ASSIGNMENT 1

Chloe-Louise Timmins
TECHNIQUES
 PERSISTENCE OF VISION
• Animation is the use of individual images in order to create a short clip, by
the images rotating very quickly, this optical illusion allows the images to look
like a video rather then photographs.
• Persistence of vision is a term used within animation which refers to an
optical illusion, which allows the viewers to see a continuous clip, although it
is individual photographs that are played very quickly after each other.
• The human eye retains images for around 0.04 seconds, so the images that
are seen are blended together, to create what looks like a video, because
the eye cant see in between each photograph as they are spinning too fast.
 STOP-FRAME ANIMATION
• Stop frame animation or also known as stop motion animation, is a way of
creating a short clip, using images.
• It is animation which is captured one frame at a time, using objects which
are moved between frames in order to create the effect that it is a video,
because the images move rapidly it creates the illusion of movement.
• Another type of animation that uses this technique is Claymation, they use
static objects that move them between frames to create the illusion of
movement.
• Stop motion animation is used within music videos, YouTube videos and
television. Some use clay, others using static objects for example a plastic
model of something.
 FRAME RATES
• Frame rate is the frequency at which images are displayed within an animated
display.
• The higher the frame rate is the faster the images change, which makes the illusion
smoother.
• Frame rates is measured within frames per second, which can be abbreviated to
FPS, it can also be called frame frequency, which is measured in hertz.
• The standard rate is 24 FPS, however this can sometimes still be a little bit jittery, in
order to fix this they will include the same image for 2 or 3 frames, this makes the
video look a little smoother.
• The frame rate is the total number of images shown every second, whereas refresh
rate/ frame frequency measures the number of times any images flashes over the
Corse of a second.
 CONCLUSION
• Within the topic of techniques I feel like I have learnt quite a lot, the topics
included persistence of vision, stop-frame animation and frame rates. When
researching these I came across quite a lot of information that I did not know
before whereas now I feel as if I fully understand these topics and will find it
easy to apply this knowledge into any of the future assignments.
• For persistence of vision, I learnt about the illusion of singular pictures being
rotated in order to create a clip like effect,
• For stop-frame animation I learnt a little bit about Claymation and how stop
frame animation works,
• Then for frame rates, Learnt the exact definition for frame rates I also learnt
the standard rate.
DEVELOPMENT
 JOSEPH PLATEAU
(PHENAKITOSCOPE)
• Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau was born in October on the 14th in the
year of 1801, in Brussels, Belgium. He then died in 1883 on the 15th of
September.
• Joseph Plateau was a physicist, he was the very first person to ever show
the illusion of animation. He did this by using counter rotating disks. He
originally called this ‘Phenakitoscope’.
• The disks contained hand drawn images all the way around the edge,
like shown in this image, the images are all slightly different, then once
the wheel is turned, it creates an illusion of movement.
• This was the beginning of animation, this is where the idea of moving
images came from and is today used within tv programmes, movies,
music videos and other clips for example YouTube.
 WILLIAM HORNER (ZOETROPE)
• William George Horner was born in1786 on the 9th of June and
unfortunately died on the 22nd of September 1837.
• William was a British mathematician, who worked as a headmaster and a
school keeper.
• A zoetrope is a device that is used to create animation, it creates the
illusion of moving images, using a set of still images that alternate, the
zoetrope is a device that stores the images and spins, this allows the users
to see movement, which turns the images into what looks like a short clip.
Because the images are different when they spin the transition between
each image will be so fast, the user will see them transition into each
other, which creates a video like effect.
 EMILIE REYNAUD (PRAXINOSCOPE)
• Charles-Emile Reynaud was born in December on the 8th in1844 and
then died on the 9th of January 1918. He was a French inventor who
created the praxinoscope, the praxinoscope is the innovated version
of the zoetrope.
• Similarly to the zoetrope it used images placed around the inner
surface of a wheel, which spins the images in order to create the
illusion of movement.
