The History of Animation

Persistence of Vision

 Persistence of vision is a theory which states that the human eye always retains images for a fraction of a second. This means that everything we see is a  blend of what is happening now and what previously  happened a fraction of a second ago.
In the Film and media world, this phenomena is often claimed to account for our ability to perceive a sequence of frames as a continuous moving picture.   However, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that persistence of vision works in this way. Rather, it is thought that the illusion of continuous motion.

Thaumatrope

The Thaumatrope is credited for being invented by both John Ayrton Paris and Peter mark Roget in 1842. The Thaumatrope is a simple Victorian toy of which two annotated circular cards are attached to one another. Pieces of string are then tied to each end of the card and twisted rapidly creating the illusion of  one image. Each Piece of card has a drawn image that will create one individual image once spun. A typical example of this, is drawing a cage on one side and a bird on the other. When spun the illusion shows the bird inside the cage. The simple illusion occurs due to the "Persistence of Vision".

The Thaumatrope is one of a number of toys that create similar illusions and are recognized as being important antecedents of Film and Animation.

Phenakistascope

The Phenakistascope is a rather more technically advanced creation, invented by Joseph Plateau. Joseph Plateau was a Belgian Physicist who began his work on the Phenakistascope in 1839, and completed his creation in 1841. The Phenakistascope is a very early animation device that also uses the persistence of vision theory.  The Phenakistascope works around a rotating disc connected to a handle. Images are then arrayed around the discs center portraying the movement that once sped up, will give the illusion of movement. To view the illusion, the user looks through one of the many slits while standing in front of a mirror.  The frame by frame images portray a moving subject. 

Zoetrope

The Zoetrope consists of similar mechanics to the Thaumatrope. The main difference is that the Zoetrope is mirror less  A large cylinder acts as the main rotational feature of the device. A sequence of still images are placed around the inside of the cylinder. The user then stares through the slits around the cylinder. The still images move rapidly as the cylinder is spun creating the illusion of movement. The Zoetrope is believed to have been created in China by Ting Huan in around 180 AD. His device used the flow of air to spin the convention around. The modern Zoetrope or "Wheel of Life" was invented by a British Mathematician named William Horner. The Zoetrope is famous for a number of reasons. One reason due to its brief viewing in the Horror film "the Women In Black". Pixar Animation also created a fabulous 1/16 scale version of a Zoetrope using Characters from their animated films such as Toy Story. 

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Praxinoscope

The Praxinoscope is the successor to the Zoetrope and altered one of the Zoetropes fundamental features. The Praxinoscope used mirrors instead of slits to view the illusion. The alteration improved the devices appearance and the viewing capabilities such as image clarity. As the cylinder is spun around, the user views the illusion of movement by looking at the mirrors. The Praxinoscope was invented by Charles-Emile Reynaud in 1887. Reynaud further advanced the Zoetrope by developing a projection enhancement called the Theatre Optique. The projection of the illusion allowed him to show his animated characters to a large audiences. However, its popularity was soon outshone by the visual projection cinemas of the Lumiere Brothers.

Kinetoscope

The kinetoscope is a single view projection system invented by Edison & Co. The kinetoscope was not a projection system but carved the way for an era of film projection. The Kinetoscope works by rapidly rotating still images of a light source at a high shutter speed. These rapid movements viewed through a peep hole creates the illusion of movement. 

It is believed that Edison was inspired by the idea of a motion picture system after attending one of Edward Muybridges lectures. They later met to discuss forming a partnership as to be able to create the motion picture device. However a partnership was never agreed and Edison's company went on to invent the Kinetoscope and formally show the device in 1894. Although Edison takes most credit for the invention however his assistant William Dickson is believed to have worked on the invention the most.

Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about a number of animation techniques and their inventors/founding and notable users of those techniques. This blog post is a more in depth explanation of certain animation pioneers.

George Melies 

Georges Melies is born on December 8th, 1861 in Paris. His father is a rich wealthy shoe manufacturer and his mother is the daughter of the bookmaker of the Netherlands' Queen. During his studies at Louis Le Grand high school in Paris (France), he displays a gift for drawing and painting. He obtains his high school diploma in 1880 and he joins the family business.

Melies began animating after stumbling upon stop motion during a shoot of traffic. His camera jammed during the recording of the traffic. Once he began shooting again he noticed a jump in time creating an odd affect that interested him enough that he used the effect in his later career as a magic trick. He also used over pioneering effects such as dissolves, fades and time lapses in his work.
In 1902, Georges Melies who has been shooting films since the presentation of the Lumiere brothers invention, produces and directs A Trip to the Moon, a super production. He conceives the film in black and white but also in color, the print would then be hand-painted, in a colorist workshop.His masterpiece, considered as the first Science-Fiction movie is very successful and the image of the rocket into the eye of the moon goes all around the world. 

