2. Stop - Frame
Stop motion/Stop frame is an animation technique to make any object such as plasticine
animals look as if it’s moving on its own. This is done by moving the object in small steps
between photographed frames, so it appears the object has life when the frames are
played together as a continuous sequence. Plasticine or clay figures like Wallace and Gromit
are very often used in stop frame animation because they are easy to reposition. Stop frame
animation using this method is called clay animation or “clay-mation". Not all stop motion
includes figures; many stop frame videos can be done using humans, household appliances
and a vast range of other things for comedic effect.
3. Frame Rate
Frame rate is the occurrence (rate) at which an imaging device
such as a digital camera can produce repetitive images called
frames. The term also relates to film/video cameras, computer
graphics and games. Frame rate is usually known as frames per
second (FPS) and is also stated in progressive scan monitors as
hertz (Hz).
4. Persistence of vision
Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye of which an
afterimage is thought to stay for about one twenty-fifth of a second
on the retina. The myth was debunked in 1912 by Wertheimer but still
persists in many citations, and classic and modern film-theory texts.
A more reasonable theory to explain motion perception are two
specific illusions: phi phenomenon and beta movement.
5. Pioneers: William Horner
William Horner was an animation pioneer, he
designed the zoetrope. He invented the
zoetrope in 1834. The zoetrope produces an
impression of action from a rapid succession. It
was basically a improvement on the
phenkitascope. It lead to the praxinoscope
being created and also to animation being
viewed much simpler. This made animation
easier to be seen because the small slits on the
side where the viewer looked in provided a
better effect than the phenkitascope. the
designs on the zoetrope vary from animals to
football players, and is still used today.
6. Pioneers: Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard James Muybridge was an English pioneer
in animation, he was a photographer important for
his work in photographic studies of motion and in
motion-picture projection. He chose his name
Eadweard Muybridge, this is because he believed it
to be the original Anglo-Saxon form of his name. He
immigrated to the America as a young man but
remained unknown until 1868, when his photographs
of Yosemite Valley, California, made him worldwide
famous. Muybridge is well known for his work on
animal movement in 1877 and 1878, which he used
several cameras to capture motion in stop-frame
photographs, and his zoopraxiscope, a device that
projected motion pictures that pre-dated the film
strip used in cinematography.
7. Developers of animation: Ray
Harryhausen
Raymond Frederick "Ray" Harryhausen is an
American visual effects creator, writer and
producer. He made a range of stop-frame
model animations, also known as "Dynamation.”
Among his most known work is his animation on
‘Mighty Joe Young’ which he did along with
pioneer Willis O'Brien, who won the Academy
Award for special effects. The 7th Voyage of
Sinbad which was his first color film and ‘Jason
and the Argonauts’, this featured a famous
sword fight against seven skeletal soldiers.
8. Developers of animation: Jan
Svankmajer
Jan Svankmajer is a Czech
filmmaker/artist whose work spreads
across several forms of media. He is a
self-labeled surrealist who is known for
his surreal and unusual animations and
features, which have greatly inspired
others such as Terry Gilliam, the Brothers
Quay, and lots of other artists.
9. Contemporary animators: Tim Burton
Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton is an American
film director, film producer, writer and artist.
He earned his name for his famous, dark
and quirky-themed movies such as
Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The
Nightmare Before Christmas and Sweeney
Todd. Burton is well known for using recurring
actors in his work; one of them is Johnny
Depp, who has become a good friend of
Burton’s ever since the first film they made
together. He also wrote and illustrated the
poetry book ‘The Melancholy Death of
Oyster Boy’.
10. Contemporary animators: Aardman
animations
Aardman Animations, which is also known as ‘Aardman
Studios’ is an English animation studio located in Bristol in the
United Kingdom. They are known for films created using stop-
frame clay animation figures, especially those featuring
Plasticine characters such as the famous Wallace and
Gromit. However, they successfully entered the computer
animation market with Flushed Away in 2006.
11. Favorites: Aardman Studios
Aardman Studios is one of my favorite
animation companies, their work is
widely known and very famous
worldwide, some of their best are
Wallace and Gromit, Flushed Away
and Morph. They make their
animations seem almost real, the
movements of the characters are very
smooth and they have a high frame
rate which creates the realistic effect.
12. Favorites: Tim Burton
Tim Burton’s animation films I think, work
very well, like Aardman Studios the
movements are smooth and the frame
rate is high which means there’s no jerks
between the slides. This makes the
animation seem much more real and has
a better effect on the viewer.
13. Different techniques
Time lapse: An animation created by taking a series of photographs over a
length of time, the animation is then made by putting all the photos
together and then increasing the speed of the clip. This technique is often
used with clouds and growing plants to make speed up the movement.
Claymation: An animation created by using clay/plasticine figures and
animals. The characters are easily deformable so the movements can have
a good effect, this is done the same way as any other animation, taking
pictures of each movement then joining them together to create one
continuous video.
Using found objects: An animation created by using random objects found
around the house, studio etc. This technique gives the objects life and seem
as if they move on their own. It differs from the other techniques because
the objects are for example, a broom, sunglasses or shoes, things that
usually have no character.
14. Different formats
Music video: A good example of this is Aardman Studio’s video
for Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1tTN-b5KHg
Cinema: There have been many animation films made,
some good examples are, Wallace and Gromit, The
Nightmare before Christmas and Coralline.
Advertisement: Animation in advertising has become
more popular with some rather big companies using it,
Lloyd’s tsb use computer animation for their adverts.