• The difference between them both is that the zoetrope uses thin slits
for the user to look through in order to see the images where as the
Praxinoscope uses a circle of mirrors, which is placed so that the
reflections of the images are shown within a certain position whilst the
wheel is rotating.
• The user that looks into the mirrors when the device is spinning, will see
the transition of images, creating the movement illusion.
 EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE
• Eadweard James Muybridge was born on the 9th of April 1830 and died on the 8th of may
1904. he changed his name from Edward James Muggeridge to Eadweard Muybridge
because he believed it was his name in Anglo Saxon form.
• Muybridge was an English photographer he was known for his pioneering work in
photographic studies of motion.
• Eadweard was learning the wet plate collodion process, this is when images are coated,
sensitized, exposed and developed within 15 minutes. This creates an effect on the
image, which makes the outside edges look distressed.
• Muybridge became famous for his photographs of Yosemite Valley. He was also well
known for animal locomotion, this is the use of lots of different cameras in order to create
movement within still images. Using this idea he created a device called the
zoopraxiscope, which projects motion pictures.
 EDISON (KINETOSCOPE)

• The kinetoscope is an early motion picture device. This device allows one person to
view a film through a peephole.
• When this was first created the used similar ideas to the phonograph which is a
cylinder that a series of microphotographs are arranged in a spiral formation.
• Some of the names that Edison was looking at was the motograph and the
kinetoscope.
• Edison had hired an assistant and his assistant ended up working on the
development of the kinetoscope. Dickson was the assistant, who was known for
doing most of the work on the kinetoscope, he helped develop it and came up with
ideas on how to improve it. in the end the mechanism of the kinetoscope was driven
by an electric motor
• The first kinetoscope was completed at the end of the summer in 1892.
 LUMIÈRE BROTHERS
• The lumière brothers were both French inventors named Auguste and Louis.
As well as being inventors they also pioneer manufactures of photographic
equipment.
• They both innovated the cinématographe, this is a motion picture camera
and projector. This is where the word cinema came from. The original creator
was Léon Bouly on the 12 of February 1892, however he did not have
enough money to develop his ideas properly, which is why he sold the right
to the lumière brothers, who developed it.
• That year the lumière brothers made their first film, which was called the
workers leaving the lumière factory.
• The cinematograph was a further improvement of Edison's idea because it
allowed multiple people to view it at the same time, rather then just one at a
time.
 GEORGE PAL
• George pal was born on the 1st of February 1908 and died on the 2nd of may
1980. He was an American/Hungarian film director, animator and producer.
• George was nominated for academy awards for ‘best short subjects,
cartoon.’
• George pal patented puppetoons, which is animated puppet films. Within
these films the puppets were hand crafted out of wood. They used lots of
different puppets with different expressions or movements, then swapped
between them for each frame rather then using a singular puppet and
changing it. This is what most stop motion puppet animation films do.
• The way George pal created his films, allowed them to become popular, this
is what made him well-known. After this he had many more opportunities
within this area, these again made him well-known and allowed him to win
many awards.
 DEVELOPERS OF ANIMATION
• Willis o’brien – Willis was born on the 2nd of march 1886 and died on the 8th of
November 1962. he was an American motion picture special effects and stop
motion animation pioneer.
• Willis was well known for his work on ‘the lost world’, ‘king Kong’ and ‘mighty joe
young’. Stop motion model animation is what he used to create his images, model
animation is a type of stop motion animation which creates the illusion of a real
world fantasy sequence.
• Ray Harryhausen – 29.06.1920 – 07.05.2013, he was an artist, designer, visual effects
creator, producer and a writer, he created a new type of stop motion animation
which was called ‘Dynamation’ ray was mentored by the pioneer Willis o’brien and
they both worked on ‘mighty joe young’ together which won them the academy
award for best visual effects.
• Jan Švankmajer – 04.09.1934, he is Czech film maker and artist. He is also a self-
labelled surrealist who is known for his animations.