Willis O'brien

Willis O'brien was born on the 2nd March 1886 in Oakland California. He is seen as one of the Pioneers in motion picture special effects. His love for sculpting, drawing etc, began at a very early age and he took his love of the arts into his career as a sports cartoonist for a national newspaper. During his time as a cartoonist, he also became a profesional boxer, winning his first 9 fights and then retired after an unsuccessful 10th.

He continued his love of sculpting models and began filming stop motion clay-mation.  His talent was soon recognised by Thomas Edison who offered him a job at his company creating short films. His success was not instant but after his work on the film "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain", he secured a position on the filming of "The Lost World".  The animated film was a success and lead the way for his most renowned work on the film "King Kong" in 1933.

Willis H'obrien was recognized for his later work, winning an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

- "The Lost World"

Ray Harryhausen

Ray H was a an American visual effects creator, director and producer. He is noted as being the creator of a form of stop motion animation called "Dynamation". After viewing King Kong, he became inspired to research and create his own stop motion animation. He delved into the genre of fantasy and sciene fiction. His work inspired by the pioneer of Stop motion animation Willis H'obrien. After meeting with Willis H'obrien he began taking lessons in art and graphics. He later gained a job working on the set of George Pals, Puppetoons. His most memorable work on the "Mighty Joe Young", would be his first major film. He worked alongside Willis H'obrien in creating the film. He also later went on to Film his first Movie in Color called "Jason and the Argonaughts".

George Pal
George Pal, was a Hungarian-born American animator and movie producer well known for his science fiction styled short animations and cartoons.  George Pal, started his work in Film for a British company before emigrating to America. He began his career in America with Paramount Pictures. He animated the Puppetoons series in the 1940's.  His work on the series lead to him being awarded an Oscar in 1943 for "the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons". Pal then switched to live action film making with The Great Rupert in 1950.

 He is best remembered as the producer of several science fiction and fantasy films in the 1950s and 1960s, four of which were collaborations with director Byron Haskin including The War of the Worlds (1953). He himself directed tom thumb (1958), The Time Machine (1960) and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).

Phil Tippett

Phil Tippett (born 1951) is a movie director and an award-winning visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design and character animation. At an early age Phil Tippett began watching animated films such as Ray Harryhausens "The seventh voyage of sinbade". Ray Harry Hausens work inspired him to pace a career on the visual effects/film industry. Phil completed a bachelor's degree in art at the University of California, Irvine, and went to work at the animation studio Cascade Pictures in Los Angeles.
Phil Tippett began his career by animating a short scene of chess in George Lucas's Film "Star Wars". During this period he was also hired to work on the Film "Piranha" realeased in 1978, however he was not credited for his work. Phil Tippett continued his work on the Star Wars Films developing a new techniques such as Go animation used in the AT-AT  imperial walkers scene in 1980.  He continued his work with Go motion in Dragon Slayer. He received an Academy award for his work.
 In 1991 he was hired by Steven Spielberg to create the dinosaurs for the Film Jurassic Park.  He used his famous Go motion techniques in the creation of the Dinosaurs. However Spielberg preferred to use CGI created Dinosaurs. Phil Tippett recognized the development and change in the Industry, and began work in CGI. Phil Tippett has since continued his work in visual effects.

The Quay Brothers

 Since the late 1970s, the identical twin Quay Brothers have made a unique contribution to animation in general, and the puppet film in particular. Filtering arcane visual, literary, musical, cinematic and philosophical influences through their own utterly distinctive sensibility, each quay film rivets the attention through hypnotic control of decor, music and movement, evoking half-remembered dreams and long-suppressed childhood memories, fascinating and deeply unsettling in turn. The Quay Brothers are seen as pioneers in stop motion animation. 

Tim Burton

Tim Burton was born on August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California. After majoring in animation at the California Institute of Arts, he worked as a Disney animator for less than a year before striking out on his own. He became known for creating visually striking films that blend themes of fantasy and horror, includingBeetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.
 As a child, Burton was engrossed with the classic horror films of Roger Corman—many of which featured quintessential screen villain Vincent Price. Burton also developed a penchant for drawing and enrolled at the California Institute of Arts, where he majored in animation. In 1980, upon his graduation, he began working as an apprentice animator for Walt Disney Studios. Within a year, Burton grew tired with his work at Disney and decided to strike out on his own. In 1982, he released the award-winning short Vincent, which paid homage to the enduring work of his childhood idol. Tim Burton is renowned as on of the modern greats in stop motion animation.

