Animation

Definition The process of photographing drawings or objects a frame at a time; by changing a drawing or moving an object slightly before each frame is taken, the illusion of motion is realized.

History Some argue that the earliest animations were created thousands of years ago in the earliest cave paintings. However, motion picture animation was not created until the late 1800s. In 1923 Walt Disney opened his own studio, and in 1928 released one of the most famous early cartoons, Steamboat Willie By 1930, Warner Bros. had a cartoon studio. In 1995, Pixar created the first fully computer-animated film, Toy Story History of Animation video

Differences in styles Western Japanese

Western Japanese Often there is a very clear hero and villain, with little to no ambiguity Common use of musical numbers and songs to convey emotions and inner thoughts Usually comical in nature and targeted at children, or families Physical features are often out of proportion Lack of clearly evil and clearly good characters Rarely use songs and musical numbers, but often have long periods of silence Often has adult themes and is targeted at that audience Characters’ physical features are often more realistic It is important to remember that these are generalizations and exceptions can always be found. Also, the lines are evermore blurring in our increasingly globalized world.

Hand drawn vs Computer Rendered Hand drawn animation requires a lot of time because each frame must be drawn. Most are filmed at 24 fps, and usually one picture is shot for two frames. That means traditional animation requires 12 unique pictures per second! Of course computer animation can be accomplished in a relatively short time. This is time/money saving for animation studios However, many animation artists like the “feel” of hand drawn pictures. They believe it achieves a tone that computer generated images cannot attain.