 CONCLUSION
• This topic was development and it included lots of different people who
worked within the animation sector. For this topic I had to research them and
what they did. I have defiantly learnt a lot about the people and how they
became famous, what devices they invented.
• As well as this it also allows me to see how animation first came around and
how the ideas were innovated to get to the technology we are at today.
• I found this part very interesting learning the different names of people who
started animation and came up with the ideas to create Claymation and
stop frame animation.
• Then using these ideas what they did with it in order to create it and improve
their original thoughts to create animation, which is still used today.
CONTEMPORARY WORK
 THE BROTHERS QUAY
• Stephen and timothy quay were born on the 17th of June 1974, they are
identical twins that are both stop motion animators.
• Both the brothers studied at Philadelphia college, illustration and film. After
this they created their first short film together.
• Their work is known for its dark humour, colour and texture. They were known
as the masters of miniaturization, using their tiny sets to represent long-
repressed childhood dreams.
• The quay brothers have created a lot of amazing pieces, most of them are
now on YouTube, they are very well known.
• Looking at some of there work I can see that most of it is very dark and quite
mysterious. They have also won awards for some of their pieces.
 TIM BURTON
• Timothy Walter burton was born on the 25th of august 1958. he is an
American film director, producer, writer, artist and animator. Tim burton is
famous for his movies that generally are generally quite dark and gothic.
• Some of the movies that he is well-known for are Beetlejuice, Edward scissor
hands, the nightmare before Christmas, the sleep hollow, corpse bride, dark
shadows and frankenweenie.
• Lots of his movies are within the genre of horror, some of them that are more
for children and others that are for adults. However all of them share similar
themes. They are all dark, spooky, eccentric and quirky films.
• He has also worked within a few blockbuster movies, for example pee-wees
big adventure, batman and batman returns and Alice in wonderland. These
movies are all very different from his regular style, these are more comedy
and adventure movies, suitable for young children.
 AARDMAN ANIMATIONS
Aardman animations is a British animation studio which is based in Bristol. They
are known for using stop-motion clay animation.
An example of their work is Wallace and Gromit, they used Plasticine
characters in order to create this.
They also did some movies within the computer animation sector, for example
flushed away which was created in 2006, this is a well-known movie, which
made the business very well known. The company have made $973.2 million
worldwide. They get around $163 million for each individual film.
The company was founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton who work
together to create Aardman animations. The company was founded in 1975
and has been running for 45 years.
This is the companies website http://www.aardman.com/
 CONCLUSION
• The topic of contemporary work included the quay brothers, Tim burton and
Aardman animations.
• It was very interesting to see how these people created animation and who they
were taught by and when this was all created.
• Aardman animations was interesting because I found out information about the
company for example who the founders are and what they do. I have also found
out that this company is still running today and can still be used and found online.
• When looking at the quay brothers I noticed their style of work and how it is all based
around a similar theme, dark humour, which can be quite spooky but also very
interesting.
• Then looking at Tim burton he had a similar theme of darkness, however later on he
has also worked in some very well known programmes and movies that are not so
much as dark and mysterious and his other pieces.
GENRES AND FORMS
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
TV
• Animation is used a lot within tv, both within programmes and also in advertisements.
• Programs – Animation is used quite a lot within programmes, a type of animation
that is used most within television is cartoons, these are the most popular type of
animation shows, these are used within children's shows and for shows 18 +. Some
example of cartoons are..
• South park,
• Family guy,
• Simpsons,
• Tom and jerry.
• Advertisements – cartons are also used a lot within advertisements, however one
type of animation that isn’t used as frequently is Claymation, using Plasticine models.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
CHANNEL IDENTS
• A channel ident is a small animation that is used during programmes, which
allows time to show the viewers a logo or a name of a company or tv
channel.
• A channel ident uses animation in order to give to for people to see the logo
or name of a company, an example of this would be BBC news, they use a
channel ident before the show in order to show the logo.