Otmar Guttman

Otmar Gutmann is  German television producer, animator  and director.  He was born on the 24th April 1937 and died October 13th,1993.  He is most memorably known for his clay-mated creation, Pingu.  Otmar founded the Pygos group in  1986. Pingu is a Bafta Award-Winning stop motion clay mated children’s television series which was produced by The Pygos group and Track film studio. The series was originally made for Swiss television. The series shows a family of penguins living in the North Pole who can morph. The series Centre’s on families of penguins living in Antarctica that live and work on igloos.  Pingu frequently goes on adventures with his sister pinga and his best friend Robby the seal.

Aardman

Aardman is a British animation company based in Bristol. Their world famous stop motion claymation characters, films and TV series's have been hugely successful. Aardman was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, two animators inspired to found their own animation production company. They began their work, combining with the BBC. Aardman later went onto create shorts with Channel 4. Nick Parks Creature Comforts, was the first to win an Oscar. Park also developed the much loved duo that is Wallace and Gromit. The company produced a number of films for Wallace and Gromit.

In December 1997, Aardman teamed up with Dreamworks to create Chicken Run. In 2000, chicken run was released to great success in the UK. Aardman has gone on to create a number of films including "Wallace and Gromit: The ware Rabbit" and their first Computer animated film "Flushed Away".

 -Flushed Away.-Chicken Run.

Adam Shaheen

Adam Shaheen (born October 13, 1964 in London, England) is a British animator, television producer and screenwriter. He is the founder and owner of Cuppa Coffee Studios where he develops and produces all original programming. He is also the executive producer of Cuppa Coffee’s award winning broadcast design and commercial studio.

Shaheen's credits include shows and movies like JoJo's Circus, Celebrity Deathmatch, Starveillance, Bruno, Bruno and the Banana Bunch, Tigga and Togga, Little People, The Wrong Coast, Henry's World Season 1, Rick and Steve Season 1 and 2, Crashbox season 1 and 2, A Very Barry Christmas, Nerdland, A Miser Brothers' Christmas and Life's a Zoo, Glenn Martin DDS Seasons 1 and 2, Ugly Americans Season 1 and 2. The Devils Due. Adam Shaheen is also a published author and record producer.

Shaheen has produced over 200 commercials and won over 150 International awards- including three Gemini's for his contribution to Canadian Animation.He is currently President of Cuppa Coffee Studios and Saucer Studios a successful Recording and Sound Mixing facility in Toronto. Shaheen is currently writing an animated feature based on the music of Harry Nilsson.

In 2012 Shaheen's Studio, Cuppa Coffee, celebrated its 20th Anniversary - Canada's oldest, privately owned animation studio. Adam Shaheen's use of puppets in his animated stories has become very popular with his younger audience.

The History of Animation

Examples of stop motion animation.

Music videos: Shins "Rifles Spiral"

The handcrafted puppets and models help create an ambient atmosphere in this music video. The stop motion is beautifully created and seamless in their movements. The style of animation in this video suites the genre of music very well. Its contrast in darkness and light helps create an interesting mood that again suites the lyrics and style of music. Fans of the "Shins" will most certainly like this video as it represents the bands image rather well.

Television programmes: "Shaun the Sheep

The popular clay-mated characters from Aardman animation have been able to reach their target audience for a number of years. The old school style of animation that creates cute and lovable characters is an ageless classic in terms of its popularity with younger audiences.

Film: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists.

Aardman's latest project again focuses on its younger audience in a humorous Pirate styled animation. The fun loving comedy again uses lovable clay-mated characters that children enjoy to watch.

Advertisement: Volvo car advertisement

Volvo's stop-motion commercial uses basic techniques to create an interesting effect. The idea of using scissors to cut out paper images of their latest car models is an interesting and original idea. The style of stop motion animation is visually aesthetic to watch and so therefore suites an older audience than that of a younger one.  

Television Ident:

T.V idents are a popular promotional technique used to advertise programmes. CBBC used "Shaun the Sheep" to promote their channel. The programme is a popular animated series and the stations younger audience will easily relate to their favorite characters (Shaun, baby and mother sheep). The ident not only advertises the channel but it also the programme itself.

The future of animation will continue to evolve in a number of ways. Technology continues to push the boundaries of whats capable with animation. Animation is most popular with young children and I cannot see this changing for a number of years. Animation allows artists to create fun loving characters that come to life; that younger audiences love to watch.