Animation is derived from the latin word 'animare' which just meant "to give life to". Animation is the art of bringing drawings to life. It artificially creates a series of images to give an illusion of movement, it fools your brain into thinking the image is actually moving. This is called persistence of vision.
For years people have tried to show a story through different images which look like they progress to give a clearer picture of the story. For example the Egyptians used hieroglyphics to show there story or explain something to one another.
A development of animation machinery:
1650 - the Magic Lantern was invented by Christian Huygens (this was basically a simple projector)
1826 - the Thaumatrope was invented by John Hershal
1839 - the Phenakistoscope was invented by Plateau
1834 - the Zoetrope was invented by William Horner
1868 - the Kineograph/Flipbook was invented by Herman Casler
"Animation is not the art of drawing that more but the art of movements that are drawn"
- Norman McLaren
Some key pieces of animation in chronological order:
1902 - George Méliés: A trip to the moon. This was a famous piece of work which influenced things such as mighty boosh and some of Queens songs.
1908 - Windsor McCay: Gertie the Dinosaur. He also went on to produce the first dramatic piece of animation in 1918 about the sinking of Lusitania. It only took 7 days to get around the world!
1926 - Lottie Reiniger: The adventures of Prince Achmed
1928 is when the golden age of cartoons began. Animation had developed its own language and knew what it was doing and how to do it.
1928 - Walt Disney: Steamboat Willie. This was a key point in animation as it was the first piece to successfully sync with music.
The skeleton dance could be classed as the first music video as he had the song composed first and then the piece of animation was his interpretation of the song.
1930 - Max Fleischer: Dizzy Dishes was the first sighting of Betty Boop which was eventually censored. Popeye was a character which featured alongside Betty Boop but he became so popular that it became his own TV programme.
1933 - Willis O'Brien: King Kong
1936 - Toybox: Momotaro Vs Mickey Mouse. Japanese Animation was the first to use propaganda to persuade the opinions of their viewers.
1937 - Disney: Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. He had to remortgage his house to afford to make it.
1941 - Disney: Fantasia
Disney often used animation of a way of voicing his opinions and one piece was made to convince America to help more in the war.
1951 - UPA Gerald McBoing Boing
1952 - Norman McLaren: Neighbours, about the stupidity of the cold war when a flower grows in the middle of their garden.
1953 - Chuck Jones: Duck Amuck. Daffy Duck talks to the animator and brings in interaction with the audience.
1954 - Halas and Batchelor: Animal Farm
1959 - Saul Bass: Anatomy of Murder. Begins to take animation into movie trailers and introductions.
1958 - 1985 = The Television Age
1963 - Stan Brakhaye: Mothlight. The first piece of direct film where he stuck moths and leaves to the film.
1963 - Osamu Tezuka: Astro Boy. The beginnings of Anime
Chuck Jones - The dot and the line: A romance in lower mathematics
1966 = Walt Disney dies
1966 - Terry Gilliam: Monty Pythons Flying Circus.
1969 - Oliver Postgate: The Clangers (also created Bagpuss)
1982 - Gerald Scarfe - Pink Floyd, The Wall
1983 - Cosgrove Hall - Wind in the Willows
1986 - Jimmy Murakami: When the Wind Blows (also created the Snowman)
Disney: Who framed Roger Rabbit
1991 - Disney: Beauty and the Beast. The first piece of animation to use 3D. They sent all their employees to live in France for 6 months so they could get used to the area and be submerged in research
1995 - John Lasseter: Toy Story
Jamie Hewlett: Gorillaz
The lecture on Animation was interesting and showed how much stuff is actually animation. The history and development of Animation has shown a pattern and been very informative. Animation as a whole can prove useful to graphics as it is another form of solving a problem.
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