• The positive to using an animation is that it isn’t boring for the viewers, it
makes it a lot bit more interesting and appealing for them to watch. It is also
good because this is something they may remember, which means they will
more than likely remember the name of the company.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
CINEMA
• Within the cinema animations can be used within either the film itself or the
advertisements before the film starts.
• Animated films generally include images, paintings or drawings that are
photographed frame by frame and then lots of different images are sped up. Each
image will be slightly different in order to create the illusion of movement. Also the
animated film may be a cartoon, most cartoons are for children so they are all very
colourful and appealing, some examples of animated movies are…
• Toy story,
• The lion kings,
• Finding nemo,
• Shrek,
• WALL-E,
• Inside out.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
ADVERTISING
• Animation is used a lot within advertising. Many adverts contain cartoons or
stop frame animation.
• Animation is generally used within adverts to help the viewers understand
what their product does for example a nit cream advert would use
animation or cartoons, In order to help the viewers see what it is because
inevitably they would not be able to film actual nits as there would be many
complications.
• Another example of animation in adverts is lip syncing, this is used within the
advertisement for ‘Flash’ cleaner, they use a dog and animate it so it looks
like the dog is singing the theme tune. Which is very appealing to the users
and works very well. It makes the advert more interesting and memorable for
the people watching it.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
MUSIC VIDEOS
• Animation is also used within music videos, generally either uses cartoons or
animates the people within the video in order to make it unique and
appealing for the users to watch. The animations within the music videos
sometimes represent what the song is about an the feelings that went into
writing the song.
• Example of some animated movies are..
• Mr sandman (The Kleenrz),
• Tonight tonight (Smashing Pumpkins),
• The raven that refused to sing (Steven Wilson),
• One more time (Daft Punk),
• Go with the flow (Queens of the Stone Age). Etc.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
COMPUTER GAMES
• Using animation within computer games is a lot harder then using it within
movies and tv, because when used within games the user will be able to
rotate the camera and see different angles of the animated characters.
Which means not only does it need to be animated well it also needs to be
able to move when it is controlled to and look good from all angles.
• When creating animations for games, they need to make sure they design
the character to move within any direction and to possibly jump and
perform other tasks.
• Some examples of animated computer games are….
• Mario/ Mario kart/ Super Mario bros,
• Club penguin,
• Minecraft etc.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
MOBILE PHONES
• Animation within mobile phones can be used within many different sectors, for
example within the games. When using a smart phone applications can be
downloaded which will sometimes include animations. Some example of this are..
• Pokémon go,
• Super Mario run free,
• 8 ball pool,
• Slither.io
• As well as on games animation can also be used within features such as live
wallpaper. Live wallpaper is when phone have got wallpapers which are animated,
which means they perform a certain movement generally on repeat.
• Animation within phones includes any features that move and that create sound.
 HOW ANIMATION IS USED WITHIN
WEBSITES
• Animations within websites are used quite regularly, there are many different ways to
use animation within a website and example of this would be to use a rollover
button, a rollover button is a feature that is put on place, so that when the user
hovers over or clicks a button on the website it will change slightly or possibly light
up, this makes it easier for the user to see what they have clicked on.
• Another example oft his would be on the apple website, apple have got a scrolling
options bar, so when the users clicks on an option for example home, the options at
the top will change, then when they click a different button for example apps, all
the applications that are necessary are displayed at the top.
• The website the hop yard use a roll over button, so that every time the mouse runs
over the button the image moves a little bit and also becomes lighter this helps the
user to navigate where they are going.
 CONCLUSION
• The topic genres and forms were all based on what animation is used in and
how it is used within certain places.
• I found out a lot of information about where animation is used in everyday
technology, some which I have not noticed before. As well as learning this I
also gained a better understanding of animation itself and the different
types of animation, not just stop-frame animation, Claymation and cartoons.
• This information was all very useful and I know that I will be able to use this
within the future topics that are based on information, I can apply all of the
knowledge I now have about animation to the work which will make it a lot
easier and faster, I can also refer back to this PowerPoint if necessary.