animation industry, introducing not only one of the most well-known animations of all time, “Toy Story,” but also presenting a new technology to create computer animation. Pixar was a new type of force in the animation industry, not just a movie studio, but also leading the forefront of innovative techniques. Each new movie was a challenge, not just for storytelling, but also to achieve something once believed to be unattainable.
Animation has no limits to what it can achieve; its power to transport us into another world or move us so deeply comes from a mysterious place. While traditional filmmaking is focused on moving pictures, animation is focused on moving paintings. With so much to dive into animation, take the time to process the style and work that went into creating these works of art.
Chris Hutton can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]